Corey Heim struck back amid Christian Eckes’ lap-by-lap win at Nashville Superspeedway by claiming a dominant NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the rain-delayed CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono Raceway on Friday, July 12.
The 22-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led twice for a race-high 55 of 70-scheduled laps in an event where he started alongside Eckes on the front row based on a qualifying metric formula due to rain canceling the event’s on-track qualifying session. Despite getting quickly shuffled out of the top five and nearly getting turned on the opening lap, Heim made up the rough start by returning to the runner-up spot on the sixth lap. Then after taking the lead from Eckes for the first time on Lap 12, Heim quickly made himself and his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota team forces to be reckoned with as the driver proceeded to win the event’s first two stages, all while stretching his fuel tank through both periods.
After pitting for the first and only time prior to the final stage period, Heim quickly cycled his way past Jake Garcia to reassume the lead following a restart with 34 laps remaining. With the event eventually being red-flagged twice under the final 10 laps due to a steady increase of on-track precipitation before having enough sunlight to finish its scheduled distance, Heim capitalized on a three-lap shootout to muscle away from Grant Enfinger, Eckes and the field to cruise to his fifth Truck victory of the 2024 season and his first at Pocono, the track dubbed “The Tricky Triangle.”
With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Friday canceled due to precipitation, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a qualifying metric formula. As a result, Christian Eckes, winner of the previous Truck event at Nashville Superspeedway two weeks ago and the fastest during Friday’s practice session, was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Corey Heim.
Prior to the event, rookie Layne Riggs started at the rear of the field in a backup truck after he wrecked his primary truck during Friday’s practice session. Bryan Dauzat and Justin Carroll also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch as Christian Eckes, who started on the outside lane, retained the lead through the first turn before navigating his way through Long Pond Straightaway. Behind, teammate Tyler Ankrum and Ty Majeski charged their way up to second and third, respectively, as Daniel Dye, Grant Enfinger and Rajah Caruth, the latter of which made a three-wide attempt for the lead from third place, followed suit. Meanwhile, Corey Heim, who started on the inside lane from the front row, was backsliding as he nearly got turned through the Long Pond Straightaway. As the field continued to jostle for early spots through the Tunnel Curve before entering a final turn, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap followed by Ankrum as Majeski, Enfinger, Stewart Friesen and Heim followed suit in the top six while Caruth found himself backsliding.
Over the next three laps, Eckes extended his advantage to a second over Ankrum as Heim, who lost four spots at the start, charged his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro back up to third place as he tried to close in on Ankrum for the runner-up spot. Eckes would proceed to lead the fifth lap mark by eight-tenths of a second over Ankrum with Heim closing in from third place as Daniel Dye and Majeski trailed in the top five. Behind, Grant Enfinger was in sixth place ahead of Stewart Friesen and Nick Sanchez while Ben Rhodes and the Gray brothers of Tanner and Taylor followed suit.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes continued to lead in his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Heim, who overtook Ankrum’s No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST for the runner-up spot four laps earlier and made up a second deficit to Eckes. Behind, Ankrum trailed in third place by two seconds while Dye, Majeski, Enfinger, Sanchez, Friesen and the Gray brothers of Tanner and Taylor were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Rhodes was mired in 11th ahead of Jake Garcia, Chase Purdy, Matt Mills and Rajah Caruth while Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson, Connor Mosack and Lawless Alan were racing in the top 20 ahead of Bret Holmes, Kris Wright, Ty Dillon, Luke Fenhaus and Timmy Hill.
Shortly after, a tight side-by-side and crossover battle between Eckes and Heim ignited, with the former retaining the top spot by an advantage before the latter, who fended off a crossover move by Eckes through the Tunnel Curve, led for the first time on Lap 12. After assuming the lead on Lap 12, Heim, who wheeled his truck from the left to right to break off Eckes’ draft and run through the frontstretch, would stretch his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Eckes by Lap 13.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 15, Heim captured his fifth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes followed suit in second along with Ankrum, Dye and Enfinger while Majeski, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Friesen and Tanner Gray were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, some including the top-six competitors that included Heim, Eckes, Ankrum, Dye, Enfinger and Majeski remained on the track while the rest led by Sanchez pitted. Among those who also remained on the track without pitting included Friesen, Taylor Gray, Caruth, Lawless Alan, Luke Fenhaus and Bayley Currey. During the pit stops, Mason Maggio had a tire roll away from his pit stall and was penalized while Zane Smith received a long service due to his pit crew addressing a broken right-rear shock to Smith’s No. 91 SpeedyCash.com Chevrolet Silverado RST.
The second stage period started on Lap 20 as Heim and Ankrum as occupied the front row. At the start, most of the field remained in two-by-two formation through the frontstretch and entering the first turn as Heim retained the lead. Behind, Eckes charged his way back to second as he was pursued by Daniel Dye while Ankrum slipped to fourth, all while the field behind jostled entering Long Pond Straightaway. Amid the battles around Pocono’s tricky turns, Heim retained the lead for the following lap while Eckes, who opted to restart on the second row before reclaiming the runner-up spot during the restart, followed suit along with teammate Dye, Ankrum, Enfinger and Majeski. Behind, Sage Karam’s No. 21 CRC Brakleen Ford F-150 was smoking amid contact with Ty Dillon, but the race remained under green flag conditions.
By Lap 25, Heim extended his advantage to more than a second over runner-up Eckes while Dye, Enfinger and Ankrum trailed in the top five and by five seconds. Behind, sixth-place Taylor Gray trailed by six seconds ahead of Majeski, Friesen, Chastain and Tanner Gray while Matt Mills, who was racing on four fresh tires after he pitted during the first stage break period, was in 11th place ahead of Caruth, Sanchez, Holmes, Rhodes, Connor Mosack, Chase Purdy, Fenhaus, Dean Thompson and Garcia.
With nearly three laps remaining until the second stage’s conclusion, Taylor Gray and Nick Sanchez peeled off the racetrack to pit their respective entries under green. Meanwhile, Heim remained on the track as he was leading by nearly two seconds over Eckes as Dye and Enfinger battled for third place in front of Ankrum.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim notched his second Truck stage victory of the day and sixth of the 2024 season. Eckes trailed in second place by three seconds while Dye, Enfinger, Ankrum, Majeski, Chastain, Friesen, Tanner Gray and Matt Mills were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Heim pitted while select names including Jake Garcia, Thad Moffitt and Nick Sanchez remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Bayley Currey was penalized for having crew members over the pit wall too soon while Eckes, who entered pit road in second place, plummeted back to within the top 20 following a slow pit service. Not long after, Moffitt, who recently joined Young’s Motorsports, pitted, which left both Garcia and Sanchez strapped on the front row.
With 34 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Garcia and Sanchez occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out as wide as four lanes through the frontstretch as Garcia was being challenged by Mills for the lead entering Turn 1. Despite fending off Mills through the first two turns, Heim, who restarted fifth, quickly charged right to the rear bumper of Garcia through Long Pond Straightaway. Then after trailing Garcia through the Tunnel Curve, Heim used a bold move on the outside lane through the final turn to reassume the lead as he led the following lap. As Heim both retained and started to stretch his advantage on his four fresh tires, Garcia retained second ahead of Sanchez and Enfinger while Eckes zipped his way back into the top five following his slow pit service as he was battling Chastain for fifth place. Not long after, Garcia, who made on-track contact with Sanchez, pitted his No. 13 Quanta Services Ford F-150 under green with 31 laps remaining. Amid Garcia’s pit service, where he lost a bevy of spots and time due to a slow service, Heim retained the lead by nearly two seconds over Chastain with 30 laps remaining.
With 26 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Caruth spinning his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST in Turn 1 after he got loose underneath teammate Mosack while racing for ninth place, though Caruth was able to prevent his truck from hitting the wall. At the time of the caution, Heim had stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over Chastain while Enfinger, Eckes, Purdy, Mills, Dye, Thompsons, Mosack and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Sanchez, who pitted two laps earlier to top off on fuel, was mired back in 27th place as Garcia was down in 29th place. During the caution period, some led by Dye and including Mosack, Rhodes, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Bayley Currey, Timmy Hill, Ty Dillon, Caruth and Garcia pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
With the event restarting with 22 laps remaining, where Heim and Enfinger occupied the front row, the field jumbled out and then fanned out through the frontstretch as Heim was pushed by Chastain to retain the lead. Behind, Enfinger retained second over Chastain while Eckes, Mills and Purdy followed suit in the top six through Long Pond Straightaway. With more jostling of spots occurring within the field, Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Enfinger with 20 laps remaining while Chastain was fending off Eckes for third place. Behind, Mills and Purdy retained fifth and sixth, respectively, while Majeski was racing in seventh place ahead of a tight battle between teammates Thompson and Taylor Gray.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Heim stretched his advantage to a second over Enfinger as Eckes, Chastain and Taylor Gray followed suit in the top five. Behind, Mills occupied sixth place ahead of Purdy, Thompson, Sanchez and Friesen while Holmes, Crafton, Tanner Gray, Rhodes and Mosack were in the top 15 ahead of Caruth, Fenhaus, Dye, Ankrum and Currey. Meanwhile, Majeski, who made an unscheduled pit stops two laps earlier due to a power issue and needing a new battery to his No. 98 Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford F-150, was mired back in 32nd place as he also lost two spots in the process.
With 10 laps remaining, Heim stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over runner-up Enfinger as both third-place Chastain and fourth-place Eckes trailed by within 10 seconds. Eckes would then overtake Chastain for the runner-up spot shortly after as Chastain nearly got loose in Turn 1.
A lap later and amid a rapid decrease in temperature, the caution flew due to rain falling on the Pocono circuit. Another lap later, the field led by Heim was directed to pit road and the event was placed in a red flag period due to the on-track rain. Ten-and-a-half minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the field led by Heim returned to the track under a cautious pace amid a light drizzle before the continuation of the drizzles forced the field to return to pit road and placed in a second red flag period after just one caution lap. Approximately 24 minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the race resumed under a cautious pace with six laps remaining.
During the caution period, select names including Currey, Fenhaus, Garcia, Timmy Hill, Zane Smith, Layne Riggs, Lawless Alan and Sage Karam pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period with three laps remaining featured a brief side-by-side battle between Heim and Eckes through the frontstretch until Eckes nearly got turned sideways by Chastain entering the first turn. This allowed Heim, who was getting pushed by Enfinger as Enfinger opted to restart behind Heim, to muscle ahead from the outside lane and lead through the first two turns. Behind, Enfinger battled Eckes for second place in front of Chastain and Taylor Gray through Long Pond Straightaway. With more battles and competitors fanning out to multiple lanes ensuing through the Tunnel Curve before navigating through the final turn, Heim began to stretch his advantage as he was leading by six-tenths of a second over Enfinger and a hard-charging Eckes.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by nine-tenths of a second over Enfinger, who was trying to fend off Eckes for the spot in his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST. With the latter two unable to generate a final lap charge nor decrease Heim’s large deficit, Heim was able to cruise his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around the Pocono circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and emerged victorious for his fifth checkered flag of the 2024 season.
With the victory, Heim, who was overtaken by former team owner/teammate Kyle Busch for the Pocono victory a year ago, notched his 10th Craftsman Truck Series career win in his 55th series start, his first since winning at World Wide Technology Raceway in early June and his eighth as a driver for TRICON Garage, with the organization claiming its fifth victory of the 2024 season.
The Pocono victory validated the strong driver-crew chief bond shared between Heim and Scott Zipadelli, the 2018 Truck Series championship-winning crew chief who claimed his 23rd series’ victory, as both continue to gain more bonuses prior to the start of the 2024 Playoffs two races from now, where both will attempt to contend for this year’s series title at Phoenix Raceway in November.
“[Scott Zipadelli and I]’ve had such a close bond,” Heim said on FS1. “He just does a phenomenal job giving me fast Safelite Tundra TRD Pros every week. This week wasn’t any different. This [truck] was badass. Got a badass crew, badass truck week in and week out. So proud of these guys. [I] Can’t say enough about five wins. It’s something that I never thought I’d achieve in a single season, but here we are and we got many more to go, so I’m pumped. It’s awesome…We’re focused on 2024. We got all the potential in the world right now. Just a phenomenal day for us.”
Grant Enfinger settled in second place for the second time of the 2024 season while Christian Eckes ended up in third place after leading the first 11 laps. Taylor Gray rallied from wrecking out at Nashville Superspeedway to finish in fourth place for his fourth top-five run of the season while Ross Chastain, the 2019 Truck Series winner at Pocono, survived to finish in fifth place in his fourth Truck start of the year.
Chase Purdy, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Nick Sanchez settled in 13th place in front of Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Dye ended up in 16th place, Tanner Gray settled in 19th place behind Ben Rhodes, Zane Smith finished in 20th place in front of Jake Garcia and Ty Majeski ended up in 31st place, two laps down, following his late power issues.
With his 16th-place result, Daniel Dye, who notched top-four finishes during the event’s two stage periods and accumulated critical stage points, holds a one-point advantage over Tanner Gray for the 10th and final transfer spot to the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs with two regular-season races remaining on the schedule. As Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes join Dye in being above the top-10 cutline based on points, others including Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Jake Garcia, Dean Thompson and rookie Layne Riggs join Tanner Gray as competitors currently scored outside the cutline.
There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 17 laps. In addition, 29 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 14th event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes leads the regular-season standings by 32 points over Corey Heim.
Results.
1. Corey Heim, 55 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
2. Grant Enfinger
3. Christian Eckes, 11 laps led
4. Taylor Gray
5. Ross Chastain
6. Chase Purdy
7. Stewart Friesen
8. Matt Crafton
9. Dean Thompson
10. Rajah Caruth
11. Matt Mills
12. Bret Holmes
13. Nick Sanchez
14. Tyler Ankrum
15. Connor Mosack
16. Daniel Dye
17. Bayley Currey
18. Ben Rhodes
19. Tanner Gray
20. Zane Smith
21. Jake Garcia, four laps led
22. Luke Fenhaus
23. Timmy Hill
24. Mason Massey
25. Ty Dillon
26. Kris Wright
27. Mason Maggio
28. Justin Carroll
29. Thad Moffitt
30. Layne Riggs, one lap down
31. Ty Majeski, two laps down
32. Lawless Alan, two laps down
33. Sage Karam, three laps down
34. Bryan Dauzat, five laps down
35. Stephen Mallozzi – OUT, Transmission
36. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Hub
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, July 19, and air at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
