Category: Trucks

Heim outlasts rain and rivals for Martinsville Truck win

Corey Heim prevailed at Martinsville Speedway late Friday night to earn his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season after persevering through both rain and dry conditions, two red flag periods for weather and multiple charges by …

Corey Heim prevailed at Martinsville Speedway late Friday night to earn his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season after persevering through both rain and dry conditions, two red flag periods for weather and multiple charges by the highly motivated veteran Kyle Busch.

The 20-year old Georgia-native, Heim, led his first laps of the 2023 season at exactly the right time — holding the point for an impressive 82 of the 124 laps of the Long John Silver’s 200. Including the most important lap.

An accident with 85 laps remaining brought out the yellow flag and after several circuits under caution, NASCAR brought the trucks to pit road where the red flag flew for rain and the race was declared official on lap 124 of the scheduled 200 laps.

“Rain, rain, come on,’’ Heim urged to his TRICON Garage crew on the radio, just before climbing out of his No. 11 Toyota truck during that final red flag period.

“This race was cut short and that’s definitely unfortunate, but this truck was fast all night,’’ he said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.’’

Heim had to work for this, holding off Busch — who was racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports’ 100th win — and reigning series champion Zane Smith on four different re-starts to claim the famed one-of-a-kind grandfather clock Martinsville trophy only minutes before that clock would strike midnight.

“We just didn’t have a good enough short-run truck,’’ said Busch, who finished second. “Being a little bit loose and free that we were, we were hoping that would pay off in the long run but never had a long run. The longest run of the race was on rain tires.

“It did not go our way today, unfortunately.’’

Heim swept both stage wins – his first of the season as well.

“I bring a 100-percent effort to every race every week so to be able to sit here and have it pay off is phenomenal,’’ Heim said.

Smith finished third in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford with ThorSports Racing’s Ty Majeski and Heim’s TRICON teammate Tanner Gray rounding out the top five.

Ben Rhodes, Matt DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich and Chase Purdy completed the top 10. It was the 16-year old Sawalich’s Truck Series debut and helped the TRICON team to four top-10 finishes.

Majeski maintains the points-lead after Martinsville by 26 points over Smith and 49 over Rhodes.

The trucks take a couple weeks off and will return to competition on May 6, at Kansas Speedway in the Heart of America 200 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RESULTS:

1. (4) Corey Heim, Toyota, 124.
2. (2) Kyle Busch(i), Chevrolet, 124.
3. (1) Zane Smith, Ford, 124.
4. (12) Ty Majeski, Ford, 124.
5. (9) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 124.
6. (3) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 124.
7. (5) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 124.
8. (24) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 124.
9. (22) William Sawalich, Toyota, 124.
10. (8) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 124.
11. (19) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 124.
12. (25) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 124.
13. (18) Jake Garcia #, Chevrolet, 124.
14. (10) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 124.
15. (6) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 124.
16. (31) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 124.
17. (26) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 124.
18. (15) Conner Jones, Ford, 124.
19. (28) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 124.
20. (27) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 124.
21. (36) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 124.
22. (23) Bret Holmes #, Chevrolet, 124.
23. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 124.
24. (29) Memphis Villarreal, Toyota, 124.
25. (16) Rajah Caruth #, Chevrolet, 124.
26. (11) Matt Crafton, Ford, 124.
27. (14) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 124.
28. (17) Kaden Honeycutt, Ford, 123.
29. (33) Jonathan Shafer, Toyota, 123.
30. (13) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 123.
31. (21) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 123.
32. (20) Lawless Alan, Chevrolet, 122.
33. (32) Mason Massey, Ford, 122.
34. (7) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 122.
35. (34) Brad Perez(i), Chevrolet, 118.
36. (35) Stephen Mallozzi, Ford, 116.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 46.849 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 23 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 63 laps.
Lead Changes: 2 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Z. Smith 1-5;K. Busch(i) 6-42;C. Heim 43-124.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim 1 time for 82 laps; Kyle Busch(i) 1 time for 37 laps; Zane Smith 1 time for 5 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,51,38,15,19,99,98,25,42,1
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,51,38,19,15,98,99,42,25,9

Logano survives the chaos in Bristol dirt Truck Series victory

Moonlighting in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday night, Joey Logano performed the perfect Bristol Stomp in winning the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion swept the first two stages of the race at …

Moonlighting in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday night, Joey Logano performed the perfect Bristol Stomp in winning the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt.

The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion swept the first two stages of the race at Bristol Motor Speedway’s Dirt Track, led 138 of the 150 laps and crossed the finish line 1.241s ahead of ThorsSport Racing teammate Ty Majeski.

“My fun meter was pegged tonight,” said Logano, who won the second Truck Series race of his career. “I had a lot of fun out here racing at Bristol. The dirt’s a lot of fun.

“Hopefully, tomorrow is just as good with the other car.”

Logano will start 12th in his No. 22 NASCAR Cup Series car in Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race at the half-mile track. He won the inaugural Cup Series dirt race at Bristol in 2021.

Majeski ran a strong second but was no match for his teammate.

“He’s a two-time Cup champion for a reason,” Majeski said. “Just happy we got ThorSport in victory lane. ThorSport deserves to be in victory lane — just wish it was us. Just one spot short.

“Overall, he was just better than us tonight. I thought maybe at times, if we would have had a long run, I might have been able to match him or at least make him nervous. Just wasn’t in the cards for us.”

Long runs were not the order of the day. The race was punctuated by 11 cautions for 64 laps as trucks rubbed fenders, cut tires and spun on the slick clay surface with predictable frequency. Out front for virtually the entire race, Logano avoided the chaos behind him.

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“They gave me a great race truck,” said Logano, who pressed Team Penkse teammate Ryan Blaney into service as his spotter. “We qualified good in the heat race and were able to drive to the lead pretty early in the race and were pretty much able to control it.

“I’m not sure we learned anything for (Sunday), because I didn’t get to race a whole bunch, but it was fun leading all those laps. I had a great spotter up there in Blaney. He kept me entertained and light-hearted and a (was) a whole lot of fun, too.”

William Byron, a two-time Cup winner this season, ran third in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet. Matt Crafton was fourth, followed by Grant Enfinger, Jake Garcia, Chase Briscoe, Tanner Gray, Kaden Honeycutt and Matt DiBenedetto.

Dirt late model ace Jonathan Davenport finished 14th, one spot behind Hailie Deegan, who ran as high as third during the early stages of the race.

Majeski leads the series standings by 34 points over defending champion Zane Smith, who was collected in a three-truck accident on lap 95 and finished 21st.

RESULTS

NASCAR podcast: Christian Eckes on turning things around in the Truck Series

Christian Eckes admits he threw away races and opportunities when he drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports and ThorSport Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, and he’s not interested in history repeating itself. Eckes has a new sense of confidence and …

Christian Eckes admits he threw away races and opportunities when he drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports and ThorSport Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, and he’s not interested in history repeating itself. Eckes has a new sense of confidence and determination now with Bill McAnally, and he’s already won early in the year. Eckes joins The Racing Writer’s Podcast to discuss that as well as what winning early does for a team, being a mentor to a rookie teammate, and more.

 

Hocevar dodges carnage en route to first Truck victory at Texas

Nick Sanchez led an absolutely dominant 168 of 172 laps in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway, but the 21-year old rookie and reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith collided at the front of the field after …

Nick Sanchez led an absolutely dominant 168 of 172 laps in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway, but the 21-year old rookie and reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Zane Smith collided at the front of the field after taking the white flag and Carson Hocevar instead drove through to take his first career victory in double overtime.

The 20-year old Hocevar led only that last overtime lap in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet to claim his first win by 1.628s over Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chase Purdy – career best finishes for both drivers.

After slight contact with Smith racing door-to-door for the win, Sanchez got loose and had to regain control of the truck heading to the white flag. Video replays show that as he steadied his truck, he was hit from behind by Hocevar, whose truck was carrying the momentum as Sanchez was recovering from his slight miscue. The contact from behind was just enough to spin Sanchez back across the track and collect Smith’s truck, while Hocevar drove forward to the finish line and waited for official word of the win.

“I didn’t mean to get into him, I just meant to give him a push and he got sideways the second I hit him. I apologize to them; I’ll take the fall for it, I wrecked a Chevy and I’ll go talk to him about it — he deserved to win for sure,’’ Hocevar said of the contact with Sanchez.

“But all the times we were the fastest car and I don’t win…and this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now,’’ said Hocevar, who has four career runner-up finishes.

“We didn’t deserve to win today but we were in the right spot at the right time.”

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Certainly, Sanchez got plenty of practice in mastering re-starts with six of the 12 cautions coming in the final 40 laps of the race. He drove his No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet to the front each time, having to duel side-by-side with Smith late in the race.

“Obviously coming to the last lap, me and the No. 38 (Zane Smith) were playing an aggressive side-drafting game and I got a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass and saved it,’’ Sanchez said. “Just got hit by the No. 42 (Hocevar). I don’t know what else to say about that. It is what it is; that’s racing.

“This is what we’ve been working hard to do,’’ continued Sanchez, who swept both stage wins. “We don’t want to just win, we want to dominate. Today we dominated, but we didn’t win so just got to go back and see what I can do better. Try to build on strengths. I guess the positive is we got stage points; that’s something to fall back on, but I want to win. That’s my goal.’’

Veteran Stewart Friesen finished third with Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia rounding out the top five; Garcia the highest finishing rookie. Hailie Deegan equaled her career-best finish with a sixth-place run. Corey Heim, Ryan Vargas, Jack Wood and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10.

Smith was scored 14th and Sanchez was scored 16th. The race leaves Majeski with a three-point edge over Smith atop the championship standings.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action next week in Saturday’s Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt track (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RESULTS

Zane Smith goes back to back and burns it down at COTA Truck Series race

Zane Smith became the first repeat NASCAR winner at the Circuit of The Americas road course, the reigning series champion holding off veteran Kyle Busch to claim his second straight victory in Saturday’s XPEL 225 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. …

Zane Smith became the first repeat NASCAR winner at the Circuit of The Americas road course, the reigning series champion holding off veteran Kyle Busch to claim his second straight victory in Saturday’s XPEL 225 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

The 23-year-old Californian’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford led the final 15 laps – a race best 16 of the 42 laps in all — and crossed the finish line an impressive 5.451s ahead of the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch. The win makes Smith’s Front Row Motorsports team a perfect three-for-three in Craftsman Truck Series races at COTA. Todd Gilliland won the 2021 inaugural here.

Ford driver Ty Majeski, Toyota’s Tyler Ankrum and last year’s NASCAR Cup Series COTA winner Ross Chastain, in a Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.

It’s the second victory of the year for Smith, who won the season-opener at Daytona too – the same first two victories he earned in his 2022 championship season as well.

“Shout out to Chris Lawson for an amazing strategy,” said Smith, whose Ford F-150 had a small fire under it extinguished after his burnout.

“So cool for (sponsors) Speedco, Peak and all our partners. It was fast when it mattered. I just enjoy coming to all the road courses, especially here. So cool. Just a true testament to this team.

“Once we got to that eight-to-go point and I was told Kyle (Busch) was in second, my heart rate went up a little bit, just because he’s so good at managing his stuff when it mattered,” Smith continued. “So, I just tried not to make any mistakes.”

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Polesitter Chastain and Busch exchanged the lead for much of the early race – combining to lead 22 laps between them. Smith was able to take the lead after pitting just before the final caution and getting track position. Chastain’s truck actually fell back to 28th for the final restart and Busch’s was 17th, yet they both rallied to top-five finishes.

Both of the NASCAR Cup Series full-timers wasted no time navigating upward through the field. On just the single restart lap, Busch had moved up 10 spots and ran seventh – picking off positions with ease. He moved into second place with six laps to go, but by that point Smith had already opened up more than a 5s advantage.

“Played the long game and unfortunately the long game didn’t work; they got lucky and beat us,” Busch said of gambling with a pit strategy that took the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet into the pits two laps – and a caution flag — after Smith made his final stop.

Corey Heim, rookie Nick Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Kaz Grala and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top-10. NASCAR has eliminated stage breaks at road courses in 2023 but both Christian Eckes – who ultimately finished 30th after mechanical problems – won Stage 1 (his third stage win of the year) and Busch won Stage 2.

The win Saturday was Smith’s ninth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and puts him in the driver standings lead by two-points on ThorSport Racing’s Majeski heading into the next race, the SpeedyCash.com 250 next Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RESULTS

Eckes fights back from penalty to win Truck Series at Atlanta

Christian Eckes finished where he started Saturday’s Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway-with a lot of turmoil in between. Eckes claimed his second victory in the series in overtime, choosing the bottom lane and …

Christian Eckes finished where he started Saturday’s Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway—with a lot of turmoil in between.

Eckes claimed his second victory in the series in overtime, choosing the bottom lane and front-row position for a restart on lap 136 of 137.

After leading the first 30-lap stage of the race wire-to-wire, however, Eckes sped on pit road and lost track position. He spent the rest of the event working his way back to the front.

In a race that featured a record 11 cautions for 58 laps, the driver of the No. 19 Chevrolet restarted 13th on lap 103, but three yellow flags later, he was on the inside of the front row beside leader and ultimate runner-up finisher Nick Sanchez for the overtime restart.

Eckes surged ahead, took the white flag in the lead and was out front when NASCAR called the final caution of the race for a wreck in Turn 4 involving Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen and defending series champion Zane Smith.

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“It’s been a tough offseason,” said Eckes, in his first year with owner Bill McAnally after driving for ThorSport Racing in 2022. “I’m driving harder than I ever have—I have a lot to prove. The people know who they are.

“I’m really happy. Thanks to (crew chief) Charles (Denike), everybody on this team. They work so…hard. This is what makes it all worth it. I’m pumped. It’s going to be a really good year.”

John Hunter Nemechek ran third after leading a race-high 53 laps to Eckes’ 35. Nemechek had the lead for a restart on lap 121, but was shuffled back in traffic.

Bayley Currey finished fourth, earning his first NASCAR national series top five, and Ben Rhodes came home fifth after giving Eckes a much-needed push to the lead.

Matt DiBenedetto, Chase Purdy, Timmy Hill, Matt Crafton and Jack Wood completed the top 10.

RESULTS