Corey Heim Earns Road Course Win at Mid-Ohio
Photo Courtesy: Zach Catanzareti
TRICON Garage driver Corey Heim earned his second victory of the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, surviving a weather-delayed caution fest to capitalize off of his pole position in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The win helps Heim build on his series points lead as he looks like a real championship favorite with two races to go in the regular season.
The race was a long one and it went through many phases as it was delayed due to lightning and nearly immediately went under caution for a truck stuck in a sand trap. The track remained fairly damp in Stage 1 and trucks were spinning all over and off of the track, there were nearly 20 spins by Lap 8. The first two stages utilized single-file restarts but they were able to go two-wide for the final stage.
The cautions only let up a bit despite the track getting dryer as trucks kept getting stuck in the sand traps around the course. In total, there were nine cautions accounting for 22 laps, almost a third of the 67-lap race. When it wasn’t stuck trucks causing cautions, it felt like there was constantly action off course or with spinners as it was a non-stop eventful race.
Heim kept an advantage by staying clean and on course through the early chaos even if it meant not leading the first stage. He had really strong runs on restarts late in the race which gave him the opportunity to effectively hold off Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith as he was charging in the closing laps.
For Smith, he now has runner-up finishes in back-to-back races and in his last two runs at Mid-Ohio.
ThorSport Racing looked like it had a great day going after No. 99 driver Ben Rhodes won Stage 1 and No. 98 driver Ty Majeski won Stage 2.
However, on Lap 43, a couple of laps after Heim took the lead from Majeski, the two teammates were caught battling side-by-side for 2nd. As Rhodes looked for the pass on Majeski he drove his truck down too much in the middle of a turn and Majeski sent them both into the grass which cost the pair significant track position.
Majeski ended up needing to pit due to damage to his tire and to remove debris from his grille. The pair managed to charge back and both finished in the top 10 despite the incident. Rhodes placed 5th for his fourth straight top-10 finish. Majeski placed 7th, bouncing back from back-to-back races in which he finished 30th or lower.
Majeski is the top driver without a win this truck season and is likely secured into the playoffs, 95 points above the cutline with just two races remaining in the regular season. Their teammate Matt Crafton sits directly on the cutline in 10th, just one point above Halmar-Friesen Racing driver Stewart Friesen for the final playoff spot. Crafton placed 6th and Friesen placed 4th. Friesen had a really strong truck but he said that it was set up for longer runs which were not seen in abundance with all of the cautions.
The final run of the race was brought on by a Lap 59 caution for debris and a truck stuck in a sand pit. On a restart, ThorSport driver Hailie Deegan dove low into Turn 1 forcing a three-wide with TRICON driver Taylor Gray and GMS Racing driver Rajah Caruth. Gray got into Caruth spinning him out and TRICON driver Dean Thompson, who ran into trouble on the last lap of the Mid-Ohio ARCA race, found it yet again as he slammed into Caruth wrecking his truck.
Some drivers had to run off course to avoid the incident and one got caught in the sand. And debris came off of Caruth’s truck when he drove off from the incident. Race control allowed the pack to race through much of the course but called the caution before a full lap could be completed.
The race resumed with five laps remaining and Heim’s jump on the restart secured him the victory.
With races at Pocono and Richmond being all that remains in the regular season it’s getting down to do-or-die time for drivers that need a win to secure a playoff spot.
Rackley W.A.R. driver Matt DiBenedetto, Rev Racing driver Nick Sanchez and Crafton all sit within five points of the playoff cutline, holding the final three playoff spots. TRICON driver and Taylor’s brother, Tanner Gray was within six points of the cutline prior to the Mid-Ohio race but now sits 24 points out and will need two very strong performances if not a win in order to secure a playoff spot. He placed 20th after a day of struggles and a lot of time off track.
The Truck Series runs next on Saturday, July 22 at Pocono Raceway in the CRC Brakleen 150. The race is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.