Darlington had never been one of Corey Heim’s best tracks. But in a season where he’s continued to extend his dominance and break records in the Truck Series, that didn’t stop him Saturday.
With his win in the Sober or Slammer 200, Heim becomes the first driver in Craftsman Truck Series history to win eight of the first nineteen races in a single season. It’s his third win in a row, the first time any driver has achieved that in the Truck Series since 2019. And it’s the 23-year-old’s 19th career win.
Unlike some of those other victories, though, it wasn’t lights out for Heim at Darlington: he had to beat fierce competition from polesitter Layne Riggs. The two traded stage wins, with Heim winning Stage 1 and Riggs winning Stage 2, and Riggs took the lead from Heim with 36 laps remaining. It all went south for Riggs, however, when a tire went down with 20 laps to go, sending him into the wall and handing Heim the lead.
“You saw so many people have those right front issues,” Heim described after the race, “so if you so much as scrub the wall you’re in bad shape. So I put a little pressure on the 34 [Riggs] and he got into it, and we were able to take advantage of it.”
A caution for a spin on the same lap gave Riggs a chance to make repairs and stay on the lead lap, but the time on pit road cost him all of his track position and he ended up finishing 17th. Heim, on the other hand, enjoyed clear track on the restart and he quickly cleared Grant Enfinger to cruise to victory.
“So proud of these TRICON guys,” Heim congratulated his team. “It just feels like I’m in a dream. Just, eight wins this year is phenomenal. It’s crazy to look back on, but we’ve also got so much to look forward to. Just really speechless in terms of the effort.”
The win also clinches Heim a spot in the next round of the Playoffs, keeping this year’s regular season champion in the hunt for the overall title after a disappointing runner-up last year.
Daniel Hemric ended up second followed by Grant Enfinger. Ty Majeski and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top five. Apart from Bayne, all drivers in the top five were Playoff contenders.
Former Daytona 500 winner Bayne announced that he would make the one-off start for TRICON Garage with support from Kyle Petty’s Victory Junction Gang Camp on Wednesday, just a few days before the race. Bayne now works as driver optimization leader for Legacy Motor Club as his day job and expressed his thanks to Legacy and TRICON for the opportunity.
“Just thank you so much to TRICON Garage, Legacy Motor Club, Advent Health, Victory Junction for allowing me to do this. You never know when you’re going to run your last race – this could be my last – so to make the most of it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from the drivers that we worked with.”
Bayne, who drove from his qualifying position of 16th up to a top-five finish in his tenth-ever Truck Series start, said that the day was really about enhancing his ability to relate to drivers and improve their performance. Nevertheless, while he said he didn’t have any indication of future starts, he would be asking team leadership for another ride.
“I don’t know, I hope so,” he said when asked if he’d race again. “I really love driving racecars. Honestly, this weekend’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been getting in a racecar, though. Mostly because I didn’t want my drivers talking smack to me on Monday and I wanted to make the most of it. I feel like we did that.”
Tanner Gray, Playoff driver Tyler Ankrum, Timmy Hill, Corey Day, and Playoff driver Jake Garcia all earned a top ten finish.
The race featured just the single natural caution with 20 laps to go but it was certainly not bereft of incidents, including for Playoff drivers.
Layne Riggs was leading until he slowed and hit the wall with a flat tire but benefitted from a caution that kept him on the lead lap. The source of that caution was Playoff contender Kaden Honeycutt going spinning after caution from Andres Perez. Riggs and Honeycutt ended up finishing 17th and 18th respectively.
Playoff contender Chandler Smith also had problems early on after just 14 laps when a flat tire sent him hard into the wall and taking him out of the race.
“Made a mistake on my end today,” admitted Smith after getting out of his truck. “Just got a little too greedy trying to run the fence a little too hard. When you get into that hard, it sucks you in, you cut a tire, and you’re done for the day.”
Both Smith and Honeycutt leave Darlington ninth and tenth in the standings and last of the Playoff drivers, two and seven points behind the provisional cutline for the Round of 8 respectively.
The Truck Series returns at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 11th for the second race of the Round of 10 in the Playoffs.
- Slimmed Playoff Field Faces the Grind of the Magic Mile - September 18, 2025
- From Spinning to Winning: Riggs Punches Ticket to Next Round - September 11, 2025
- Denny Hamlin Knows His Career Expiration Date - September 8, 2025