Corey Heim dominates Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway while tempers flare on pit road
Corey Heim
Corey Heim once more proved why he’s one of the top prospects in NASCAR on Saturday night.
The 21 year-old Georgia native was already the championship favorite in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heading into Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway, but after leading 79 laps en route to his second win of the season, it seems that nobody can beat him.
Heim’s worst finish so far in 2024 is 10th and with six top-five finishes through the first eight events of 2024, he’s proven he can contend for wins no matter what track the series goes to.
Saturday’s win should also give Heim confidence – if he needs any more of it – for Sunday’s Cup Series race, in which he will substitute for an injured Erik Jones in what will be his second Cup Series start.
“Just can’t say enough about these guys at TRICON Garage,” Heim said on the frontstretch following the race. “We just executed all night. We ran pretty free for most of the race, but even with the balance issues I feel like this truck has a lot of potential to get better.”
As Heim celebrated with his crew under the Kansas lights, runner-up Zane Smith watched on morosely, dreaming about what could have been if he had just a few more laps to try and pass Heim.
“I was surprised at how much we caught him there at the end,” Smith said. “Just can’t lose eight spots on pit road. I feel like one kinda got away here.”
Smith is hoping that a solid run in the Truck Series race will translate to a good day in Sunday’s Cup Series race. As a Cup Series rookie in 2024, Smith has struggled mightily, sitting last of all full-time drivers in points after 11 races.
While Heim was rightfully the biggest story of the night, Kansas Speedway’s pit road once more found itself at the center of conflict between two drivers, just as it did at the end of last year’s Cup race. This time, it was Layne Riggs and Australian Supercars driver Cam Waters exchanging words, with Riggs not looking too happy about what transpired between the two in the final laps.
Making his second NASCAR start, Waters got loose under Riggs and washed up into the No. 38 truck, leading Riggs to be quite frustrated when he climbed out of his battered Ford F-150.
The two drivers eventually walked away from each other, with Riggs and Waters finishing 18th and 19th, respectively.
The Truck Series kicks off a three-week Carolina swing next weekend at Darlington, with the ninth race of the season going green on Friday, May 10th, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The race will be televised on FS1, with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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