Corey Heim Wins 1st Race with TRICON at Martinsville

Corey Heim won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the 2023 season and his first race with his new team, TRICON Garage, at Martinsville Speedway on April 14.

The race was shortened due to the rain after 123 laps of the 200 scheduled were completed. Kyle Busch finished second, and Zane Smith was third.

The race struggled to get going from the start, as the green flag was delayed around two hours due to lightning coming over the speedway. As the 30-minute lightning clock was ticking, rain fell, which sent the jet dryers out on the track, which is partially what caused such a long delay.

The first stint was run completely on wet tires, the first time a NASCAR race ran rain tires on an oval, but teams pitted on lap 37 to go back to regular slicks. Heim took stage one, and shortly afterward, another light rain shower came over the speedway, halting the race on lap 68 to dry the track for a short time.

On lap 81, the first caution for incident came when Lawless Alan got tagged by Daniel Dye and sent him spinning in turn 3.

The next caution came out just 15 laps later, on lap 96, when Stewart Friesen and Chase Purdy made contact off of turn 2 and cut Friesen’s tire, causing Friesen to loop his No. 52 in turn 3. This caution ended the stage, giving Heim the stage sweep.

With weather quickly closing in, intensity picked up. Contact between William Sawalich and Carson Hocevar led to Hocevar dooring the No. 1 into turn 1 on lap 108. Sawalich practically drifted the entirety of turns 1 and 2 to save his truck. Luckily for Sawalich, a caution on lap 111 for Daniel Dye’s spin allowed him to regroup.

Hocevar himself would spin out a on lap 116 after contact with Sawalich’s teammate Taylor Gray made contact with the No. 42, cutting Hocevar’s left rear tire. Hocevar turned left (just as he did with Sawalich) and attempted to spin Gray out but wrecked himself because of the left-rear tire. NASCAR held Hocevar for two laps on pit road due to the incident.

Just after the decision to hold Hocevar for two laps was made, heavier rain began to fall, red-flagging the race for a second time on lap 124. It ended up being the final time the trucks would be on track, as NASCAR declared Heim the winner just a few minutes after bringing the trucks to pit road.

This will be updated.