Flag to Flag Victory for Heim in World Wide Technology Raceway Trucks

(MADISON, IL - JUNE 4, 2022 - RIS) Corey Heim won from the pole at the Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway in a green-white-checker overtime finish. The race was slowed by 11 cautions but 23 of the 36 trucks finished on the lead lap.

After Heim started ahead of Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek. Smith passed for the lead on lap 18 and headed through the end of the first stage. Grant Enfinger’s team chose to send him out with only two new tires, moving him into the lead at the restart until Taylor Gray spun after Ty Majeski tried an inside move, tapping the 17-year-old’s truck and sending it into a spin. Rajah Caruth spun around taking evasive action and continued with no damage after pitting for new tires.

John Hunter Nemechek tried a low move and spun trying to pass Friesen, hitting the wall and involving Ty Majeski, Colby Howard and a handful of others. “Yeah, that one is on me. I put myself in a vulnerable position and should have known better,” Nemechek admitted. “I thought I had a hole and went for it. I hit the rumble strips as well. It just closed. It’s on me.”

The lead pair, Grant Enfinger and Chandler Smith spun when Enfinger tried to stay low, sending them both into the wall. The enraged Smith could continue on the lead lap but out of the top 25.

Ben Rhodes inherited the lead going to the stage ending laps, followed by Matt Crafton and Derek Kraus. Hailie Deegan started the final stage next to leader Carson Hocevar until Zane Smith moved around to challenge Hocevar for the lead, eventually getting the point. 

Kris Wright spun with 67 laps to go, backing into the wall and setting up a variety of strategies leading to the finish. Stewart Friesen led the pack followed by Ben Rhodes. Zane Smith suffered a cut right front tire after contact with Carson Hocevar and lost a pair of laps trying to get to pit road.

Matt Crafton touched Hocevar, looking for position, spinning the No. 42 and sending him to the pits for fresh tires. Ben Rhodes led Christian Eckes and Derek Kraus at the green flag, but Colby Howard spun and backed into the wall to cause the eighth caution of the race. 

Ben Rhodes’ restart next to Derek Kraus saw Kraus fail to accelerate, allowing Rhodes to move into a big lead over Christian Eckes. While running fifteenth after being placed as high as fifth in his first Truck Series race, Rajah Caruth tapped the wall just before a caution flew for debris on the track in the first turn.

Rhodes and Kraus were the lead pair with Kraus gaining slowly before sweeping the outside for the lead as Rhodes’ truck seemed to have lost its handling edge. Corey Heim moved into third just before Tanner Gray slid into the wall to create an overtime finish with Eckes, Kraus, Heim, Chandler Smith and Johnny Sauter the top five trucks. Eckes picked outside and Heim moved to the inside lane at the choose for the restart. Heim and Smith drove to the inside wall at the green flag with Heim using the push from his teammate to move into the lead with Eckes holding onto second place. After the white flag, a hard crash in the second turn ended the race under yellow with Heim earning his second career victory. The crash involved Hocevar, Derek Kraus, Tyler Hill and Austin Wayne Self with Hocevar helped from his truck and transported to the track’s medical center following the crash that ended the race.

“I’ve found myself in bad spots and really just not been able to finish races so today really helped my mindset of just finishing, being there in the end and just keeping my truck clean,” said Heim. “I felt like out of the whole entire top-10, everyone had damage except for me. It was great for a situation in the end, where we could win the race.

“It’s phenomenal. I’ve been here once before and there was nowhere near the good turn out as there was today. It was phenomenal to see all of these fans today at the Toyota 200. It was a great show.”

Runner-up Christian Eckes commented that he: “just spun the tires a little bit and then the 19 (Derek Kraus) picked my rear wheels off of the ground and sent them to Mars. Just didn’t get a good launch…. The past three weeks, we should have won, and we didn’t. I’m going to go back to the drawing board and figure some stuff out.”

Unofficial Results: 9th Annual Toyota 200, June 4, 2022 - World Wide Technology Raceway
Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps , St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Corey Heim #, No. 51 JBL Toyota, 165, 2, 8, 2, 20, 5, 52, Running
2) 5, Christian Eckes, No. 98 Curb Records Toyota, 165, 8, , 1, 9, , 38, Running
3) 4, Chandler Smith, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 165, 1, , 2, 40, 1, 44, Running
4) 3, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 165, 5, 9, 1, 13, , 41, Running
5) 18, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 CMRRoofing.com Toyota, 165, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 16, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 25 Rackley Roofing/WAR Shocks Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 36, Derek Kraus, No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet, 165, , 3, 1, 12, , 38, Running
8) 15, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Tenda Toyota, 165, , 1, 2, 43, 1, 39, Running
9) 2, Zane Smith, No. 38 ARRMA RC Ford, 165, 4, 10, 1, 16, , 36, Running
10) 13, Chase Purdy, No. 61 AISIN Toyota, 165, , 4, , , , 34, Running
11) 19, Rajah Caruth, No. 7 Confluence Music Festival Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 11, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Paslode/Menards Toyota, 165, 9, 2, , , , 36, Running
13) 20, Tyler Ankrum, No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota, 165, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 25, Dean Thompson #, No. 40 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 26, Hailie Deegan, No. 1 Monster Energy Ford, 165, , 7, , , , 26, Running
16) 30, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 29, Timmy Hill, No. 56 UNITS Storage Toyota, 165, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 24, Lawless Alan #, No. 45 AUTOParkit Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 32, Jack Wood #, No. 24 Two Friends Golf Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 22, Jesse Little, No. 02 RANDCO Industries Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 35, Tate Fogleman, No. 30 Rangeline Group Toyota, 165, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 23, Blaine Perkins #, No. 9 Warrior Health Foundation Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 7, Colby Howard, No. 91 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet, 165, 10, , , , , 15, Running
24) 12, Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Premier Security Solutions Chevrolet, 164, , 6, 1, 8, , 18, Accident
25) 27, Tyler Hill, No. 5 HairClub/Capillus Toyota, 164, , , , , , 12, Accident
26) 28, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 164, , 5, , , , 17, Accident
27) 33, Mason Maggio, No. 33 HMY Yacht Sales Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 10, Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, 163, 7, , 1, 4, , 13, Running
29) 21, Jake Garcia, No. 35  Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 14, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance Ford, 156, , , , , , 7, Accident
31) 34, Spencer Boyd, No. 12 Hans Wiemann Chevrolet, 151, , , , , , 6, Electrical
32) 8, Ty Majeski, No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota, 136, 6, , , , , 10, Running
33) 17, Kris Wright, No. 44 F.N.B Corporation Chevrolet, 93, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 31, Brennan Poole, No. 46 G2G Racing Toyota, 77, , , , , , 3, Rear Gear
35) 6, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota, 57, 3, , , , , 10, DVP
36) 9, Taylor Gray, No. 17 Ford Performance Ford, 45, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Distance: 165 Laps, 206.25 Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 23 Mins, 14 Secs.
Average Speed: 86.397 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 18, 51, 4, 38, 52, 66, 23, 98, 88, 91
Stage 2 Top 10: 99, 88, 19, 61, 22, 42, 1, 51, 52, 38

Comments: Corey Heim won the Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway, his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following trucks dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 1, No. 12, No. 33 (unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: (3) 20 Matt Mills, 90 Justin Carroll, 43 Blake Lothian.

Cautions: 11 for 54 laps;
Laps: 37-43 (Stage 1 Conclusion [56]);
47-52 (No. 17, No. 66 Incident Turn 2 [5]);
55-59 (No. 4, No. 52, No. 66, No. 02, No. 91, No. 9 Incident Turn 4 [40]);
63-68 (No. 23, No. 18 Incident Turn 1 [30]);
72-77 (Stage 2 Conclusion [12]);
95-99 (No. 3, No. 44 Incident Turn 3 [33]);
109-113 (No. 88, No. 42 Incident Turn 2 [38]);
126-129 (No. 91 Incident Turn 1 [38]);
133-136 (Debris [23]);
159-163 (No. 15 Incident Turn 3 [None]);
165-165 (No. 19, No. 42, No. 5, No. 22 Incident Turn 2 [00]).

Lead Changes: 11 among 9 drivers;
C. Heim # 1-17;
C. Smith 18-39;
G. Enfinger 40-43;
C. Smith 44-61;
B. Rhodes 62-72;
C. Hocevar 73-80;
Z. Smith 81-96;
S. Friesen 97-109;
B. Rhodes 110-141;
D. Kraus 142-153;
C. Eckes 154-162;
C. Heim # 163-165.

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2022, Issue 6, Posted 5:42 PM, 06.04.2022