NASCAR
Corey Heim Comes Through to win Truck Regular Season Finale at Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. – What more is there to say about Corey Heim in 2025? Even on a night where the TRICON No. 11 Toyota appeared beaten, this team still rose to the occasion and found victory lane. Heim was admittedly not the fastest truck at Richmond. Circumstances fell in his favor, however, to deliver a seventh win on the year. Heim now enters the Playoffs with maximum possible momentum, as if this team needed any further motivation.
Heim may have been the polesitter, but defending Richmond winner Ty Majeski showed his strength early. The reigning Truck champion in the ThorSport No. 98 took command for the first time on lap 18, and hardly looked back across both Stages. Majeski restarted eight late in Stage 2, but still took the lead back in only a few laps. The short track ace was on the prowl for a max-points night at Richmond.
Heim would be the only other driver with extended time out front throughout the night. Despite stumbling on a few restarts, better long run speed on Majeski’s Ford eventually overpowered Heim on each run. Majeski seemingly retook the lead for good with 95 laps left, and drove off to a large gap. The 2024’s Truck Series champion’s march to a second-straight Richmond trophy would only be derailed by a teammate on lap 200.
Matt Crafton lost his nose underneath Majeski, sending both drivers around with 50 laps to go. Wall contact gave Majeski some slight damage, with the dominant truck of the night battling back to finish second. This unexpected series of events gave the lead to Corey Heim, who drove off unopposed to his seventh win of the season.
“Me personally I wasn’t that good,” Heim said. “I was very inconsistent. But obviously the 98 was the best truck, and I’m sure he got damaged there and it slowed him down. But you know, we’ve had some get away on us like that this year. This is one that kind of redeems that a little bit. So very thankful for TRICON Garage, Toyota, Safelite. Once again, don’t think we were phenomenal today by any means. We were definitely good enough to be there when it counted and we were.”
Behind Heim and Majeski at the finish were: Layne Riggs, Sammy Smith, and Corey Lajoie. The rest of the top-10 were: Gio Ruggiero, Jake Garcia, Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith, and Kaden Honeycutt.
The end of Stage 1 saw Kaden Honeycutt clinch the ninth Playoff berth. This left the final ticket to the dance to be settled amongst a teammate duo–Jake Garcia or Ben Rhodes. The two-time champion ultimately lost out to his younger comrade by 19 points. For the first time in his career, Jake Garcia is fighting for a NASCAR title this fall.
Regular season champion Corey Heim has reasserted his spot atop the Playoff grid, with a mammoth 65 bonus points. The remainder of the reset 10-man standings are as follows heading into race one of the Round of 10.
Following a week off, the Truckers begin their title quest at Darlington Raceway. The Sober or Slammer 200 goes green Saturday, August 30 at Noon ET on FS1, NRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Track Too Tough To Tame may send one winner a step closer to the ultimate championship prize.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Samuel Corum/Getty Images
