Truck Series: Corey Heim makes it 11 in Martinsville
- Bailey Defoor
- Oct 25
- 6 min read
Written by Bailey Defoor
It is No. 11 for No.11 as Corey Heim comes through to win his eleventh race of the season in Martinsville, as it was a dog-fight for the remaining spots of the Championship Four.
As it unfolded
Layne Riggs started on the pole alongside last week’s winner, Gio Ruggiero. Riggs immediately pulled ahead of Ruggierro for the lead as the opening laps went by cleanly until the seventh lap.
Connor Mosack, Matt Crafton and Andrés Pérez went three wide until Mosack went wide from the inside, sending Pérez into the wall.
Riggs and Ruggiero led the way back to green on Lap 13, and Ty Majeski looked to the inside of Ruggiero. Ruggiero kept the place, but Heim looked to take the place of Majeski instead.
Timmy Hill had a bit of contact with Connor Jones, but it only got the back of Hill loose and didn’t cause a full spin.
Caution comes out on Lap 22 for fluid on the track.
Some drivers pitted, and Matt Mills stopped on the front stretch after having some in the cockpit and needed to be pushed back into the pits.
Majeski and Riggs led for the restart, and Riggs missed a shift and stopped the inside lane, dropping him from first to fifth. The outside lane flew up to the front with Majeski and Heim taking the top two spots.
Rajah Caruth suffered a lot of front-end damage on the restart and appeared to be losing speed. Right behind Caruth, there was contact with Norm Benning and Brenden Queen, and Benning was knocked sideways before saving it. The caution was thrown on Lap 41.
Daniel Hemric had contact with Riggs on the previous restart, so he went down pit road for repairs. He came back out one lap down. Majeski and Heim led the way on Lap 46, and Majecki had the lead initially before swinging to the inside of Majeski to take the lead.
Stage 1 Results:
No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 98 - Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 18 - Tyler Ankrum (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 15 - Tanner Gray (TRICON Garage)
No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 52 - Kaden Honeycutt (Halmar Friesen Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 17 - Giovanni Ruggiero (TRICON Garage)
No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 1 - Brent Crews (TRICON Garage)
Some of the drivers, minus the playoff drivers, pitted under the stage caution. Hemric pitted after receiving the free pass for more damage repairs.
Heim and Majeski led the restart on Lap 62, and Heim immediately pulled up. Riggs tried to get ahead of Gray, who closed the door immediately, until a lap later when Riggs went to the outside of Gray.
Contact between Caruth and Kaden Honeycutt as Caruth got a left rear tyre flat and spun from eighth, bringing out the caution on Lap 73.
On Lap 81, Heim and Majeski led the way as Grant Enfinger and Riggs made it three wide for second. Majeski, Riggs and Enfinger were the order after they sorted themselves out.
Stage 2 Results:
No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 98 - Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 15 - Tanner Gray (TRICON Garage)
No. 18 - Tyler Ankrum (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 1 - Brent Crews (TRICON Garage)
No. 52 - Kaden Honeycutt (Halmar Friesen Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 41 - Connor Jones (Niece Motorsports)
No. 99 - Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing)
All of the playoff drivers pitted under this caution, and Heim made it off pit road first, followed by Majeski and Gray, who made up two places. Tyler Ankrum had an extremely slow stop, dropping him to 21st.
Nine drivers stayed out, so Brent Crews and Ruggiero led the way to green on Lap 111. Ruggiero had the better tyres and immediately pulled in front of Crews.
Caution out on Lap 140 for Alan Walker, who spun around between turns three and four. Walker then tried to drive it to pit road before getting stuck on the curb and needing to be pushed.
Ruggierro and Crews led the way on Lap 149 with Chandler Smith and Heim right behind. This time. Crews has the better start as Smith battled side by side with Ruggiero for second. Smith got the place and Heim began to challenge Ruggiero for third before Heim came out on top on Lap 155.
Big crash for Toni Breidinger as she and Corey LaJoie made contact and Breidinger spun into Patrick Staropoli on Lap 155.
Crews and Smith were nose to nose for the restart on Lap 162 before Smith went wide, allowing Heim to get through to second. Bayley Currey started smoking as he went to pit road, while Hemric also went back to the garage.
Connor Mosack spun after contact with Ruggiero and hit the wall, bringing out another caution on Lap 179. With 15 laps to go, Crews and Heim led the way. Honeycutt moved into third as another caution was thrown for Currey, who spun at turns three and four.
At the choose, the TRICON teammates opt to line up behind each other, opening the door for Honeycutt to take the outside withHeim on the inside. It was a bad restart for Crews as Honeycutt moved into second place and Majeski had some contact further back.
The eleventh caution came out on Lap 195 when Jones spun out, collecting Dawson Sutton, Pérez and Garcia. This sent the race into overtime.
Heim and Honeycutt led the overtime, and they had a clean restart. Honeycutt and Crews were nose to nose before Honeycutt pulled ahead.
At the line, Corey Heim secured his eleventh win on the season in Martinsville.
Riggs also barely got ahead of Crews for third, forcing Riggs and Honeycutt into a tie-breaker. Honeycutt came out on top, as Riggs was eliminated from the playoffs.
Provisional Result
No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 52 - Kaden Honeycutt (Halmar Friesen Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports) [ELIMINATED] [FL]
No. 1 - Brent Crews (TRICON Garage)
No. 77 - Corey LaJoie (Spire Motorsports)
No. 38 - Chandler Smith (Front Row Motorsports)
No. 98 - Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 15 - Tanner Gray (TRICON Garage)
No. 18 - Tyler Ankrum (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) [PLAYOFFS]
No. 7 - Brenden Queen (Spire Motorsports)
No. 17 - Giovanni Ruggiero (TRICON Garage)
No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports) [ELIMINATED]
No. 91 - Jack Wood (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)
No. 99 - Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing)
No. 84 - Patrick Staropoli (Cook Racing Technologies)
No. 56 - Timmy Hill (hh)
No. 76 - Spencer Boyd (Freedom Racing Enterprises)
No. 13 - Jake Garcia (ThorSport Racing)
No. 26 - Dawson Sutton (Rackley W.A.R.)
No. 90 - Justin Carroll (Terry Carroll Motorsports)
No. 45 - Bayley Currey (Niece Motorsports)
No. 41 - Connor Jones (Niece Motorsports)
No. 33 - Frankie Muniz (Reaume Brothers Racing)
No. 69 - Casey Mears (Motorsports Business Management) +2 laps
No. 02 - Logan Bearden (Young's Motorsports) +6 laps
No. 5 - Toni Breidinger (TRICON Garage) +7 laps
No. 42 - Matt Mills (Niece Motorsports) +9 laps
No. 44 - Andrés Pérez (Niece Motorsports) +14 laps
No. 88 - Matt Crafton (ThorSport Racing) [DNF]
No. 81 - Connor Mosack (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) [DNF]
No. 19 - Daniel Hemric (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) [ELIMINATED] [DNF]
No. 22 - Alan Walker (Reaume Brothers Racing) [DNF]
No. 6 - Norm Benning (Norm Benning Racing) [DNF]
No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports) [ELIMINATED] [DNF]
No. 2 - Clayton Green (Reaume Brothers Racing) [DNF]
The final race for the Craftsman Truck Series for the 2025 season will be next week at Phoenix Raceway, where one driver will be named the champion. Tune in on Friday, October 31, at 19:30 EST (Saturday, November 1, 00:30 UK). Be there or be square.
Provisional Playoff Picture
No. 11 - Corey Heim
No. 98 - Ty Majeski
No. 18 - Tyler Ankrum
No. 52 - Kaden Honeycutt
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