In a Nutshell
Corey Heim came out of nowhere to become the second driver (Sheldon Creed, 2021) to win back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at Darlington Raceway. He took the lead for the final time on a second overtime attempt by passing NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain, set up by a multi-truck incident on the first attempt. Christian Eckes finished third, followed by polesitter Kaden Honeycutt. Connor Mosack quietly rounded out the top five.
Kaden Honeycutt Ends Darlington Loss Frustrated with Cup Regulars
Heim outlasted NASCAR Cup Series regulars Chastain, Carson Hocevar and Christopher Bell, all of whom led laps and raced up front most of the night. As of press time, he’s not currently planning to run the next Truck Series race at Rockingham Speedway in a couple weeks.
The Top Truckers in the Buckle Up 200
Winner: Corey Heim
Polesitter, Stage 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (59): Kaden Honeycutt
Stage 1 Winner: Christian Eckes
Fastest Lap: Carson Hocevar
The Winning Move
As the laps wound down, Corey Heim wasn’t in a position to challenge for the win, despite having run near the front of the field for a large portion of the race and even leading 27 laps. With a set of scuff tires sitting in the pits, crew chief Seth Smith called his driver down pit road.
Fast forward to the second overtime attempt that was set up after contact between Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, Corey Lajoie and Jake Garcia slowed the field almost immediately after the first attempt. Heim restarted ninth, on the inside of row five, but when then-leader Chastain took the white flag, the driver of the No. 5 Toyota made a huge move to jump to second and take the lead coming out of turn 4.
“I just felt like I made all the right moves,” an out-of-breath Heim said after emerging from the truck. “I made it three wide coming to the white and bombed in there on Ross (Chastain). I was shocked he gave me the bottom with fresher tires like that.
“I love coming to this place. It’s a big-time challenge for everybody.”
A visibly shocked Chastain was nearly speechless.
“I have no idea what just happened,” Chastain said. “Coming to the checkers, [Brandon] McReynolds (spotter) said [Heim] is there or something, he’s fast. I was like, yeah, that’s fine. And he just drove by me, I had no idea.
“So, I think that’s on us as a whole that we didn’t catch that. And of course, I would have run the bottom if I thought he was even going to be close, but I just thought he had a good restart.”
The win marks the 24th for Heim but his first in two starts in a season where he’s scheduled to make 12 Cup Series starts behind the wheel of the No. 67 Toyota for 23XI Racing.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: After seeing his truck chief ejected following a pair of failed runs through inspection earlier Friday, Brendan Queen started 29th and ended up 20th by the time the checkered flag flew. He’s currently 11th in the championship standings but only sits six points below the Chase cut line.
No. 12 – Brenden Queen* (20th)
No. 13 – Cole Butcher* (28th)
No. 14 – Mini Tyrrell* (34th)
*Denotes 2026 Rookie of the Year contender
Rookie of the Race winner in bold
Why doesn’t Corey Heim have a full-time ride somewhere?
Simply put, there really just isn’t room for him to move up at this time. Many assumed, following championship finishes of third, second and first in the past three Truck Series seasons, that he’d move to the NASCAR O’Reilly Series this year or maybe even the Cup Series.
But Heim signed a developmental deal with 23XI Racing early last season, which pretty much locks him into a Toyota stable that’s currently stacked. 23XI is already running three full-time cars in the Cup Series, and there really aren’t any openings in NOAPS either, leaving the 2025 Truck Series champion to piece together a schedule.
Interestingly enough, the ride for this race only came together three weeks ago when sponsor Frontline came on board, allowing Heim to defend his 2025 victory at the track Too Tough to Tame.
The reality is that a driver who’s got 24 wins and 70 top 10s in just 91 career Truck Series starts should be in a full-time ride. Period.
Even if it’s another season in the Truck Series, rather than making the natural next step in his career to move up.
News & Notes
- Corey Heim’s victory netted him a $50,000 bonus as Darlington was the first race in the Triple Truck Challenge. If he’s able to run the next two events at Rockingham Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, he’ll be eligible to snap up to $500,000 in bonuses.
- Four truck chiefs were ejected after their trucks failed inspection twice. William Sawalich, AJ Allmendinger, Queen and Lajoie saw their truck chiefs ejected. All four trucks will also lose their pit selection for the race at Rockingham Speedway.
- Kaulig Racing announced Friday night that Lajoie will once again pilot the No. 25 RAM in the Truck Series’ next race at Rockingham Speedway. He becomes the first repeat driver behind the wheel of the organization’s free agent truck.
- Timmy Hill revealed to Frontstretch at Darlington that he will be racing the series’ next two events at Rockingham Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Race for the Chase
Despite a lackluster 17th-place finish, Chandler Smith remains atop the championship standings. Honeycutt used his fourth-place run, combined with stage finishes of second and first to move up four positions to second, while Layne Riggs jumped two spots to third. Giovanni Ruggiero and Ty Majeski, who lost two spots, round out the top five.
Eckes moved up three positions to sixth and sits tied with Ben Rhodes, who dropped five spots after a lap 3 crash ended his night prematurely. Though he’s only made two starts this season, race winner Heim jumped 13 spots to eighth. Andres Perez and Justin Haley round out the top 10.
Talkin’ Truckers
Paint Scheme of the Race
Honeycutt’s throwback to Johnny Benson’s 2008 Truck Series championship season with Bill Davis Racing is a stark reminder of how well red and black go together on a truck, especially under the lights.
Next Stop
The Craftsman Truck Series takes a weekend off before heading to Rockingham Speedway on Friday, April 3. Last season, Ankrum took the lead with 29 laps remaining and held on for his second career win. Coverage for the Black’s Tire 200 begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
