Corey Heim Takes Win in Pocono Truck Race (2024)

Corey Heim Takes Win in Pocono Truck Race (1)

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

James Krause

Rain or shine — or as it was after the checkered flag, both — anytime in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series can be Heim time.

Corey Heim captured his fifth Truck Series win of the season on Friday (July 12) at Pocono Raceway in the CRC Brakleen 175.

After rain stopped the race with nine laps to go, a lengthy delay ended with Heim and Christian Eckes leading the field to green with three laps to go. Eckes got a hard push from Ross Chastain that got the No. 19 Chevy loose and bunched up the field behind him. Heim took advantage and sailed off to a win.

Heim only needed one pit stop, crediting crew chief Scott Zipadeli with combining a winning strategy with a dominant car.

“(Scott and I) have had such a close bond and he does such a phenomenal job giving me fast Safelite Toyota TRD Pros every week,” Heim said in a post race interview with FOX Sports 1. “This week wasn’t any different. This thing was badass. I’ve got a badass crew and a badass truck week in and week out.

“So proud of these guys. Can’t say enough about them. Five wins, it’s something I never thought I’d achieve in a single season. But here we are and we’ve got many more to go.”

Grant Enfinger was holding pace with Heim before the rain came with eight laps to go and matched his season-best finish of second. Enfinger started on the outside of row two on the restart.

After leading every lap at Nashville in his third win of the season, Eckes came through the field after a slow pit stop to finish third. Eckes still leads Heim in the points by 32 points.

Taylor Gray finished fourth while Ross Chastain took fifth. Chase Purdy, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson and Rajah Caruth rounded out the top-10.

Daniel Dye placed 16th. That result and 15 stage points helped him take over the final playoff spot by one point over Tanner Gray. Gray finished 19th.

Ty Majeski was running in the top-10 most of the evening until a battery issue forced him to pit with 17 laps to go. Majeski finished 33rd.

After dropping several spots on the initial start, Heim fought his way back up to second with a pass on Tyler Ankrum on lap eight. On lap 12, Heim won a back-and-forth battle with Eckes and pulled away to win stage one. Eckes, Ankrum, Dye and Enfinger rounded out the top-five point receivers.

Heim continued to dominate in stage two, leading every lap on his way to another green-checkered flag after 30 laps. Eckes, Dye, Enfinger and Ankrum earned top-five stage points as pit strategy soon came into play.

Heim led the field onto pit road at the stage break, but came off third behind Matt Mills on a two-tire stop and Timmy Hill on a no-tire stop.

Jake Garcia and Nick Sanchez stayed out to make up the front row on the restart, only for both to wind up pitting within five laps of the restart. In the end it all still shook out in favor of Heim in the end, who took the lead from Garcia before completing a green-flag lap in the final stage.

Eckes had a slow pitstop after stage two and restarted outside the top-15 before making it back to fourth in just three laps.

The first caution for an on-track incident came out with 26 laps to go when Caruth spun in turn 1 while battling with Taylor Gray and Spire Motorsports teammate Connor Mosack.

Heim, Enfinger, Chastain and Eckes made a breakaway on the restart with the No. 11 Toyota and the No. 9 Chevy pulling out to an eight second advantage over the No. 45 and No. 19 Chevys.

Rain in turns two and three brought out the caution with nine laps to go, eventually leading to a red flag. After the cars were refired and back under caution, rain persisted and cars returned to pit lane.

Heim and Eckes led the field for a three-lap shootout to the finish. Eckes nearly crashed heading into turn 1, scrambling the field and allowing Heim to pull away.

CRC Brakleen 175 Results

The Truck Series returns on July 19 with the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Coverage on Fox Sports 1 is set to start at 8:30 p.m. ET.

About the author

James Krause

James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with of football, music, anime and video games.

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Corey Heim Takes Win in Pocono Truck Race (2024)

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