HEIM DELIVERS AGAIN, WINS SIXTH RACE OF THE SEASON
The Toyota Development Driver wins fourth straight road course race
WATKINS GLEN, NY (August 8, 2025) – Corey Heim battled through multiple overtime restarts and scored his series-leading sixth NASCAR Truck Series win of the season on Friday evening at Watkins Glen International. It is the Georgia-native’s fourth straight road course win, and 17th Truck Series win of his career.
It was a strong day for Team Toyota with three of the top-four finishers with Gio Ruggiero in third and Christopher Bell, filling in for an injured Stewart Friesen, finished fourth after leading 30 laps.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Watkins Glen International
Race 17 of 23 – 176.4 Miles, 72 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, COREY HEIM
2nd, Daniel Hemric*
3rd, GIO RUGGIERO
4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
5th, Tyler Ankrum*
11th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
12th, WESLEY SLIMP
17th, BRENT CREWS
20th, TIMMY HILL
28th, TANNER GRAY
29th, TONI BREIDINGER
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 1st
What does this win say about you?
“Yeah, that we just never give up. I got behind in that last stage. I was scratching and clawing trying to get back through the field. I had my brakes pretty much go out on me on that long green flag. I was beating them up trying get back through the field. Blew the bus stop, made a lot of mistakes myself. I feel like we’ve had a lot of them get away from us this year with cautions or part failures, but we finally had one go our way, and we had some opportunities to finish it off, and a couple more at end for good measure. Huge thank you to TRICON Garage. This Mobil 1 Tundra was phenomenal. Thank you to Toyota – just everyone that is a part of this. Trevor (Bayne) and Blake (Koch) – they do a phenomenal job with my development. Just so many people to thank, so many people to keep impressing throughout the season. This helps us with the championship and that is our goal this year.”
GIO RUGGIERO, No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 3rd
Can you talk about the finish to the race?
“I’ve got to be on it more. I was closer to him the first time, but good day for our First Auto Group Toyota team – coming back from a mistake on pit road on my part. We just needed some track position there, but our strategy worked out good there in the end, just needed a little bit more on that last restart. I had the speed to stay with him and run him back down – just needed to pull a move there going into turn one.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Why did you pit there late?
“It stumbled, so we were out of fuel. So, I pitted – yeah, surprised of how we were able to get our Toyota back through there. I was like – one more restart, one more restart.”
What is your take away from today was?
“I thought it was awesome to see how good the stuff was. I was asking Jimmy (Villeneuve, crew chief) and Stewart (Friesen) – asking them what they thought the potential was coming here, and they were like, I think we will run top-five or so. It was good. The 11 (Corey Heim) was really strong. I felt like we were right there with him, so I was happy with it.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
