Corey Heim and his crew celebrate after winning Friday night’s rain shortened NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Corey Heim prevailed at Martinsville Speedway late Friday night to earn his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season after persevering through both rain and dry conditions, two red flag periods for weather and multiple charges by the highly-motivated veteran Kyle Busch.
Heim, a native of Marietta, Georgia, led his first laps of the 2023 season at exactly the right time – holding the point for an impressive 82 of the 124 laps of the race. Including the most important lap.
An accident with 85 laps remaining brought out the yellow flag and after several circuits under caution, NASCAR brought the trucks to pit road where the red flag flew for rain and the race was declared official on lap 124 of the scheduled 200 laps.
“Rain, rain, come on,’’ Heim told his crew on the radio, just before climbing out of his truck during that final red flag period.
“This race was cut short and that’s definitely unfortunate, but this truck was fast all night,’’ he said adding, “I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.”
Heim had to work for this, holding off Busch – who was racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports’ 100th win – and reigning series champion Zane Smith on four different re-starts to claim the famed one-of-a-kind grandfather clock Martinsville trophy only minutes before that clock would strike midnight.
“We just didn’t have a good enough short run truck,’’ said Busch, who finished second. “Being a little bit loose and free that we were, we were hoping that would pay off in the long run but never had a long run. The longest run of the race was on rain tires.
“It did not go our way today, unfortunately.”
Heim swept both stage wins – his first of the season as well.
“I bring a 100-percent effort to every race every week so to be able to sit here and have it pay off is phenomenal,” Heim said.
Smith finished third, with Ty Majeski fourth, and Tanner Gray fifth.
Ben Rhodes, Matt DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich and Chase Purdy rounded out the top 10.
Majeski maintains the points-lead after Martinsville by 26 points over Smith and 49 over Rhodes.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
Long John Silver’s 200 – April 14, 2023
1. (4) Corey Heim, Toyota, 124.
2. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Chevrolet, 124.
3. (1) Zane Smith, Ford, 124.
4. (12) Ty Majeski, Ford, 124.
5. (9) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 124.
6. (3) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 124.
7. (5) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 124.
8. (24) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 124.
9. (22) William Sawalich, Toyota, 124.
10. (8) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 124.
11. (19) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 124.
12. (25) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 124.
13. (18) Jake Garcia #, Chevrolet, 124.
14. (10) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 124.
15. (6) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 124.
16. (31) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 124.
17. (26) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 124.
18. (15) Conner Jones, Ford, 124.
19. (28) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 124.
20. (27) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 124.
21. (36) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 124.
22. (23) Bret Holmes #, Chevrolet, 124.
23. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 124.
24. (29) Memphis Villarreal, Toyota, 124.
25. (16) Rajah Caruth #, Chevrolet, 124.
26. (11) Matt Crafton, Ford, 124.
27. (14) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 124.
28. (17) Kaden Honeycutt, Ford, 123.
29. (33) Jonathan Shafer, Toyota, 123.
30. (13) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 123.
31. (21) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 123.
32. (20) Lawless Alan, Chevrolet, 122.
33. (32) Mason Massey, Ford, 122.
34. (7) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 122.
35. (34) Brad Perez(i), Chevrolet, 118.
36. (35) Stephen Mallozzi, Ford, 116.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 46.849 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 23 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution.
Caution Flags: 6 for 63 laps.
Lead Changes: 2 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Z. Smith 1-5;K. Busch(i) 6-42;C. Heim 43-124.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Corey Heim 1 time for 82 laps; Kyle Busch(i) 1 time for 37 laps; Zane Smith 1 time for 5 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,51,38,15,19,99,98,25,42,1
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,51,38,19,15,98,99,42,25,9
Playoff Standings: 1. Zane Smith – 275 (2 Wins); 2. Corey Heim – 230 (1 Win); 3. Christian Eckes – 229 (1 Win); 4. Carson Hocevar – 150 (1 Win); 5. Ty Majeski – 301; 6. Ben Rhodes – 252; 7. Grant Enfinger – 211; 8. Matt Crafton – 209; 9. Tanner Gray – 201; 10. Matt DiBenedetto – 185.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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