Heim Grabs Bristol Truck Win From Eckes

Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 14, 2023 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

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(BRISTOL, TN – SEP 14, 2023 – RIS) Corey Heim used a daring low-lane pass over Christian Eckes to lead only the final six laps of the UNOH 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck race at Bristol Motor Speedway. In scoring his third victory of the season, Heim locked himself into one of the spots going into the championship finale at Phoenix to end the season.

Christian Eckes started the race with a near-perfect launch and dove to the inside line, grabbing the lead over Carson Hocevar and Ty Majeski and opening a lead of over a second before the first caution came out for a hard contact between Dean Thomapson and Jack Wood’s spinning truck.

Eckes, Hocevar and Majeski ran the top three after the restart, with Eckes again moving out to a big lead ahead of Hocevar. Eckes went on to win the first stage, with traffic forcing the gap to close to just under four tenths of a second ahead of Hocevar.

Zane Smith and Carson Kvapil took advantage of not stopping to occupy the front row at the restart, along with Nick Sanchez and Bayley Currey in row two, who also stayed on the track instead of stopping for service. Eckes quickly moved into third, then Greg VanAlst spun off the fourth turn to cause another caution. 

Eckes waited patiently to retake the lead with about six laps left in the second stage, while Majeski suffered a flat right front tire approaching the end of stage and stayed on the track to avoid going down several laps and actually getting the free pass back to the lead lap in the caution. Zane Smith ran second, followed by Nick Sanchez, Corey Heim and Grant Enfinger in the top five at the end of the stage.

Zane Smith made his pit stop slightly outside of bit box and had to restart at the back of the fieldEckes headed the restart, followed by Corey Heim. 

Regular season champion Corey Heim grabbed the lead from Eckes approaching the five laps left point, pulling out to a lead of over a quarter second to take the race win and move into the championship top four with a chance at the season championship. Heim led only six laps in taking his third win of the 2023 season, against the 151 laps led by Eckes, who won the pole and both stages. Zane Smith led 43 laps of the 200 and Chase Purdy headed only a single lap. Eckes admitted that his truck was getting tight late in the race and hinted that Tanner Gray might have interfered to allow Heim to make the pass for the win, but replays seemed to indicate that he stayed as high and out of the way as possible; that unfortunate timing was the culprit.

Heim, Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger are the racers above the cut heading to the next race at Talladega.

Unofficial Results: UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics, September 14, 2023 - Bristol Motor Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 11, Corey Heim (P), No. 11 Safelite Toyota, 200, 8, 4, 1, 6, 5, 50, Running
2) 1, Christian Eckes (P), No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet, 200, 1, 1, 2, 150, 2, 55, Running
3) 13, Grant Enfinger (P), No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, 200, , 5, , , , 40, Running
4) 2, Carson Hocevar (P), No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, 200, 2, 7, , , , 46, Running
5) 8, Taylor Gray #, No. 17 Dead On Tools Toyota, 200, 7, 6, , , , 41, Running
6) 5, Rajah Caruth #, No. 24 Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet, 200, 6, 9, , , , 38, Running
7) 18, Ben Rhodes (P), No. 99 Kubota Ford, 200, 10, 10, , , , 32, Running
8) 3, Chase Purdy, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet, 200, 4, , 1, 1, , 36, Running
9) 35, Nick Sanchez # (P), No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 200, , 3, , , , 36, Running
10) 12, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 25 Rackley Roofing/WAR Shocks Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 30, Jake Garcia #, No. 35 Quanta Services Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 27, Carson Kvapil(i), No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 200, , 8, , , , 0, Running
13) 36, Bayley Currey, No. 41 Unishippers Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 24, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 200, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 20, Conner Jones, No. 66 Americas Quarter Horse Congress/TSPORT Ford, 200, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 21, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Black Label Bacon/Menards Ford, 200, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 19, Hailie Deegan, No. 13 America's Navy Ford, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 28, Parker Kligerman(i), No. 75 Jack Kite Company Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 4, Ty Majeski (P), No. 98 Road Ranger Ford, 200, 3, , , , , 26, Running
20) 15, Jake Drew, No. 61 Cyclum Truck Stops Toyota, 200, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 16, Daniel Dye #, No. 43 Champion Container Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 23, Colby Howard, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Tyler Ankrum, No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota, 199, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 10, Zane Smith (P), No. 38 Speedco/Delo Ford, 199, 5, 2, 1, 43, , 28, Running
25) 17, Kaden Honeycutt, No. 02 RANDCO Industries Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 26, Timmy Hill, No. 56 Southern Freight Services Toyota, 199, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 29, Bret Holmes #, No. 32 David's Electric Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 22, Lawless Alan, No. 45 AUTOChargit Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 6, Tanner Gray, No. 15 ShopTRICON.com Toyota, 198, 9, , , , , 10, Running
30) 9, William Sawalich, No. 1 Starkey/Soundgear Toyota, 197, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 31, Spencer Boyd, No. 12 Twang Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 34, Stephen Mallozzi, No. 22 Outback Steakhouse Ford, 192, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 33, Memphis Villarreal, No. 33 Laredo Trailer Supply Ford, 191, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 32, Greg Van Alst, No. 20 CB Fabricating Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 3, Brakes
35) 14, Dean Thompson, No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota, 14, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 7, Jack Wood, No. 51 Rowdy Manufacturing Chevrolet, 13, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs

Total Race Length: 200 Laps, 106.6 Miles
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 16 Mins, 6 Secs.
Average Speed: 84.047 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.218 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 42, 98, 4, 38, 24, 17, 11, 15, 99
Stage 2 Top 10: 19, 38, 2, 11, 23, 17, 42, 7, 24, 99

Comments: Corey Heim has won the UNOH 200 present by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway, his fifth career victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 41, 2, 02, 52 & 75 (Unapproved adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: (2) 90 Justin Carroll, 44 Danny Bohn.

Cautions: 4 for 33 laps;
Laps: 16-24 (Nos. 5, 51 & 11 Incident Turn 3 [33]);
57-66 (Stage 1 Conclusion [43]);
76-80 (No. 20 Spin Turn 2 [32]);
112-120 (Stage 2 Conclusion [98]).

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers;
C. Eckes (P) 1-60;
C. Purdy 61;
Z. Smith (P) 62-104;
C. Eckes (P) 105-194;
C. Heim (P) 195-200.