Fresh off an ARCA Menards Series runner-up finish, Corey Heim will elevate his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule for 2022. On Tuesday, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced Heim will run fifteen races in 2022 in the #51 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro beginning with the season opener at Daytona.
Heim was a championship contender during the 2021 ARCA season as he recorded top-ten finishes in all twenty races with six wins, but lost the title to fellow Toyota driver Ty Gibbs by thirty-seven points. In thirty-six career ARCA starts since 2019, he has seven victories and thirty-five top tens. Along with the ARCA trail, he ran three Truck races for KBM, finishing twenty-third at Darlington, thirteenth at Watkins Glen, and eleventh at Martinsville. The Martinsville start saw him finish second in Stage #2 and run in that position before being spun late.
He is no stranger to success at Daytona as he won the ARCA race there in 2021. His 2022 Truck slate will also include the final eight races, meaning he will run the regular season finale at Pocono and all seven playoff races. The other six races were not immediately revealed.
“Coming up through the Toyota Racing Development programme not only have I looked up to Kyle as a driver but I’ve also watched him build KBM into an organisation that provides up-and-coming drivers with all the tools that they need to win races and compete for championships,” said Heim. “I’m super grateful for the opportunity to compete for an owner’s championship alongside him in the #51 Tundra TRD Pro in 2022.”
While John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith are the team’s full-timers, the #51 serves as KBM’s multi-driver truck. Team owner Kyle Busch is expected to continue part-time competition in the truck.
“Corey proved that he is capable of running up front and winning races in the ARCA Menards Series last season and we feel that he is very deserving of the opportunity for an expanded schedule with KBM next year,” commented Busch. “Without any practice or qualifying, he was able to step right in and run well enough in his Truck Series races this year and we feel that once he is able to get behind the wheel on a more consistent basis that he is someone that will be able to compete for wins.”
