Corey Heim wins first Truck race in last-lap pass

The reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway is widely regarded as a cross between a standard intermediate oval and a superspeedway with its higher banking while retaining the original 1.5-mile length. Like a classic superspeedway finish, Corey Heim made a final-lap pass on Kyle Busch Motorsports team-mate Chandler Smith to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in just his fifth career start.

Smith, the most recent Truck race winner at Las Vegas a fortnight ago, started on the pole while Heim was further back nineteenth as a driver change between races (Kyle Busch finished second at Vegas) impacted his starting position in the qualifying formula. Stewart Friesen, who started second, took the lead on the first lap and led the entire opening stage to win ahead of Grant Enfinger, Derek Kraus, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Tanner Gray, Smith, Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek, and Tyler Ankrum.

While the first stage did not see any cautions, Hailie Deegan‘s race ended when she suffered a flat tyre after contact from Colby Howard, eventually resulting in it catching fire. It has been a difficult West Coast stretch for Deegan, who crashed out at Las Vegas followed by her Mint 400 début last weekend being hampered by a power steering failure.

Deegan was not injured by the blaze and subsequently posted on social media, “Yes I’m okay now. Our truck and times were super fast. First flat was caused from the 91 plowing into me on lap 7 on the back stretch for no reason. I was on fire for multiple laps. I started suffocating and couldn’t breathe when the fire extinguisher and black smoke engulfed the truck on pit road. I couldn’t get out because I couldn’t see the window net. I declined my interview because I couldn’t say 2 worsd without coughing/choking”.

Save for a debris caution on lap 51, the second stage was also relatively clean. Nemechek won with Ty Majeski, Smith, Eckes, Ankrum, Crafton, Dean Thompson, Gray, Carson Hocevar, and Ryan Preece rounding out the top ten.

Despite receiving stage points, Eckes and Thompson’s day fell apart when they wrecked with Thompson’s Niece Motorsports team-mate Lawless Alan on lap 69. Additional cautions came for Tate Fogleman‘s spin, Gray crashing with Jordan Anderson and Fogleman, and another Niece casualty in Kris Wright.

At the front, Smith dominated the stage and seemed poised to win a second consecutive race. However, as the field ran single file coming to the finish, Heim received a strong push from KBM ally Nemechek—who was two laps down after having to pit for damage—to catch Smith as they approached turn one. The Heim/Nemechek duo pulled ahead and Nemechek defended for his team-mate as Heim pulled away for the win.

Heim, a Georgia native who is doing a part-time Truck schedule and finished second in the ARCA Menards Series championship in 2021, is the first driver to win the latter’s season opener at Daytona and a NASCAR national series race in the same year since his boss Kyle Busch did so in 2004 when he won five Xfinity Series events. Other instances include Joe Ruttman in 1982, Jeff Purvis in 1996, and Ryan Newman in 2001, all of whom also won in Xfinity meaning Heim is the only one to do so in the Trucks.

“I feel like our #51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was really good,” said Heim. “It could suck up to the #18 (Smith) with five to go and anytime I try to make a run to simulate it a little bit. It’s hard to say. I could build a big enough run to get up to his rear quarter panel I could have got a shot at it. The #4 (Nemechek) truck pushed me out and gave me a big advantage there at the end.

“My crew chief Marty Lindley put me in a perfect spot. We were running in the twenties for most of the race to try to stay safe. I knew strategy was going to have to take us to the front. Marty did a great job, so did my whole KBM #51 JBL Tundra TRD Pro crew. Just such a phenomenal job by these guys. They really helped me at the end.

“[Winning at a home track] super special. I’ve been in Victory Lane here a bunch of times as a kid racing Bandoleros. It was such a dream to come back here and win a race. It’s surreal. It hasn’t sunk in. Just unbelievable to be here.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	19	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	135	Running
2	15	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	135	Running
3	4	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	135	Running
4	1	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	135	Running
5	25	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	135	Running
6	2	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	135	Running
7	11	17	Ryan Preece	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	135	Running
8	9	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	135	Running
9	18	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	135	Running
10	7	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	135	Running
11	10	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	135	Running
12	8	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	135	Running
13	22	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	135	Running
14	20	61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	135	Running
15	34	02	Jesse Little	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	135	Running
16	16	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	135	Running
17	29	33	Chris Hacker	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	135	Running
18	33	3	Jordan Anderson	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	135	Running
19	31	46	Matt Jaskol	G2G Racing	Toyota	135	Running
20	30	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
21	21	44	Kris Wright	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
22	23	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	134	Running
23	36	41	Ross Chastain*	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Tyre
24	12	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	133	Running
25	3	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	133	Running
26	26	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	133	Running
27	5	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	132	Running
28	35	47	Brennan Poole*	G2G Racing	Toyota	130	Running
29	32	9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	126	Running
30	6	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	123	Running
31	17	30	Tate Fogleman	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	91	Accident
32	28	43	Thad Moffitt	GMS Racing with Reaume Brothers Racing	Chevrolet	79	Engine
33	24	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Accident
34	13	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Accident
35	14	20	Matt Mills*	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	52	Suspension
36	27	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	24	Tyre