Corey Heim’s Wild Day Ends in Dramatic Kansas Win

In A Nutshell

The stats will show that Corey Heim led the most laps and won stage two, but he had to earn the overall race win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway on Friday (Sept. 27).

After starting 33rd following issues in practice that kept him from qualifying, Heim soared to third by the end of stage one. He then won stage two and led most of the final stage before pit strategy shook up the running order.

However, Heim was able to pass Ty Majeski on the final lap when the No. 98 ran out of fuel, allowing the No. 11 team to capture his sixth win of the season.

The Top Truckers at Kansas Speedway

Winner, Stage 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (64 of 134 laps), Biggest Mover (33rd to first): Corey Heim
Polesitter, Stage 1 Winner: Ty Majeski
Rookie of the Race: Layne Riggs

Top Storylines of the Race

• Conor Daly was forced to make a pass-through pit stop under green for a start violation. Daly ducked out of line before reaching the start-finish line on the initial start of the race.
• The first (and only) caution for cause didn’t come out until lap 77, when rookie Corey Day tangled with Matt Mills, fresh off a new contract extension with Niece Motorsports, resulting in a hard crash into the wall. Both drivers exited their trucks under their own power.
• For the first time in what seems like a very long time, the race featured green flag pit stops and a plethora of strategy, leading to a more interesting finish than the ones we’ve seen out of the Truck Series recently.
• Just three drivers led laps on the evening: Heim (64), Majeski (51), and Christian Eckes (19).

The Winning Move

After the caution for Mills and Day, some trucks came down pit road, including polesitter Majeski. Most of the rest of the guys who stayed out were anywhere between 3-10 laps short on fuel and likely needed another caution or make a green flag pit stop.

Another caution never came, so everyone who didn’t pit under the last caution came down with under 40 laps to go to top off on fuel, while Majeski and a couple others stayed out.

With fresh tires and the fastest truck, Heim quickly ran down Majeski, but was only able to close the gap to three seconds heading to the white flag. At that moment, a couple trucks who gambled on fuel began to run out.

Including Majeski.

Heim then soared past on the final lap to claim his sixth win of the season. Heim’s 33rd-place starting spot is the second-worst starting spot…