By Cameron Bebeau, Staff Writer
Carson Hocevar and Christopher Bell led a combined 102 of the 125 laps contested at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, but a late caution helped Corey Heim lead the final 15 laps and capture the victory in the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 powered by Precision Vehicle Logistics.
The victory was Heim’s third of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season and the 26th of his career. The win tied Heim with Layne Riggs for the series lead with three victories apiece, despite competing in only five Truck Series races for TRICON Garage this season.
While Hocevar and Bell controlled much of the race from the front, Heim quietly worked his way through the field. After starting 23rd, Heim finished sixth in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2, positioning himself among the contenders as the laps wound down.
When a caution came out on Lap 94 for an incident involving the No. 76 of Spencer Boyd and the No. 13 of Cole Butcher, Heim was running eighth. His ability to run higher lines than his competitors proved to be a key factor, as he moved from eighth to third within two laps of the restart.
Heim took control late and was forced to defend the lead from Kaden Honeycutt over the final laps. Honeycutt closed rapidly and challenged for the top spot entering the final lap, but Heim’s defensive moves proved enough to keep the No. 1 truck out front and secure the victory.
Honeycutt finished second, followed by Hocevar, Riggs, and Chandler Smith to round out the top five.
Heim threw a late block on Honeycutt heading into Turn 1 on the final lap. After the race, Honeycutt was asked what needed to go differently and said, “I don’t know. You tell me, I was there. Thank God it was a company truck because I definitely wouldn’t have lifted in that situation (if it wasn’t).”
Honeycutt also said, “He (Heim) had no problem working with Bell in the second stage to pull away, and then he gets to me and goes right by me. I’m just frustrated. We just need to work together better, that’s really it.”
Despite leading a race-high 65 laps, Hocevar’s afternoon began to unravel after an issue with debris on the grille forced his No. 77 Chevrolet into a slow overheating situation.
“Yeah, I mean, I had to let him go to get debris off the grille. And I was just overheating the whole time,” Hocevar told reporters post-race. “I felt like I could’ve done a better job, but I don’t know what I could have done differently yet.”
Hocevar explained that the issue made it difficult to manage traffic late in the run as his handling tightened. Even so, he credited his pit crew for strong stops and noted the effort put in by them leading up to the weekend.
Finishing just outside the top five in sixth was Christopher Bell, who led the second-most laps of the afternoon with 37. Bell spent much of the race in the top five and won both stages, but followed a similar pattern to Hocevar, with the result not fully backing up the effort.
While the two Cup Series drivers controlled the race, the last restart ultimately shifted the outcome in Heim’s favor.