Corey Heim led the way on an abbreviated second leg of the two-day ARCA Menards Series preseason test at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.
Heim, driving the No. 20 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, timed in at 49.134 seconds/183.172 mph in a pack of cars late in the morning.
“We came here with a list of things we wanted to accomplish and we got them all done pretty quickly,” said Heim. “We made a lot of single-car runs yesterday and a couple of runs in the pack. We came back this morning and made one single car run and one run in the draft, and that was it.
“(We) learned everything we needed to learn, and we’re ready to come back and race.”
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Heim, who is teaming with VMS to compete for the ARCA Menards Series championship this season, has some experience at Daytona but has never raced on the famed, 2.5-mile tri-oval.
“I tested here last year and have a little experience in the draft,” he said. “I didn’t race last year, but I am looking forward to getting out and racing this year. We worked a lot of getting me comfortable in the draft, and I learned a lot out there.”
Heim won the 2020 ARCA Menards Series season finale at Kansas Speedway. His team, VMS, has won the last three series races on the oval at Daytona, two with Michael Self and one with Harrison Burton. VMS also carried Self to victory lane in the series’ inaugural appearance on the road course at Daytona last summer.
Heim led a VMS top-three sweep Saturday, as his teammates Drew Dollar and Derek Griffith were second and third, respectively.
Jack Wood, in his first ride aboard the GMS Racing Chevrolet, timed in fourth quick. Veteran driver Dave Mader III rounded out the top five.
Taylor Gray, Ty Gibbs, Thad Moffitt, defending series champion Bret Holmes and 2018 Daytona runner-up Willie Mullins rounded out the top 10.
The ARCA Menards Series season-opening Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire at Daytona is slated for Saturday, February 13. The race will go green shortly after 1:30 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FS1. The race will also be broadcast on select affiliates of the MRN Radio network nationwide.
ARCA Staff Report
