Corey Heim earned his series’ best fifth victory of the season in Friday evening’s rain-interrupted CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. The 21-year old swept both stages and led 55 of the 70 laps to add to his trophy total, but he had to battle competitors and climate for this win.
The Georgian’s No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota led Grant Enfinger’s Chevrolet across the finish line by 0.867s to take his 10th career victory – quickly re-establishing himself as the race leader – again – on the final re-start with three laps remaining.
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“It started from the very beginning; we’ve had such a close bond,’’ Heim said of his strong working relationship with crew chief Scott Zippidelli and the career-best single season win mark.
“Week in and week out, so proud of these guys; can’t say enough about them,’’ Heim said.
Rain drops covered the windshields of the trucks – particularly in Turn 2 of the 2.5-mile Pocono track – and eventually brought out a caution flag for weather with only nine laps remaining in the race. After parking on pit road for just over 10 minutes of red-flag stoppage, the field returned to the track for a lap only to come back down pit road again as the rain got heavier with seven laps remaining.
Not surprisingly Heim immediately told his crew the rain was substantial. Enfinger, who was 2.2s behind Heim at the time of the initial red flag, was optimistic it was going to be a brief shower. NASCAR had already determined before the green flag that the race would be official no matter the circumstance at 8:20 p.m. ET – approximately one hour and 10 minutes after the first red flag waved Friday evening.
But the sun shone on the restart allowing enough laps to complete the race – a light rain beginning again during driver’s post-race interviews.
Enfinger’s second-place finish equals his best mark of the year – also at North Wilkesboro, N.C. – and certainly helped solidify the CR7 Motorsports driver’s position in the Playoff standings. He is seventh place with only two races remaining before the 2024 Playoffs begin Aug. 25 at the Milwaukee Mile Speedway.
McAnally Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes finished third, followed by TRICON Garage’s Taylor Gray and NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain, driving for Niece Motorsports.
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The closing laps featured close racing up front with many among the lead pack having to be conscious about saving fuel – a variable then made moot with the rain stoppage. Heim was trying to hold off the hard-charging, highly-motivated veteran Enfinger, who was racing for his first win of the season while Eckes had to hold off Chastain for third place.
The pole-winner Eckes led the race’s opening 11 laps in the No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Chevy and finished second to race-winner Heim in both stages. A slow pit stop during the second stage break forced Eckes to play catch-up. He restarted 10th but was up to fourth place within five laps and continued to move forward.
He rallied to that ultimate third-place showing giving him a series best 12-race streak of top-10 finishes and he still holds a 32-point edge on Heim for the regular season championship.
The first caution flag for a race incident came out with 26 laps remaining when Rajah Caruth spun on track. At the time Heim led Chastain by almost 3s . As the trucks drove under caution, drivers were alerted that rain was imminent, so the front-runners did not pit.
Chase Purdy, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Dean Thompson and Caruth rounded out the top 10.
With only two races remaining to set the 10-driver Playoff field, Daniel Dye holds a single-point edge on Tanner Gray in that 10th position and a slight four-point advantage over Friesen.
Only four full-time series drivers have won this season to claim automatic Playoff berths including Heim, Eckes, Friday’s 13th place finisher Nick Sanchez and Caruth.
The Craftsman Truck Series moves to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for Friday’s TSport 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ty Majeski won last year’s race by more than 3s over Eckes. Championship leader Heim was eighth.