On Friday night, Corey Heim prevails with a NASCAR Truck Series victory at Martinsville Speedway in the Long John Silver’s 200.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Corey Heim prevailed at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway late Friday night to earn his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory of the season after persevering through rain and dry conditions, two red flag periods for weather, and multiple charges by the highly-motivated veteran Kyle Busch.
Corey Heim Prevails with a NASCAR Truck Series Victory at Martinsville
The 20-year-old Georgia native, Heim, led his first laps of the 2023 season at the right time – holding the point for an impressive 82 of the 124 laps of the Long John Silver’s 200, including the most important lap.
An accident with 85 laps remaining brought out the yellow flag, and after several circuits under caution, NASCAR brought the trucks to pit road, where the red flag flew for rain, and the race was declared official on lap 124 of the scheduled 200 laps.
“Rain, rain, come on,’’ Heim told his TRICON Garage crew on the radio, just before climbing out of his No. 11 Toyota truck during that final red flag period.
“This race was cut short and that’s definitely unfortunate, but this truck was fast all night,’’ he said adding, “I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.’’
The Veteran, Kyle Busch, Settles for Second-Place
Heim had to work for this, holding off Busch – who was racing for the 100th win for Kyle Busch Motorsports – and reigning series champion Zane Smith on four different re-starts to claim the famed one-of-a-kind grandfather clock Martinsville trophy only minutes before that clock would strike midnight.
“We just didn’t have a good enough short run truck,’’ said Busch, who finished second. “Being a little bit loose and free that we were, we were hoping that would pay off in the long run but never had a long run. The longest run of the race was on rain tires.
“It did not go our way today, unfortunately.’’
Heim swept both stage wins – his first of the season as well.
“I bring a 100-percent effort to every race every week so to be able to sit here and have it pay off is phenomenal,’’ Heim said.
The Long John Silver’s 200 Results
Smith finished third in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Ty Majeski for ThorSport Racing, and TRICON teammate Tanner Gray round out the top five.
Ben Rhodes, Matt DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich, and Chase Purdy complete the top ten. For the 16-year-old NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Sawalich, the race was his debut – helping the TRICON team to four top-ten finishes.
The NASCAR Truck Series Point Standings
Majeski maintains the points-lead after Martinsville by 26 points over Smith and 49 over Rhodes.
Next Up
The NASCAR Truck Series will take two weeks off and return to competition on May 6 at Kansas Speedway in the Heart of America 200 at 8 p.m. ET. Coverage of the race is available on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.