Corey Heim wins NASCAR Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway on Friday night in the eero 250. The Playoff field is set.
RICHMOND, Va – Corey Heim earned a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series best seventh victory of the season in the eero 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Friday night. This was the first short track victory for the Regular Season Champion, taking a fast Toyota truck, some real perseverance, and a bit of racing good fortune.
Corey Heim Wins at Richmond
The 23-year-old Georgia native started from the pole position in the series regular-season finale on the historic three-quarter-mile venue. Still, he quickly had to deal with his front row starting mate, Ty Majeski, who pressed him all night. Majeski swept both stage wins, and his race-best 143 of the 250 laps out front was more laps led than he turned the entire season.
Ultimately, Majeski’s shot at his first win of the year suffered a setback when he was collected in an incident with his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton while leading late in the race.
Although Majeski recovered and raced forward, Heim, who led 75 laps himself in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, got to the front when it mattered most and drove away, taking the lead for good with 20 laps remaining and then holding off the reigning series champ Majeski by 0.923 seconds at the checkered flag.
With the victory, Heim becomes the youngest driver in series history to get to 18 career wins.
“Felt like we were the best truck at [short tracks] Martinsville (Va.) and North Wilkesboro (N.C.) but they got away from us and we kind of got this one back,” Heim said of his short track struggles this season. “I didn’t feel like we were the best truck tonight. I feel like the 98 was really stout, but obviously had a run-in and got some damage.
“Being there when it counted was the first goal and we were and just able to execute from there.”
The NASCAR Truck Series Playoff Standings
The race formally set the ten-driver Playoff field. Heim, Layne Riggs, Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, and Rajah Caruth advance to the six-race Playoffs via victories. Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt, and Jake Garcia topped the rest of the series in points to earn their championship chance.
The 20-year-old Garcia had to hold off former series champion Ben Rhodes and highly-touted rookie Gio Ruggiero Friday. Ultimately his seventh-place finish was enough to give Garcia a 19-point edge on Rhodes and 31-point margin on Ruggiero, who made a valiant run, restarting second on that final restart with 35 laps remaining despite starting last in the 35-truck field.
“Just did my best to run a smart race the second half,” said Garcia, driver of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford. “Even in the first half there were moments we were four wide and that’s not gonna work out at Richmond. There were some points I had to bail out and lost a lot of spots on the restarts just being really conservative.
“But our truck was really fast and I think we could have finished top-five. I want to thank all my guys. They worked really, really hard on this truck like they do all the trucks and gave me a really fast piece today.”
The eero 250 Results
Riggs finished third in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports. His teammates, Sammy Smith and Corey LaJoie, round out the top five positions.
Ruggiero, Garcia, Rhodes, Chandler Smith, and Kaden Honeycutt round out the top ten. Honeycutt will compete for the driver’s title, and his No. 52 Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota will contend for owners’ points.
Next Up
The 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs begin Saturday, Aug. 30 with the Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain won the 2024 race at Darlington. This is the first year the historic track has hosted the series in a Playoff contest.