Corey Heim, Christian Eckes battling for regular-season title as Truck Series heads to Nashville
NASCAR Truck Series driver Corey Heim (11) passes driver Christian Eckes (19) during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After a four-week break, Christian Eckes and Corey Heim will try and continue their stellar 2024 campaigns.
With Eckes leading Heim by 31 points in the hunt for the regular-season championships, both drivers keep a close eye on each other. Only four races remain in the Truck Series regular season, meaning every position counts for a pair of drivers who almost always find themselves near the front.
Nobody in the Truck Series is as motivated as Heim, who won the series' last race in St. Louis on June 1. However, Heim's disqualification from the May 24 race at Charlotte turned the tide in the battle for the regular-season championship, giving control of the points lead to Eckes. While Eckes had taken the points lead at Darlington two weeks prior, Heim only received one point for his troubles in Charlotte, which truly turned the tide in Eckes' favor.
Heim may double Eckes in wins — Heim has won four races to Eckes' two — but Eckes has been slightly more consistent than his rival, even if that is due to a technicality. Eckes' only finish outside the top-10 was at Atlanta on Feb. 24. He hasn't scored less than 27 points in a race since.
On the other hand, Heim has suffered two finishes outside of the top-10 in 2024. Along with the disqualification at Charlotte, he was caught up in a late-race crash while running inside the top 10 at Darlington, relegating him to a 29th-place finish. How dominant was Heim in Darlington, you may ask? Despite his 29th-place result, he still scored 29 points in the race due to sweeping the stages and leading 77 laps.
With both drivers being contenders for the win week in and week out, it seems inevitable that the two championship rivals will clash when the pay window opens at Nashville on Friday night.
If Eckes and Heim find themselves battling late, they won't just be going for a huge win but also the chance to steal crucial points from each other in the thick of a heated points battle.
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