Corey Heim gained extra momentum in his quest for this year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship at Martinsville Speedway after winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 finale, Sim Jim 200, at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, October 24, amid a dominant run and an overtime shootout.
The 23-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 77 of 203 overscheduled laps. He qualified in fourth place and led for the first time on Lap 48. After sweeping the event’s first two stage periods, he pitted his entry for the first time prior to the final stage period. Despite restarting in 10th place for the final stage, he kept his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota entry intact and methodically worked his way back to the front through three restarts amid on-track chaos.
During a brief restart with 15 laps remaining, Heim outdueled teammate Brent Crews to return atop the leaderboard. He then retained the top spot through two late-race cautions that sent the event into overtime. He also fended off the competition through a single overtime shootout to notch his unprecedented 11th victory of the 2025 season and gain another late-season momentum entering next weekend’s season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Layne Riggs claimed his third pole position of the 2025 season with a pole-winning lap at 97.217 mph in 19.478 seconds. Riggs shared the front row with rookie Giovanni Ruggiero, the latter of whom clocked in his fastest time at 97.063 mph in 19.509 seconds.
Prior to the event, veteran racer Casey Mears, who made his 600th NASCAR national touring series career start, started at the rear of the field due to a transmission change to his No. 69 MBM Motorsports entry. Clayton Green also dropped to the rear of the field for repairs and unapproved adjustments to his No. 2 Reaume Brothers Racing entry.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Layne Riggs used the inside lane through the first two turns to muscle ahead of Giovanni Ruggiero. With both lanes to his advantage, Riggs cycled back to the frontstretch and proceeded to lead the first lap while Ruggiero and a host of Playoff competitors that included Ty Majeski, Corey Heim, Kaden Honeycutt, Tyler Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger and Daniel Hemric followed suit.
Over the next four laps, Riggs proceeded to stretch his lead to nearly a second over Ruggiero while Majeski, Heim, Honeycutt, Caruth, Ankrum, Hemric and Enfinger followed suit within the top-eight spots on the track. Then on the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew when Andres Perez de Lara, who was locked in a three-wide battle with Matt Crafton and Connor Mosack for a top-15 spot, spun after he got hit in the left rear by Crafton, to which Perez proceeded to hit the outside wall in Turn 4.
The start of the next restart on the 12th lap featured Riggs fending off Ruggiero through the first two turns as the former then led the next lap. As Riggs led, Ruggiero and Majeski battled for the runner-up spot in front of Heim, Honeycutt and Caruth while Ankrum, Enfinger, Hemric, Tanner Gray and Ben Rhodes followed suit, respectively.
On the 20th lap, the event’s second caution flew due to fluid being reported on the track and coming out from Matt Mills’ entry. During the recent caution period, select names that included Jake Garcia, Corey LaJoie, Norm Benning and Frankie Muniz pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Riggs remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 28, Riggs, who restarted as the lead competitor on the inside lane, struggled to launch at the start due to a shifting issue. This allowed Majeski, who started on the outside lane alongside Rigggs, to rocket ahead with the lead. Heim, Ankrum, Enfinger and Tanner Gray all followed suit while Riggs dropped back to sixth place. Amid the restart scramble, Hemric sustained rear end damage and Logan Bearden hit the inside wall while Majeski led the next lap over a hard-charging Heim.
At the Lap 35 mark, Majeski was leading by four-tents of a second over Heim while Ankrum, Enfinger and Riggs followed suit ahead of Tanner Gray, Honeycutt, Ruggiero, Brent Crews and Caruth. Meanwhile, Hemric, who sustained damage to his entry amid the restart jumble, was down in 13th place behind Ben Rhodes and Brenden “Butterbean” Queen while Majeski retained the lead by seventh-tenths of a second on Lap 40.
Shortly after on Lap 40, the event’s third caution flew after Queen collided and sent the lapped competitor of Norm Benning sideways in Turn 1. Amid the contact between Queen and Benning, Hemric sustained more cosmetic damage to his entry after he ran into the rear of Queen while Hemric himself was run into by Conner Jones. During the latest caution, some including Jones, Hemric, Mosaic, Garcia, Timmy Hill, Mears, Chandler Smith, Breidinger, Crafton, Spencer Boyd and Alan Waller pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track. During his pit services for repairs, Hemric lost a lap to the field.
With four laps remaining in the first stage period, Majeski retained the lead over Heim following a strong launch through the first two turns and the backstretch. Heim then got underneath Majeski through the first two turns during the following lap. Heim’s move allowed the Georgian to clear Majeski through Turn 4. As Heim led ahead of Majeski, Enfinger moved up to third place in front of Ankrum and Gray while Riggs, Honeycutt, Ruggiero, Crews and Caruth were in the top 10, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Heim captured his 20th Truck stage victory of the 2025 season. Majeski settled in second ahead of Enfinger, Ankrum and Gray while Riggs, Honeycutt, Ruggiero, Caruth and Brent Crews were scored in the top 10, respectively. With seven of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points, Hemric was the lone contender who did not as he was mired in 30th place and scored a lap down.
Under the first stage break period, Crews, Queen, Wood, Sutton, Patrick Staropoli, Justin Carroll, Timmy Hill, Casey Mears, Muniz and Waller pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Meanwhile, Hemric cycled back on the lead lap as he was the first competitor scored a lap down at the conclusion of the first stage break period.
The second stage period started on Lap 61 as Heim and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Heim used the inside lane through the first two turns to muscle ahead of Majeski. With the lead in his possession through the backstretch along with Turns 3 and 4, Heim led the next lap while Majeski, Enfinger, Ankrum, Gray and Riggs followed suit, respectively.
At the Lap 70 mark, Heim, who led since the start of the second stage period, was leading by half a second over Majeski while Enfinger, Ankrum, Riggs, Gray, Caruth, Honeycutt, LaJoie and Conner Jones followed suit in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Hemric was mired in 29th place.
Two laps later, the caution returned when Caruth, who made contact with Honeycutt in Turn 4 a lap prior while battling for seventh place, spun and made hard contact into the Turn 1 outside wall as he sustained a cut left-rear tire from the contact with Honeycutt. The incident was enough to terminate Caruth’s event due to the damage to his entry. It was also enough to terminate his hopes of securing a Championship 4 berth.
During the caution period, some including LaJoie, Ruggiero, Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Mosaic and Timmy Hill pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
The start of the next restart on Lap 80 featured Heim muscling ahead and retaining the lead over Majeski, Enfinger and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. As Heim stretched his lead to half a second during the following lap, Majeski retained the runner-up spot over Riggs while Enfinger, Gray, Ankrum, Honeycutt, Jones, Crews and Rhodes followed suit, respectively.
Just past the Lap 90 mark, Heim stretched his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Riggs followed suit by more than a second. Behind, Enfinger and Gray remained in the top five while Ankrum occupied sixth place ahead of Crews, Honeycutt, Jones and Rhodes. Meanwhile, Hemric was mired in 20th place behind LaJoie while Matt Crafton, Todd, Queen, Sutton and Ruggiero were racing in the top 15.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 100, Heim notched his second Truck stage victory of the event and his 21st of the 2025 season. Majeski followed suit in second for a second consecutive stage by eight-tenths of a second while Riggs, Enfinger, Gray, Ankrum, Crews, Honeycutt, Jones and Rhodes racked up the event’s second round of stage points by being scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Hemric remained in 20th place behind Garcia.
During the second stage break period, nearly the entire field led by Heim pitted while the rest that included Crews, Ruggiero, Wood, Chandler Smith, Bayley Currey, LaJoie, Garcia, Hemric and Mosaic remained on the track.
With 89 laps remaining, the third and final stage period commenced as teammates Crews and Ruggiero occupied the front row. At the start, Ruggiero dueled with Crews for a full lap as the former managed to lead the next lap. As Ruggiero proceeded to lead ahead of Crews, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through every turn and straightaway as Wood, Currey, Chandler Smith and Hemric followed suit.
Down to the final 80 laps of the event, Ruggiero retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Crews while Wood, Currey and Chandler Smith continued to race in the top five, respectively. Behind, Hemric occupied sixth place ahead of LaJoie, Mosaic, Majeski, Heim, Honeycutt, Riggs and Enfinger while Ankrum was mired in 19th place.
Fifteen laps later, Crews overtook Ruggiero to assume the lead. As Crews proceeded to lead with 60 laps remaining, Heim, who restarted in 10th place, carved his way up to fourth place behind Chandler Smith. Riggs, Majeski and Honeycutt followed suit from sixth through eighth on the track. Meanwhile, Hemric and Enfinger, both of whom were placed in “must-win” situations to make the Championship 4 round, were racing in 10th and 11th on the track.
Shortly after, the caution flew with 60 laps remaining due to Alan Waller spinning through the first two turns. During the caution period, some, including Hemric, LaJoie, Timmy Hill, Garcia, Bayley Currey and Wood pitted while the rest led by Crews, remained on the track.
When the event restarted under green with 52 laps remaining, Crews retained the lead over teammates Ruggiero and Heim, along with Chandler Smith, through the first two turns and the backstretch. As Crews retained the lead over the next three laps, Smith navigated his way into the runner-up spot over Ruggiero and Heim while Riggs, Majeski, Honeycutt and Enfinger all followed suit within the top-eight mark, respectively.
The caution then returned with 46 laps remaining due to a three-truck accident through the first two turns that started when LaJoie made contact with Breidinger, sending the latter and Patrick Staropoli spinning, with Breidinger wrecking against the outside wall. During the latest caution period, select names led by Ruggiero and including Enfinger and Hemric pitted while the rest led by Crews remained on the track.
The start of the next restart, with 38 laps remaining, featured Crews retaining the lead while teammate Heim battled Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot. As the field jostled for late positions, Heim prevailed in his late battle against Smith for the runner-up spot while Crews continued to lead by a second with 35 laps remaining. Meanwhile, Hemric’s hopes of advancing to the Championship 4 round diminished as he took his entry to the garage due to a mechanical issue.
With less than 30 laps remaining, Crews continued to lead by more than a second over teammate Heim, while third-place Chandler Smith trailed by two seconds. Riggs and Honeycutt trailed in the top five by within three seconds while Gray, Majeski, Queen, Jones, and LaJoie were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Ankrum was racing in 11th place while Enfinger battled Jack Wood for 15th place.
Following another late caution that flew with 22 laps remaining due to Mosack wrecking in Turn 4 amid contact from Ruggiero, the next restart with 15 laps remaining featured Heim battling Crews for the lead for a full lap. As Crews and Heim continued to battle for the top spot in front of Honeycutt, the caution returned due to Currey spinning in Turn 4. At the moment of caution, Heim was ruled the leader over Crews.
Amid the next restart with nine laps remaining, where Heim led Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Crews, another caution flew with six laps remaining when Jones, who was battling for a top-10 spot, spun and ignited a five-truck wreck in the backstretch that involved Garcia, Perez de Lara, Dawson Sutton and Ben Rhodes. The incident was also enough to send the event into overtime.
At the start of overtime, Heim used the inside lane through the first two turns to muscle ahead of Honeycutt while teammate Crews battled Honeycutt for the runner-up spot. Amid a stacked field that followed suit, Heim drove away with the top spot.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained in the lead over a tight three-truck battle that involved Honeycutt, Crews and Riggs. With a bevy of competition lurking behind him, Heim was able to navigate his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry smoothly around Martinsville for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by four-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Heim extended the series’ record of most Craftsman Truck Series victories recorded in a single season to 11. Heim also racked up his 22nd career victory, his second at Martinsville and his seventh over the previous 10 races to this year’s schedule.
Having clinched a Championship 4 berth earlier this month, Heim sets his sights on winning his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship at the conclusion of next weekend’s season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway. Even with a record-breaking season highlighted by 11 victories, Heim is not yet ready to call himself a champion before the finale.
“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions yet,” Heim said on the frontstretch on FS1. “We got a big race next week. He continued, “I wanted the momentum going to Phoenix, to keep all our guys with heads held high and what they’re working on going into Phoenix. I feel like it was definitely a rocky race there, getting behind in track position, but we wanted to capitalize on our day and make the most of it. [I] Got a big one next week to close [the season] out, so it’s going to be tough, but I’m confident we can do it.”
Meanwhile, Kaden Honeycutt crossed the finish line for a career-best runner-up result while Layne Riggs edged Brent Crews to claim third place. As a result, both Honeycutt and Riggs were left tied in points for the fourth and final transfer berth to the Championship 4 round, but it was Honeycutt who claimed the tie-breaker and achieved the final berth.
In a season where he made a mid-season change to Halmar Friesen Racing to replace the injured Stewart Friesen prior to qualifying for his first Playoffs, Honeycutt will now contend for his first series title.
“It’s unbelievable, man,” Honeycutt said. “I should have very easily been on the couch in July after I made my decision on what to do. I’m so grateful to be a part of Toyota and this amazing manufacturer. To carry on this championship now, we got a 50% chance of winning it, at least. So I’m very much looking forward to next weekend. Regardless of how everything goes, I’m just extremely thankful.”
Amid Honeycutt’s emotional highs, Riggs was left dejected, both on missing the Championship 4 cutline and the Martinsville competition that had the North Carolina native navigating his way to the front, where on-track contact was involved to which Riggs did not want to utilize.
“I just don’t like racing that way, man,” Riggs said. “I want to race straight up and how it’s supposed to be, but I’m hearing, ‘got to get a spot; got to get one.’ I’m gonna do what my team tells me to do to get in this championship. And [I’m] roughing guys up I don’t really want to rough up. They’ve done nothing to me in the past. I just don’t like racing like that, man.”
Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum finished seventh and ninth, respectively, and join Heim and Honeycutt as the other two finalists to achieve Championship 4 berths. For Ankrum, this season marks his first-ever time reaching the final Playoff round as he will contend for his first championship. For Majeski, he will enter next weekend’s finale at Phoenix with an opportunity to defend his series title.
Riggs joins Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric, and Rajah Caruth as the remaining four Playoff contenders who did not advance to the Championship 4 round.
There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured 11 cautions for 75 laps. In addition, 23 of 35 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
1. Corey Heim, 77 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
2. Kaden Honeycutt
3. Layne Riggs, 27 laps led
4. Brent Crews, 53 laps led
5. Corey LaJoie
6. Chandler Smith, one lap led
7. Ty Majeski, 20 laps led
8. Tanner Gray
9. Tyler Ankrum
10. Brenden Queen
11. Giovanni Ruggiero, 25 laps led
12. Grant Enfinger
13. Jack Wood
14. Ben Rhodes
15. Patrick Staropoli
16. Timmy Hill
17. Spencer Boyd
18. Jake Garcia
19. Dawson Sutton
20. Justin Carroll
21. Bayley Curry
22. Conner Jones
23. Frankie Muniz
24. Casey Mears, two laps down
25. Logan Bearden, six laps down
26. Toni Breidinger, seven laps down
27. Matt Mills, nine laps down
28. Andres Perez de Lara, 14 laps down
29. Matt Crafton – OUT, Brakes
30. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident
31. Daniel Hemric – OUT, Engine
32. Alan Waller – OUT, Accident
33. Norm Benning – OUT, Too Slow
34. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident
35. Clayton Green – OUT, Electrical
*Bold indicates Playoff competitors.
Playoff standings:
1. Corey Heim – Advanced
2. Tyler Ankrum – Advanced
3. Ty Majeski – Advanced
4. Kaden Honeycutt – Advanced
5. Layne Riggs – Eliminated
6. Rajah Caruth – Eliminated
7. Grant Enfinger – Eliminated
8. Daniel Hemric – Eliminated
The 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is scheduled to occur next Friday, October 31, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
