Corey Heim earns fifth Trucks win
of season at Pocono
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[July 13, 2024]
LONG POND, Pa. -- Corey Heim earned his NASCAR Trucks
Series-leading fifth victory of the season on Friday in the
rain-interrupted CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono Raceway. The 21-year old
swept both stages and led 55 of the 70 laps to add to his trophy
total.
However, he had to battle competitors and climate for the win.
The Georgian's No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota led Grant Enfinger's
Chevrolet across the finish line by 0.867 seconds to take his 10th
career victory, quickly re-establishing himself as the race leader
-- again -- on the final restart with three laps remaining.
"It started from the very beginning, we've had such a close bond,"
Heim said of his strong working relationship with crew chief Scott
Zipadelli and the career-best single season win mark.
"Week in and week out, so proud of these guys, can't say enough
about them," Heim said.
Raindrops covered the windshields of the trucks -- particularly in
Turn 2 of the 2.5-mile Pocono track -- and eventually brought out a
caution flag for weather with only nine laps remaining in the race.
After parking on pit road for just over 10 minutes of red-flag
stoppage, the field returned to the track for a lap only to come
back down pit road again as the rain got heavier with seven laps
remaining.
Not surprisingly, Heim immediately told his crew the rain was
substantial. Enfinger, who was 2.2 seconds behind Heim at the time
of the initial red flag, was optimistic it was going to be a brief
shower. NASCAR had already determined before the green flag that the
race would be official no matter the circumstance at 8:20 p.m. ET --
approximately one hour and 10 minutes after the first red flag waved
Friday evening.
But the sun shone on the restart, allowing enough laps to complete
the race -- a light rain beginning again during drivers' post-race
interviews.
Enfinger equaled his best finish of the year -- also achieved at
North Wilkesboro, N.C. -- helping solidify the CR7 Motorsports
driver's position in the playoff standings. He is seventh place with
only two races remaining before the playoffs begin Aug. 25 at the
Milwaukee Mile Speedway.
McAnally Hilgemann's Christian Eckes finished third, followed by
TRICON Garage's Taylor Gray and NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross
Chastain, driving for Niece Motorsports.
The closing laps featured close racing up front with many among the
lead pack having to be conscious about saving fuel -- a variable
then made moot with the rain stoppage. Heim was trying to hold off
the hard-charging, highly motivated veteran Enfinger, who was racing
for his first win of the season. Eckes had to hold off Chastain for
third place.
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Eckes, the pole winner, led the race's opening 11 laps in the No. 19
McAnally Hilgemann Chevy and finished second to Heim in both stages.
However, a slow pit stop during the second stage break forced Eckes
to play catch-up. He restarted 10th but was up to fourth place
within five laps and continued to move forward.
He rallied to that ultimate third-place showing, giving him a
series-best, 12-race streak of top-10 finishes. Eckes still holds a
32-point edge on Heim for the regular season championship.
The first caution flag for a race incident came out with 26 laps
remaining when Rajah Caruth spun. At the time, Heim led Chastain by
almost three seconds. As the trucks drove under caution, drivers
were alerted that rain was imminent, so the front-runners did not
pit.
Chase Purdy, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson and Caruth
rounded out the top 10.
With only two races remaining to set the 10-driver playoff field,
Daniel Dye holds a single-point edge on Tanner Gray in the 10th
position and a four-point advantage over Friesen.
Only four full-time series drivers have won this season to claim
automatic playoff berths: Heim, Eckes, Nick Sanchez (the 13th-place
finisher on Friday) and Caruth.
The Craftsman Truck Series moves to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway
Park on July 19 for the TSport 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM
NASCAR Radio). Ty Majeski won last year's race by more than three
seconds over Eckes. Heim was eighth.
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NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race -- CRC Brakleen
175
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Friday, July 12, 2024
1. (2) Corey Heim, Toyota, 70.
2. (8) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 70.
3. (1) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 70.
4. (19) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 70.
5. (27) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 70.
6. (16) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 70.
7. (10) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 70.
8. (15) Matt Crafton, Ford, 70.
9. (22) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 70.
10. (3) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 70.
11. (13) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 70.
12. (30) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 70.
13. (9) Nick Sanchez, Chevrolet, 70.
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14. (4) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 70.
15. (18) Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, 70.
16. (5) Daniel Dye, Chevrolet, 70.
17. (20) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 70.
18. (7) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 70.
19. (11) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 70.
20. (21) Zane Smith(i), Chevrolet, 70.
21. (12) Jake Garcia, Ford, 70.
22. (28) Luke Fenhaus, Ford, 70.
23. (25) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 70.
24. (29) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 70.
25. (14) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 70.
26. (26) Kris Wright, Toyota, 70.
27. (32) Mason Maggio, Ford, 70.
28. (36) Justin Carroll, Toyota, 70.
29. (31) Thad Moffitt #, Chevrolet, 70.
30. (17) Layne Riggs #, Ford, 69.
31. (6) Ty Majeski, Ford, 68.
32. (24) Lawless Alan, Ford, 68.
33. (33) Sage Karam(i), Ford, 67.
34. (34) Bryan Dauzat, Chevrolet, 65.
35. (35) Stephen Mallozzi, Ford, Transmission, 22.
36. (23) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, Hub, 5.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 113.269 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 32 Mins, 42 Secs. Margin of Victory: .867
Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 17 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Eckes 1-11;C. Heim 12-32;J. Garcia 33-36;C. Heim
37-70.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim 2 times
for 55 laps; Christian Eckes 1 time for 11 laps; Jake Garcia 1 time
for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,19,18,43,9,98,2,17,52,15
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,19,43,9,18,98,45,52,15,42
--By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
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