By Jerry Jordan, Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – If there was a way for Corey Heim to not win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in 2025, he’d probably find it through no fault of his own, except on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Heim found his way to Victory Lane instead of behind the pit wall.
Despite having incredible racing stats, so far this year, with three previous wins, Heim has also been snakebit. He blew a tire leading the race, he was penalized for moving outside too quickly on a restart and he’s been wrecked or almost wrecked more times than he would care to recall. Somehow, though, he’s completed 99.8 percent of the laps, led in every single truck race this season and had the aforementioned victories. His average finish before winning at Charlotte was 6.6. It’s now 6.1.
“I feel like we have had a various amount of things that have taken us out of the race, … kind of a mixed bag of things,” Heim told members of the media after the race. “I think the frustration would have been worse if we hadn’t been so consistent. I’ve always been good at looking past the previous week and moving on. At the end of the day, the speed has been there each week.”
It’s likely Heim could have had twice as many wins sans misfortune but he explained that he stayed focused and has tried to keep a positive attitude despite things going wrong, like the possibility of a late race caution.
“No doubt, the last 20 laps have been the sweet spot of when the cautions would come out,” he said. “I hate to have a pessimistic approach in these races but it seems like something inevitable would happen. Even if it did come out, I would have to go out, rest and race to the best of my ability. The people up front did a good job of giving room and respecting (each other) up front. A very rewarding feeling.”
Following Heim to the line were the Niece Motorsports teammates of Ross Chastain and Kaden Honeycutt, in second and third respectively. Honeycutt had been ahead of Chastain and even led on three occasions for a total of 10 laps. Chastain led once for 11 laps but neither of them could hold off Heim.
Still, it was a strong night for Niece Motorsports overall, with the No. 42 truck of Matt Mills finishing in seventh – rebounding after serving a penalty for an uncontrolled tire on a late-race pit stop. It was the first time that all three Niece trucks finished in the Top 10.
“That’s a heck of an effort for Niece Motorsports across the board for three in the Top seven, with Kaden right there on my rear bumper,” Chastain said. “That’s what we look for – we look for competition across all three trucks for Al, and Al’s super happy to get a ton of points and just have fast trucks. So, for Matt (Mills), great run for their J.F. Electric Chevy.
“But for us, the Protect Your Melon Chevy, it’s best in class. I mean, the No. 11 with Corey (Heim) and Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief), they’re the best in the field right now and none of us had anything for them.”
For Mills, it was his best finish of the season and he felt like he might have left a little on the table, especially because he had to run so hard after the penalty; however, he was in good spirits after earning his first single-digit finish of the season with seventh place.
“I wish I could have joined my teammates up there, but we just kind of were playing catch up there after stage one,” Mills said, explaining that Charlotte was a great track for the team, overall. “It was good to actually get stage points, but we had an uncontrolled tire and I had to go to the back and kind of restart our day. But, the truck was really fast. Mike (Shiplett, crew chief) made good calls to address how the track was.”
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results – Charlotte Motor Speedway
