Truck Series: Corey Heim sweeps in inaugural Lime Rock race

Written by Bailey Defoor

Credit: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images

Heim time? Nah, Corey Heim is in another zipcode! After starting on pole and sweeping both stages with gaps upwards of five seconds, Heim takes his fifth win of the year at Lime Rock.

As it unfolded

Heim started on the pole ahead of Jordan Taylor. Heim gets a great start and immediately flies ahead of Taylor. Layne Riggs moves up to second.

Brent Crews closed in on Taylor for third by lap 5.

Crews went a little off-road on lap 7 and fell back from Taylor. Kaden Honeycutt, who ran in fifth, was still about three seconds behind. 

On lap 11, Wesley Slimp went off track at turn 1 from 34th but was able to keep going.

Heim also went a little wide, dipping a tyre into the dirt, but lost no time.

On lap 15, Spencer Boyd spun while running 34th and got stuck momentarily before getting going with a flat front tyre.

Towards the end of the stage, Heim started reaching the backmarkers. 

Stage 1 Results:

1. No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage)

2. No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports)

3. No. 7 - Jordan Taylor (Spire Motorsports)

4. No. 1 - Brent Crews (TRICON Garage) 

5. No. 81 - Connor Mosack (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)

6. No. 45 - Kaden Honeycutt (Niece Motorsports)

7. No. 38 - Chandler Smith (Front Row Motorsports)

8. No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports)

9. No. 98 - Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing)

10. No. 07 - Thomas Annunziata (Spire Motorsports)

At the end of the stage, the race was red-flagged for modified, non-competitive stops. 

Heim and Riggs lead the way on lap 40. The two went side by side at the start, but Heim eventually got ahead by the end of the lap.

Dale Quarterley spun off the exit of turn 1 on lap 42 but was able to keep going.

By lap 55, Heim had a gap of about four seconds to Riggs in second when Heim ran into backmarkers again. He passed Frankie Muniz, putting him two laps down, on lap 57 before opening the gap back up to five seconds by lap 60.

Not many change-ups happened in this stage as Heim takes the second stage win with a lead of seven seconds. This is also Heim’s fifth stage sweep of the year, and his fifth consecutive Stage 2 win.

Stage 2 Results:

1. No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage)

2. No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports)

3. No. 7 - Jordan Taylor (Spire Motorsports)

4. No. 81 - Connor Mosack (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)

5. No. 38 - Chandler Smith (Front Row Motorsports)

6. No. 45 - Kaden Honeycutt (Niece Motorsports)

7. No. 98 - Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing)

8. No. 07 - Thomas Annunziata (Spire Motorsports)

9. No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports)

10. No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports)

Another red flag is called for all of the drivers to pit non-competitively.

Heim and Riggs line up again for the restart, but the start was aborted. A car was leaking oil on the track. Another red flag was thrown.

They led the way to green on lap 76, and they stayed side by side into the first turn.

Matt Crafton goes through the grass just as Heim pulled into the lead. Crafton has to pit after.

Connor Mosack, after restarting in fourth, moved up to third and started closing in on Riggs.

On lap 87, Dawson Sutton slowed on the track, and smoke came from the car with a flat tyre, but he made it to pit road.

The first incident caution came on lap 90 when Matt Mills went off at turn 1 and got stuck in the grass.

Some drivers took the opportunity to pit under caution, but the top 10 stayed the same.

Still under caution on lap 92, Wesley Slimp slowed on track and came to a stop between turns 4 and 5.

Heim and Riggs line up as they had for the restart on lap 95. Drivers fanned out behind them as Riggs got a big push from behind. The push made Riggs lock his tyres and forced him off track. Riggs dropped out of the top 10. A few drivers had followed behind him and went through the grass.

Heim to the lead with Ty Majeski and Giovanni Ruggiero right behind. Ben Rhodes and Cam Waters moved up to the top 5.

Corey Heim makes it five wins for the season after sweeping all three stages for the inaugural race at Lime Rock.

Provisional Results

1. No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage) [FL]

2. No. 98 - Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing)

3. No. 17 - Giovanni Ruggiero (TRICON Garage)

4. No. 99 - Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing) 

5. No. 66 - Cam Waters (ThorSport Racing)

6. No. 38 - Chandler Smith (Front Row Motorsports)

7. No. 44 - Josh Bilicki (Niece Motorsports) 

8. No. 1 - Brent Crews (TRICON Garage) 

9. No. 19 - Daniel Hemric (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) 

10. No. 18 - Tyler Ankrum (McAnally Hilgemann Racing) 

11. No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports)

12. No. 45 - Kaden Honeycutt (Niece Motorsports)

13. No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports)

14. No. 15 - Tanner Gray (TRICON Garage)

15. No. 07 - Thomas Annunziata (Spire Motorsports)

16. No. 81 - Connor Mosack (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)

17. No. 77 - Andrés Pérez de Lara (Spire Motorsports)

18. No. 02 - Ben Maier (Young's Motorsports) 

19. No. 88 - Matt Crafton (ThorSport Racing)

20. No. 7 - Jordan Taylor (Spire Motorsports)

21. No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports)

22. No. 91 - Jack Wood (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)

23. No. 52 - Stewart Friesen (Halmar Friesen Racing)

24. No. 13 - Jake Garcia (ThorSport Racing)

25. No. 56 - Timmy Hill (Hill Motorsports) +2 laps

26. No. 42 - Matt Mills (Niece Motorsports) +2 laps

27. No. 2 - William Lambros (Reaume Brothers Racing) +2 laps 

28. No. 33 - Frankie Muniz (Reaume Brothers Racing) +2 laps

29. No. 5 -  Toni Breidinger (TRICON Garage) +2 laps 

30. No. 26 - Dawson Sutton (Rackley W.A.R.) +4 laps

31. No. 76 - Spencer Boyd (Freedom Racing Enterprises) +8 laps

32. No. 32 - Dale Quarterley (Reaume Brothers Racing) [DNF]

33. No. 62 - Wesley Slimp (Halmar Friesen Racing) [DNF]

34. No. 22 - Alex Labbe (Reaume Brothers Racing) [DNF]

The Craftsman Truck Series has a bit of a break before heading to the Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 25, at 19:00 EST (Saturday, July 26, at 00:00 BST).