Corey Heim executed a race-winning pass on Carson Hocevar for the lead with 15 laps remaining and fended off a late challenge from teammate Kaden Honeycutt to win the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 6.
The reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion from Marietta, Georgia, led the final 15 of 125-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid from 23rd place and quickly motored his way to the front amid a stacked competition. After finishing towards the front between the event’s first two stage periods and remaining within the mix at the front amid the draft, late-race pit strategies and a total of seven restarts, Heim utilized a push from teammate Honeycutt to go from third to first through the first two turns with 15 laps remaining.
Despite maintaining the lead for the event’s remainder, Heim then had Honeycutt reeling in and intimidating the latter through every turn and straightaway. Amid Honeycutt’s repeated challenges, including two at the start of the final lap and another approaching the finish line, Heim managed to fend off Honeycutt’s challenges to notch an unprecedented third Truck victory of the 2026 season and his first in the Irish Hills.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Ty Majeski notched his second Truck pole position of the 2026 season and the 13th of his career after he posted a pole-winning lap at 183.407 mph in 39.257 seconds. Majeski shared the front row with Christopher Bell, the latter of whom clocked in his fastest lap at 183.057 mph in 39.332 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Ty Majeski briefly launched ahead from the outside lane through the frontstretch before Christopher Bell motored ahead from the inside lane through the first two turns. As the field fanned out and navigated through the backstretch, Daniel Hemric went up the track and scrubbed the outside wall. While Hemric made an unscheduled pit stop to have his entry repaired, Bell led the first lap over Majeski and a long line of competitors racing in single-file formation towards the outside lane.
Over the next four laps, Majeski battled and outdueled Bell to lead at the start/finish line. On the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew when Frankie Muniz, who tried to execute a bold three-wide move beneath Spencer Davis and Kris Wright entering Turn 3, made contact with Davis and both went up the track and collected Wright. The contact sent both Muniz and Wright spinning through Turns 3 and 4, with Davis hitting the left side of Wright’s spinning entry, while the rest of the field racing in the mid-pack region scattered to avoid the carnage. At the moment of caution, Carson Hocevar assumed the lead from Bell.
During the event’s first caution period, some, including Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Dye, Caleb Costner, Davis, Muniz, Spencer Boyd, Kris Wright, Ben Rhodes and Corey LaJoie, pitted their respective entries while the rest, led by Hocevar, remained on the track. Another competitor who pitted was Tanner Gray, who started at the rear of the field due to a flat tire during practice that prevented him from qualifying. Gray had also lost a lap early in the event due to on-track contact that cut his left-front tire and forced him to pit from Turns 3 and 4, but he received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap following the first caution period.
The next restart on Lap 11 featured Hocevar receiving a push from Bell from the outside lane that enabled Hocevar to motor ahead of Majeski and lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field fanned out for a full lap, Hocevar led the next lap over Bell, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes and Kaden Honeycutt while Majeski dropped to 10th place due to receiving no drafting help from the inside lane. Majeski then scrubbed the outside wall entering Turns 3 and 4 after he tried to slide in front of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but he continued to race in 13th place without drawing a caution. Amid the on-track action, Hocevar retained a narrow lead over a hard-charging Bell by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Hocevar continued to lead by 0.087 seconds over Bell while third-place Chandler Smith trailed by six-tenths of a second in third place. After stalking and reeling in Hocevar since the latest restart, Bell made a move beneath Hocevar through the first two turns and reassumed the lead on Lap 25.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Bell fended off Hocevar by half a second over the previous five laps (since Lap 25) to claim his first Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Eckes, Giovanni Ruggiero, Jake Garcia and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10, respectively, while 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the entire lead lap field led by Bell peeled off the track and pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Morgen Baird exited pit road first, but he returned for another service. As a result, Bell, who exited pit road second, cycled back on the lead as he was followed by Heim. Hocevar, Tanner Gray and Honeycutt, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Hocevar and Bell occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar was pushed by TRICON Garage’s Honeycutt and Ruggiero to motor ahead of Bell entering the first two turns. As the field fanned out, Bell led the next lap before Hocevar managed to lead the following two laps.
At the Lap 40 mark, a heated three-truck battle for the lead escalated as Bell continued to lead by a mere margin over Heim while Hocevar reeled in from third place. As Honeycutt started to join the battle from fourth place, Bell retained a steady lead over both Heim and Hocevar by Lap 45 while the next pack of competitors led by Honeycutt and including Chandler Smith, Eckes and Riggs remained within distance as they trailed as close a two seconds from behind. Then as Bell proceeded to lead by Lap 50, Riggs made an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 48 to have a flat left-front wheel addressed. Riggs’ event went from bad to worse when he stalled his entry while trying to exit pit road and dropped out of the lead lap category.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Bell fended off Heim to claim his second consecutive Truck victory of this weekend at Michigan. Behind, Hocevar, Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Eckes, Chastain, Ruggiero, Grant Enfinger and Majeski were scored in the top 10, respectively, while 25 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Hocevar returned to pit road for service, and Hocevar maintained the lead by exiting pit road first.
With 59 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Hocevar and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Hocevar received a push from Honeycutt from the outside lane to motor ahead with the lead entering the first two turns. As the field jostled for spots, Hocevar led the next lap before the caution returned due to Cleetus McFarland spinning when he entered the second turn and the backstretch.
As the event restarted with 51 laps remaining, Hocevar and Enfinger dueled for the lead through the first two turns before Hocevar muscled ahead through the backstretch as he received a push from Honeycutt to motor ahead of Enfinger. Seconds later, the caution flew again due to Stewart Friesen spinning in the backstretch.
During the next restart with 45 laps remaining, Hocevar was unable to move in front of Bell in time during the restart’s launch as Bell capitalized and made his move from the inside lane to motor ahead and reassume the lead. As the field scrambled, fanned out and jostled for late spots, Bell led the next lap before Hocevar reassumed the top spot during the following lap. By then, Enfinger made an unscheduled pit stop to have a flat tire that cost him several spots during the restart addressed. Amid Enfinger’s issues, the racing at the front intensified as Hocevar maintained a steady lead over Bell and Heim with 40 laps remaining before the latter two overtook Hocevar during the next lap.
Then with 38 laps remaining, the caution flew when pole-sitter Ty Majeski, who was racing within the top-15 mark, spun by himself after making the slightest of contact with Tanner Gray and backed his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entry hard against the outside wall. During this caution period, nearly the entire field led by Bell pitted while Daniel Dye remained on the track. Following the pit stops and with various mixed strategies ensuing, Garcia, who only pitted for fuel, exited pit road first ahead of Hocevar, the latter of whom pitted for only two fresh tires, while Chandler Smith, Riggs, Garcia, Chastain, Davis, McFarland, Gray and Heim followed suit, respectively.
As the event restarted with 33 laps remaining, the field fanned out through the frontstretch before Hocevar, who briefly pushed Daniel Dye ahead from the outside lane, made a bold three-wide move from the outside lane to motor ahead through the first two turns. As various bumps and on-track contacts ensued through the backstretch, Hocevar fended off Chandler Smith and the field to lead the next lap before the caution returned for a hard two-truck wreck that involved Cole Butcher and Spencer Boyd through the first two turns. The carnage started when Butcher blew a right-front tire, went dead straight into the side of Boyd and sent both hard against the outside wall, which left both competitors with demolished trucks.
The next restart with 26 laps remaining featured Hocevar and Honeycutt dueling for the lead in front of Riggs, Chandler Smith and the field through the frontstretch and the first two turns before Smith shoved Hocevar ahead of the field exiting the backstretch. Hocevar led the next lap ahead of Smith, Honeycutt, Heim and Garcia while Riggs trailed in sixth place. As Eckes and LaJoie started to reel in the top-six competitors from seventh and eighth, Hocevar remained in front of Smith, Honeycutt, Heim, Riggs and Garcia with less than 25 laps remaining.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hocevar continued to lead by 0.097 seconds over a hard-charging Smith while Heim, Honeycutt and Riggs all trailed by as far back as six-tenths of a second. Behind, Eckes, LaJoie, Garcia, Bell, Stenhouse, Mosack, Ruggiero, Ankrum, Queen, Kligerman and Queen all trailed within the top-16 mark, respectively. As the laps continued to dwindle, the top-five competitors were four seconds ahead of sixth-place Bell while Hocevar retained a narrow lead over Smith, Heim, Honeycutt and Riggs, respectively, as the event was approaching its final 15-lap mark.
With 15 laps remaining, Heim executed a run and move beneath Hocevar that started by veering to the left after being pushed by teammate Honeycutt exiting the frontstretch and moving to the bottom lane to overtake Hocevar and assume the lead through the first two turns. Behind, Hocevar, who reported a small piece of debris to his front grille that was beginning to make his engine warm, retained the runner-up spot as he tried to reel Heim back in while Honeycutt joined the battle. As LaJoie made an unscheduled pit stop to have a flat tire addressed from the top-six mark, Heim maintained a steady lead over Hocevar and Honeycutt with 10 laps remaining while Chandler Smith and Riggs were losing ground.
Down to the final five laps, Heim led by a tenth of a second over teammate Honeycutt and by three-tenths of a second over Hocevar while Smith and Riggs trailed by a second, though the latter two started to reel in the trio of leaders. As Hocevar started to lose ground with Smith and Riggs, Honeycutt started to reel in and intimidate Heim for the lead, but the latter maintained the top spot as the laps dwindled.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained in the lead by 0.086 seconds over Honeycutt as Honeycutt tried to make a move beneath and to the outside of Heim through the frontstretch, but was blocked by Heim as Heim maintained a steady lead for nearly a full circuit. Then entering the frontstretch, Honeycutt reeled in on Heim for a final challenge, but Heim stalled Honeycutt’s momentum as they both went to the inside lane and Heim managed to claim the checkered flag first by 0.065 seconds over Honeycutt.
With the victory, Heim notched his 26th career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, his third of the 2026 season and first since he won at Rockingham Speedway in early April. Heim also made Michigan the 22nd track in which he has been victorious at as he also delivered both the fourth Truck victory of the 2026 season for Toyota and TRICON Garage, and the second for TRICON’s No. 1 Toyota team.
Heim’s Truck Michigan victory comes exactly a week after he was revealed to be driving on a full-time basis for 23XI Racing for the 2027 Cup Series season.
“I appreciate the help from [Honeycutt] and [Christopher Bell] all day to get us away from the pack,” Heim said on FS1. “I thought we had the three or four-best trucks running upfront. They did a nice job getting us out front. We discussed that pre-race and then, we’re gonna race it out at the end and that’s what we did. [Honeycutt] tried to get to my right rear there [on the final lap], which would’ve probably won him the race and I had to protect it. Props to Kaden. [It was a] Tense couple of laps there at the end, but that was pretty awesome. [Michigan]’s been a place that I feel like I’ve run runner-up a lot. I felt like we’ve had opportunities to win, kind of like a Charlotte track for me, and finally got it done. Fun race. It’s definitely a little bit of a pack race, so track position was pretty important at the end to find your teammates and get upfront. That was a lot of fun. I had a blast.”
Meanwhile, Honeycutt was left dejected on pit road after being outdueled by Corey Heim for a second time this season. The duo previously battled for the victory at Rockingham, where Heim had also managed to beat Honeycutt for the victory amid a last-lap battle. Amid the disappointment, Honeycutt maintained his composure as he also looked ahead to extending his on-track momentum towards making a championship battle for this season’s conclusion.
“We got stuff to clean up on our end, for sure,” Honeycutt said. “I’m just gonna leave it at that. Other than that, it was a good race there at the end. I’m sure that was a good race for the fans. That was good. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get the win there. I feel like I’ve just lost too many of [races] on myself, on my part. I think that’s what gets me the most, for sure.”
Carson Hocevar, who led a race-high 65 laps and was in position of achieving a home track victory, ended up in third place after he lost momentum in the late stages with only two fresh tires. Teammates Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith settled in fourth and fifth, respectively, as their late on-track teamwork was not enough to launch them back to the front.
Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Connor Mosack, Jake Garcia and Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10 in the final running order, respectively.
There were 20 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured seven cautions for 34 laps. In addition, 25 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 11th event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs leads the standings by 26 points over Kaden Honeycutt, 90 over Chandler Smith, 114 over Giovanni Ruggiero and 118 over Christian Eckes.
Truck Series Results:
- Corey Heim, 15 laps led
- Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led
- Carson Hocevar, 65 laps led
- Layne Riggs
- Chandler Smith
- Christopher Bell, 37 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Connor Mosack
- Jake Garcia
- Tyler Ankrum
- Grant Enfinger
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Daniel Hemric
- Brenden Queen
- Daniel Dye, three laps led
- Parker Kligerman
- Ross Chastain
- Tanner Gray
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Mini Tyrrell
- Ben Rhodes
- Stewart Friesen
- Frankie Muniz
- Spencer Davis
- Cleetus McFarland
- Morgen Baird, one lap down
- Caleb Costner, two laps down
- Justin Haley, two laps down
- Corey LaJoie, two laps down
- Josh Reaume, three laps down
- Kris Wright, four laps down
- Christian Eckes, six laps down
- Cole Butcher – OUT, Accident
- Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident
- Ty Majeski – OUT, Accident, four laps led
- Dawson Sutton – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at Qualcomm Circuit (San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado) in San Diego, California. The event is scheduled to occur on June 19 and air at 7 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
