Corey Heim finished third to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday evening. Heim, who has locked his spot in the NASCAR Truck Series Playoffs, has now finished top-three in nine of the 13 races this season.
Tanner Gray battled back multiple issues throughout the day, including contact with the wall in qualifying and being involved in a lap two incident. His TRICON Garage team battled back, and Gray was able to move up to finish 14th and hold onto the final spot in the provisional Playoff field. Gray continued his streak of finishing every race this season inside the top-20.
Stewart Friesen started from the pole for the first time aboard a Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. He ran most of the race inside the top-10 before a late-race pit stop to address a loose wheel. The Canadian was able to drive back through the field to finish 11th and leave just 17 points out of a Playoff berth, with three races to go in the regular season.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Nashville Superspeedway
Race 13 of 23 – 150 Laps, 199.5 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Christian Eckes*
2nd, Daniel Dye*
3rd, COREY HEIM
4th, Rajah Caruth*
5th, Tyler Ankrum*
11th, STEWART FRIESEN
14th, TANNER GRAY
19th, BRENDEN QUEEN
27th, TIMMY HILL
28th, DEAN THOMPSON
34th, TAYLOR GRAY
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 3rd
Can you describe your race tonight?
“Yeah, kind of screwed that one up. I don’t know if we were better than the 19 (Christian Eckes), but it’s hard to tell when he never got into dirty air. This is by the far the worst I’ve felt in dirty air in a while in a truck race, just feel like the 43 (Daniel Dye) was in the way. We’re a lot better than them, just couldn’t pass at all, the groove never widened out. Definitely disappointing. Proud of TRICON Garage, Toyota Racing, Safelite for bringing a fast truck again. Just couldn’t go anywhere. Put the 19 back a spot or two, think we could’ve raced for it, but at the end of the day, finished third and that’s that.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 17 Caden Ingram Foundation Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 34th
What are your thoughts on the incident?
“Yeah, it is what it is right? We can’t do anything about it now. I don’t know. I’m sure we will have a conversation and it will all work itself out.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
