LOUDON, N.H. — Corey Heim turned in another successful chapter to one of the most dominant seasons in NASCAR Truck Series history, claiming his record-tying ninth season win in Saturday’s Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The 23-year-old Georgia native’s race effort was nearly as perfect as the NASCAR weekend setting — sunshine and cool fall temperatures set among the beautiful season-changing foliage for which New England is renowned.
Heim claimed pole position in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, swept both stages, led a race-best 124 of the 175 laps, set the fastest lap of the day, and then motored off to a .823-second victory over Chandler Smith to end the first round of the series playoffs as dominantly as the regular-season champion started them.
The nine-victory effort this year ties the single-season win mark set by former series champion Greg Biffle in 1999. And immediately after Saturday’s checkered flag, Biffle posted a photo on social media of him holding a lobster (New Hampshire’s traditional trophy award) on a beach with the caption, “Welcome to the 9-win club.”
“It’s a dream come true to be able to race with these guys,” Heim said of his team. “Seems like everywhere we go this year we’re a contender or we win, so just can’t say enough about those guys.
“But got to keep it going,” continued Heim, who has 20 wins in 85 career starts. “Still have four more races left (this year) and want to break that (single-season wins) record. Shout out to Greg Biffle. He’s a great dude. Dream year for me personally, and just have to keep it going. It’s awesome.”
Smith’s runner-up showing was an inspired rally to try to advance to the next round of the playoffs, but ultimately the Front Row Motorsports driver came up 10 points shy of moving on in the championship battle. ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia, who finished 16th Saturday, also failed to move on in the title fight.
“Just a lot of bad luck,” Smith said. … “Super grateful for these group of guys that we assembled on this 38-team, and we huddled together before the race, and I let them know this doesn’t define us no matter what the outcome. I’m proud of each and every one of them.”
Smith’s Front Row teammate, Layne Riggs, finished third at New Hampshire, and the season’s three-time winner will begin this next three-race round of playoff competition ranked second to Heim — 47 points behind the championship favorite.
Heim’s rookie teammate, Gio Ruggiero, crossed the line fourth in one of his best showings of the season. And reigning series champion ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski was fifth.
The championship lineup going forward with points re-set includes — in order — McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric, Majeski, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum, CR7 Motorsports Grant Enfinger, Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth, and Halmar-Friesen Racing’s Kaden Honeycutt.
Enfinger, Honeycutt, Corey LaJoie, Christian Eckes and Caruth rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Team EJP 175
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H., Saturday
1. (1) Corey Heim (P), Toyota, 175.
2. (2) Chandler Smith (P), Ford, 175.
3. (4) Layne Riggs (P), Ford, 175.
4. (14) Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, 175.
5. (3) Ty Majeski (P), Ford, 175.
6. (16) Grant Enfinger (P), Chevrolet, 175.
7. (15) Kaden Honeycutt (P), Toyota, 175.
8. (8) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 175.
9. (28) Christian Eckes(i), Chevrolet, 175.
10. (12) Rajah Caruth (P), Chevrolet, 175.
11. (10) Tyler Ankrum (P), Chevrolet, 175.
12. (13) Daniel Hemric (P), Chevrolet, 175.
13. (29) Michael Christopher Jr, Toyota, 175.
14. (21) Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, 175.
15. (20) Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, 175.
16. (9) Jake Garcia (P), Ford, 175.
17. (7) Brent Crews, Toyota, 175.
18. (23) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 174.
19. (26) Mason Massey(i), Chevrolet, 174.
20. (30) Blake Lothian, Ford, 174.
21. (27) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 174.
22. (19) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 173.
23. (24) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 170.
24. (17) Ben Rhodes, Ford, Accident, 133.
25. (25) Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, Accident, 132.
26. (6) Matt Crafton, Ford, Accident, 132.
27. (34) Tyler Tomassi(i), Ford, Accident, 126.
28. (22) Patrick Emerling (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 100.
29. (5) Tanner Gray, Toyota, Accident, 61.
30. (35) Derek White, Ford, Accident, 45.
31. (18) Conner Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 41.
32. (31) Jayson Alexander, Chevrolet, Accident, 31.
33. (36) Caleb Costner, Toyota, Accident, 30.
34. (32) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 29.
35. (33) Stephen Mallozzi, Ford, Suspension, 7.
36. (11) Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
Average speed of race winner: 88.027 mph.
Time of race: 2 hours, 6 minutes, 12 seconds. Margin of victory: 0.823 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 54 laps.
Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers.
Lap leaders: C. Heim (P) 1-56;A. Perez De Lara # 57-103;R. Caruth (P) 104-107;C. Heim (P) 108-175.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim (P) 2 times for 124 laps; Andres Perez De Lara # 1 time for 47 laps; Rajah Caruth (P) 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,38,98,71,13,52,44,1,26,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,44,38,34,17,77,71,19,52,9
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
