DARLINGTON, S.C. — Same guy. Different truck. Same result.
Driving the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota on a part-time basis, Corey Heim shocked race leader Ross Chastain with a last-lap pass and collected his second straight victory at Darlington Raceway in Friday night‘s Buckle Up South Carolina 200.
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Last year, the No. 11 Tricon Tundra carried Heim to a record 12 victories and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.
This year, the No. 5 truck carried him to a two-overtime win in his second series start of the season, as Heim is running a cobbled-together schedule of Truck Series, O‘Reilly Auto Parts Series and Cup Series races.
Heim also collected the $50,000 Triple Truck Challenge bonus for the victory. Should he run again on April 3 at Rockingham Speedway, he would be eligible for a $150,000 prize available to a driver who wins two races in “The Trip.”
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Heim‘s overtime victory on Friday night was unlikely enough, and it boiled down to strategy. On Lap 145, with three laps left in regulation, Heim brought his Tundra to pit road for scuffed tires that were five laps fresher than those of Chastain and other frontrunners.
Restarting 15th on the first attempt at overtime, Heim gained six spots before the ninth caution for a wreck involving Jake Garcia, Tyler Ankrum, Corey LaJoie and Stewart Friesen.
Heim was ninth for the final restart and used his tires to excellent advantage, making the pass for the win through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap.
“I‘m out of breath, for sure,” said Heim, who led three times for 28 laps and picked up his 24th win in 91 Truck Series starts. “Man, we had a set of scuffs laying, and they were five laps fresher than everyone else‘s. It was worth a shot. I didn‘t think we could win from where we were at.
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“I felt like I made all the right moves. I had it three-wide coming to the white (flag) and bombed on in there on Ross (into Turn 3). I was shocked he gave me the bottom like that with fresher tires.”
Chastain, who led 35 laps and controlled both overtime restarts, thought he had the race won.
“I have no idea what just happened,” said Chastain, who is running races in all three NASCAR series this weekend. “We did so much right… I think that‘s on us as a whole that we didn‘t catch that.
“Of course, I would have run the bottom if I thought he would have been close, but I thought I got a good restart. Bummer.”
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Kaden Honeycutt, who won his first career pole earlier in the day, led a race-high 59 laps in the No. 11 Tricon Garage truck Heim drove last year. Honeycutt restarted second and chose the top lane for both overtimes, but faded to fourth after the final restart.
“That last restart, the top lane wasn‘t preferred,” Honeycutt said. “It was like that all night, obviously. The bottom was really good. I tried not to spin the tires as much as I possibly could…
“By the time the 5 (Heim) got by me and the 91 (third-place finisher Christian Eckes) was in front of him, I pretty much just committed to helping (Heim) and see if he could get up there and win the race. I don‘t know how in the world he did, but he did.”
Connor Mosack finished fifth, followed by Christopher Bell, Grant Enfinger, Gio Ruggiero, Daniel Hemric and William Sawalich.
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Carson Hocevar used a sharp restart with 20 laps remaining to dive left on then-leader Kaden Honeycutt entering Turn 1, charging his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to the lead for the first time all night. But a flat right-front tire with four laps remaining sent Hocevar into the Turn 1 wall and into a spin, ending his chances of victory and necessitating the final caution flag of regulation.
A crash at Lap 121 created drama for three prominent Truck Series regulars. Layne Riggs entered Turn 1 side-by-side with Ty Majeski and attempted to slide in front of Majeski’s front bumper. Riggs’ No. 34 Ford was not clear, however, sending both trucks hard into the outside wall. Following them into the corner was Andrés Pérez, who slid into Majeski’s truck before hitting the barrier himself. Majeski and Pérez were both unable to continue, finishing 31st and 32nd, respectively.
Ben Rhodes entered Friday’s race second in points but exited early after a hard hit into the Turn 1 SAFER barrier at Lap 3. Rhodes and Ankrum made slight contact coming off Turn 4 to complete Lap 2, which bent Rhodes’ left-front fender toward his tire. That damage sliced his left-front tire entering the corner, sending Rhodes into the wall and ending his day. After a last-place finish, Rhodes drops to seventh in the standings, 53 points behind series leader Chandler Smith.
Chandler Smith ran 17th but left Darlington with a 33-point lead over second-place Honeycutt in the series standings.
Note: Post-race inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Heim as the Darlington winner.
Contributing: Staff report
