Corey Heim Makes Time For 25th Career Truck Win; Point Leader DQed

Corey Heim was dominant in Friday's Black's Tire 200 at Rockingham, but late-race issues with his truck had him on the ropes. However, he was able to hold off Kaden Honeycutt to win the race. Series points leader, Chandler Smith, was disqualified following post-race inspection.

Corey Heim smokes his tires in celebration after winning the Black's Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway. | Matt Marrie | Racing America On SI

Death, taxes, and Corey Heim winning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. Those are the only true certainties in life. On Friday, Heim once again held up his end of the bargain as he scored his 25th career Truck Series win in a dominant performance in the Black's Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway.

However, while Heim led a race-high 178 laps in the 200-lap event, he had to bite his nails from inside the truck in the closing laps, as his No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro developed a problem with under five laps remaining in the race.

"Yeah, I don't know. I didn't feel like I was pushing any harder than the previous run, so, I didn't feel like I did anymore damage to the right front (tire). But, all of a sudden, I think it was with four laps to go, my truck just started -- I had to turn more right down the straightaway to keep it straight," Heim explained. "My wheel was clocked like 20 degrees to the right, and then we started chattering really bad in the corners. I was like, 'Oh, boy, here we go. We're going to lose this one in the worst way possible.'"

Despite the issues, which hindered his on-track speed, Heim was able to utilize lapped traffic to hold back his hard-charging teammate, Kaden Honeycutt, for his 25th triumph in just his 92nd career start.

While Heim was happy to close out the dominant day, where he won the opening two Stages of the race, he knows it was likely only possible due to clean driving by Honeycutt in the closing laps.

"Just had to use a couple of lapped car picks there to fend him off. Respect to Kaden for racing clean there," Heim said. "I had to do what I had to do what I had to do at the end there."

With the win, Heim pocketed an extra $100,000 as the race was part of the Triple Truck Challenge. Heim scored the win at Darlington Raceway, the first of three races in the Challenge, which netted him $50,000. If Heim can sweep the Triple Truck Challenge race wins next weekend at Bristol, he'll take home an additional $350,000, to bring his overall total to $500,000.

Honeycutt narrowly missed out on his first career win on Friday afternoon, but after climbing from his No. 11 Toyota, Honeycutt was noticeably spent after the late-race on-track battle with Heim. Honeycutt felt he was in a good position, but was confused by Tanner Gray, his teammate, getting in the way of the hard-fought battle in the closing laps, which ultimately paved the way for Heim's win.

Still, it was a good afternoon for Honeycutt, who was set to exit Rockingham Speedway second in the Chase grid standings, just 15 points behind Chandler Smith. However, after the race, Smith, who finished fourth, was disqualified for failing to meet minimum heights in post-race inspection.

For what it's worth, Heim sits tied with Honeycutt atop the standings, but with Heim not running the full-time schedule, he is ineligible to make the Chase for the Championship.

Layne Riggs, another of the expected championship contenders, came home with a third-place finish.

Chandler Smith, who rebounded from a 33rd-place starting spot, would be disqualified from a fourth-place finish, and in doing so, would drop from the point lead to third in the Chase Grid.

With Smith's fourth-place run erased, Stewart Friesen would be officially credited with a fourth-place finish, while Grant Enfinger finished fifth.

Black's Tire 200 Race Results

1. 1-Corey Heim
2. 11-Kaden Honeycutt
3. 34-Layne Riggs
4. 52-Stewart Friesen
5. 9-Grant Enfinger
6. 18-Tyler Ankrum
7. 10-Corey LaJoie
8. 88-Ty Majeski
9. 98-Jake Garcia
10. 13-Cole Butcher
11. 7-Sammy Smith
12. 16-Justin Haley
13. 91-Christian Eckes
14. 45-Landen Lewis
15. 26-Dawson Sutton
16. 15-Tanner Gray
17. 17-Gio Ruggiero
18. 99-Ben Rhodes
19. 81-Kris Wright
20. 4-Connor Hall
21. 2-Luke Baldwin
22. 25-Ty Dillon
23. 62-Michael Christopher Jr.
24. 19-Daniel Hemric
25. 14-Mini Tyrrell
26. 42-Parker Eatmon
27. 12-Brenden Queen
28. 76-Spencer Boyd
29. 22-Clayton Green
30. 56-Timmy Hill
31. 33-Frankie Muniz
32. 44-Andres Perez de Lara
33. 93-Caleb Costner
34. 77-Carson Hocevar
35. 5-Adam Andretti
36. 38-Chandler Smith (Disqualified)