Corey Heim continues to move up the truck series all-time win list with his latest victory – this time at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NASCAR
Corey Heim continued his domination of the Truck Series with another stellar performance on Friday as the Toyota Development Driver won his fourth race of the year. He led 98 of 134 laps and became the first driver in Truck Series history to lead over 700 laps in the first 11 races, and he holds a 100-point advantage at the top of the standings. His 752 laps led so far this season is more than the second through 10th place driver in the points has led combined.
“It feels really good,” said Heim. “I was actually looking at something the other day. Prior to that disqualification last year, I finished second here every time I’ve ever been – even last year before the disqualification. It feels good to finally get one spot better and be here in victory lane. I remembered being here as a kid running the quarter-mile up in the frontstretch in the Summer Shootout. This place has always kind of been my nemesis – even in ARCA, so to come here and finally win, seven years removed from running those legends cars is awesome. Just grateful for TRICON Garage, Toyota, Safelite – second win for the month of May for the Foster Love Awareness month. So grateful to be here with a great team and looking forward to celebrating tonight.”
- Corey Heim
Heim became the youngest 15-time winner in the Truck Series, and took over third all-time in Toyota’s history for Truck Series wins, just trailing Kyle Busch and Todd Bodine.
In the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race, Chase Briscoe led Toyota with a third-place finish – his best finish in a Toyota – after starting on the pole. Ross Chastain was the race winner.
“On paper, started first and finished third, but there is a lot more to the story,” said Briscoe. “We made it a lot harder 600 miles than we probably needed too. We just had that penalty early and it kind of put us behind. When you start from the front, you kind of set your car up for clean air, we didn’t anticipate 37th. It just took us forever to just slowly creep up on it. We were kind of out of adjustments. So overall, we were probably a third-place car, realistically – just wish we could have got some stage points in our Bass Pro Shops Toyota. Overall, a good finish, I wouldn’t say it was a great night. Honestly, that is just been how our season has gone – we’ve gotten really good finishes, but we’ve not just had very good day. So, hopefully, we can put one of those all the way together here soon.”
- Chase Briscoe
On Saturday, Dean Thompson had an impressive run as he led Toyota in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race with a fifth-place finish. It was a career-best result for Thompson, and the first top-five finish for Sam Hunt Racing since Atlanta last fall. William Bryon won the race.
“My guys put together a really good Thompson Pipe Group Toyota GR Supra,” said Thompson. “I feel like this track really suits me well. We didn’t have a great practice or a great qualifying effort, but I knew we had good long run speed, so we kind of played into that. Just minded our p’s and q’s on the restarts and the long runs and just kind of played out really well for us in the end.”
- Dean Thompson
ARCA
William Sawalich dominated Friday’s ARCA Menards Series race early, before suffering damage on a restart incident. He finished fourth. Austin Green was the race winner.
TRANS AM
Seventeen-year-old Sam Corry earned his first TA2 victory Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park, piloting a Toyota Camry in rainy conditions. Corry led a Toyota 1-2 finish with pole winner Thomas Annunziata finishing in second. Toyota Development Driver Gio Ruggiero drove through the field after missing practice and qualifying and finished in fifth.
XTREME MIDGET
Toyota driver Cannon McIntosh took the lead on lap 15 of 25 and went on to win Saturday’s Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series Midget Roundup feature at Airport Raceway in Garden City, Kansas. Sunday’s scheduled feature was rained out.
In addition to McIntosh’s victory, Toyota drivers captured two more top-four finishing positions with Gavin Miller coming home in third, and Hayden Wise placing fourth.
The win was the fifth for a Toyota driver in five Xtreme races this season. Toyota driver Jacob Denney continues to lead the point standings.
WHAT’S NEXT
NASCAR heads to the bright lights of Broadway as the three national series compete at Nashville Superspeedway this upcoming weekend. The NASCAR Truck Series runs on Friday, May 30 at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1. The NASCAR Xfinity Series is next on Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW, with the NASCAR Cup Series closing the weekend on Sunday, June 1 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Prime.
Formula DRIFT continues its season with its third race of the year at Orlando Speedworld. Final eliminations are on Saturday, May 31 at 3:00 p.m. ET on FormulaD.com and TGRNA.com.
Finally, the NHRA heads to New England Dragway. Final eliminations are on Sunday, June 1 at 6:00 p.m. ET on FOX.