Coming from the 13th starting spot, Corey Heim drove his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to a statement win Saturday night in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at Kansas Speedway, his second triumph of the 2024 season and the seventh of his career. The Georgia native led 79 of the race’s 134 laps, along with the Stage 1 win, on the way to victory lane at the night’s end. This result also marks at least a top-10 finish in all races so far this season for Heim, and in 23 of the last 24 Truck Series races.
With the victory, Heim reclaimed the Truck Series points lead heading to Darlington next weekend – holding a seven-point lead.
Heim was joined inside the top-10 tonight by his TRICON Garage teammates, Brett Moffit (fifth) – making his first Trucks start of 2024 – Tanner Gray (seventh) and Dean Thompson (ninth). The finishes for both Gray and Thompson were their best so far of the 2024 season.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Kansas Speedway
Race 8 of 23 – 134 Laps, 201 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, COREY HEIM
2nd, Zane Smith*
3rd, Christian Eckes
4th, Kaden Honeycutt
5th, BRETT MOFFITT
7th, TANNER GRAY
8th, DEAN THOMPSON
22nd, TIMMY HILL
25th, STEWART FRIESEN
27th, TAYLOR GRAY
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: Winner
Your crew chief, Scott Zipadelli, said you carried your team to a win. How disciplined did you need to be tonight?
“Well that’s pretty humbling. This is a phenomenal truck out of the TRICON Garage stable. All of those guys deserve most of the credit if I’m being honest. It’s a brand-new truck out of their shop and we ran top-five both times in their trucks last year. We just needed an edge, just a little bit to get better and it was just that. Scott’s (Zipadelli, crew chief) a humble guy, does a great job and so does everyone top-to-bottom on this No. 11 crew and everyone back at TRICON Garage. What a phenomenal race truck we have here. So happy for everyone back at the shop and everyone involved. A great day.”
This is your first win at a traditional mile and a half oval. How important is this win for you?
“It’s huge, I feel like we’ve been so close. I feel like we were the best truck all year at mile and half race tracks last year, just weren’t able to close the deal. To get this one feels so good and I think we have many more ahead of us.”
BRETT MOFFITT, No. 1 Concrete Supply Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 5th
Can you take us through your race?
“These guys at TRICON Garage brought me a great truck tonight. We struggled for track position early, which put us in a hole late. Then, I feel like we had a mishap on the last, stage 3 restart. We finally got track position, but lost some and went back. I don’t know if we could’ve gotten up to third or fourth, and if we would have had anything for the 91 (Zane Smith) or 11 (Corey Heim), but we were really good. It was fun to race with them and look forward to more.”
TANNER GRAY, No. 15 Dead On Tools Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 7th
How was your night overall?
“Yeah, I thought it started a little bit rough for us. Fired off and it felt a little too free there on the first run and I fought some handling through the first two stages. But, the pit crew did a great job getting us some track position and Jerame (Donley, crew chief) made great adjustments on each stop. Honestly, a pretty uneventful race for us. Tried to execute the best we could, make up for time on that green flag stop and not make too many mistakes. It feels good to get out of here with a top-10. I don’t think feel like this has been one of my better mile and a halfs. Not an over-exciting day for us, but a good one. Take the points and move onto Darlington.”
DEAN THOMPSON, No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 8th
A top-10 run tonight, how would you describe your race?
“It was a good night. Started off really, really free. Then, we started chipping our way at it and ended off pretty good. Felt like I had a really fast truck, but I sped on pit road. I never had a speeding penalty, expect for once. If I don’t do that, feel like we’re in a good spot to finish a little better in the top-five.”
Golin for Toyota Racing
