Motorsport News

Pocono Is Welcoming To Some, Harsh To Others

Heim MNR Rd12 Pocono

This MNR Review is presented by Monday Night Racing.

Monday, Jan. 30 marked the 11th race of season six of The Interstate Batteries Monday Night Racing Pro Series as well as the opening race of the Round of 8 in the playoffs with the running of the Out of the Groove 200 in the NASCAR Next Gen Cup cars at Pocono Raceway. Corey Heim took the checkered flag in his No. 51 Toyota with a dramatic pass to the inside of runner-up Bailey Turner in the final corner of the three-turn Tricky Triangle to punch his ticket to the Championship 4. Playoff drivers Adam Cabot and Chase Cabre finished third and fourth while last week’s winner Sage Karam completed the top five.

Check out the race recap from Frontstretch’s Joy Tomlinson here. You can also view the full race broadcast, along with the Frontstretch post-race show, featuring Brandon Hauff and Michael Massie, on the Frontstretch YouTube Channel. Here are the top five points to ponder from Pocono:

1) Heim Comes Through in the Clutch

Heim wasted no time asserting himself as a contender, putting down fast practice times and qualifying on pole. The two-time Craftsman Truck Series winner would turn the top spot into early dominance, leading the first 22 laps of the 80-lap race before the opening caution flew for a front stretch spin by David Schildhouse.

At this point, pit road put Heim behind the eight ball, as a few drivers were faster on their yellow flag pit stops, pushing Heim back to fifth. Heim would then be shuffled back a bit more on the restart, falling back to ninth.

It looked like Heim’s night might be derailed when he made contact with Presley Sorah in the No. 98 on lap 34, but his damage wound up being minimal.

From there, Heim would stage a furious rally throughout the second half of the race, gradually ascending back up the top 10 to be second on the final restart with three laps to go. Coming to the white, Heim was third behind Cabot and Turner, went around the outside of Cabot in turn 1, and then set up on the bumper of Turner to duck to the inside in turn 3, move Turner up the racetrack, and clear him off the corner to seal the win.

“Props, this was a lot of fun,” Heim said in his post-race interview with Eric Estep. “I didn’t really know how to approach the last lap. My plan was to push Bailey [Turner] in the final two corners and see if could slide up and lose his momentum. He kind of guarded his entry into turn three, so I drove in deep and used…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …