Corey Heim doubled down in Las Vegas, winning his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the year after leading the final 42 laps of the Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday night.
The 22-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, took the checkered flag in his No. 11 Toyota .825 of a second ahead of 13-year truck series veteran Grant Enfinger. Heim passed more than 40 trucks throughout the night after qualifying 16th and restarting from the rear of the field after picking up a pit road speeding penalty at the end of Stage 1.
Heim’s victory came after two unexpected rain stoppages delayed the checkered flag by more than an hour at the 1.5-mile speedway.
He has now won two of the season’s first three races, along with a triumph at Daytona International Speedway on Valentine’s Day.
“I definitely had a circumstantially tough day with the right front going down and when I made a mistake and sped at the end of Stage 1, but I had the best truck in the field so I can’t complain there,” said Heim, who now has 13 career NCTS victories. “Our pit crew did such a great job to put us back out front. I just had to do everything I could out there, and I think all of us were wide open at the end. I just had to keep looking out my mirror and driving out of my mirror, and it worked out.
“I couldn’t be happier with my team right now, and they worked their butts off. We’re firing on all cylinders right now, just have to keep it flowing. It’s early in the year, and we’re starting off the right way. Our goal is to win a championship, so we’ve got to keep it up.”
Enfinger ran out of laps in a furious attempt to chase down Heim, but earned his third consecutive top 10 of the season.
“It’s bittersweet, and I don’t like it when I felt we had the fastest truck out there,” said Enfinger, who qualified 20th for Friday’s race. “We probably went over our tire limit a little bit right there, and it hurt us at the end. This Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet was the class of the field at the end of a run, but maybe not so much at the beginning of a run.
“Corey did good, and they were a lot better than us on the short runs. Our pit crew did an amazing job getting us from 11th to fifth, and when we were in the top five, we could race with those guys.”
Temperatures dipped into the mid-40s at the desert track, presenting a challenge for several teams, including Heim’s.
“This wasn’t exactly what we wanted, as far as the weather being as cold as it was, and I think we do better when it’s hot and greasy and we’re sliding around,” Heim said. “I had mixed emotions going into this race, but clearly it paid off.”
Ty Majeski won Stage 1 in his No. 98 Ford before finishing fourth and now leads Heim by five points in the series standings. Tyler Ankrum drove his No. 18 Chevy to a Stage 2 victory and led 39 laps before a lap 83 scrape with the wall on slowed his effort; he went on to finish 10th. Pole sitter Corey Day led two laps before falling off the pace and finished 27th, two laps down.
The weather delays also forced the cancellation of the Kubota Tractor Corporation’s High Limit Racing event at The Dirt Track at LVMS, and the event will take place as originally scheduled on Saturday at the half-mile track.
Quoted and quotable: Media availability highlights
NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell
On looking to become the first driver to win four consecutive races since Jimmie Johnson in 2007.
“I’m just excited about it. One thing’s for sure – nothing that’s happened the last three weeks means anything for this week. Everything is still ahead of me, and nothing is set. As soon as the green flag drops for qualifying, we have to go out and qualify well, and we have to execute the race.
“I am optimistic about how we’re going to perform because this has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m trying really hard to not get ahead of myself and understand that it’s a new week, it’s another race and everybody’s going to be bringing their best stuff and trying to beat me. I’m optimistic about how we’re going to perform, but I understand it’s a tall task. To be in the same category as some of those guys who I have the chance to tie their stats, I guess time will tell, but it’s definitely an honor to be in that conversation.”
On hearing from Jimmie Johnson about his winning streak.
“It’s still the coolest thing in the world to me that I have Jimmie Johnson in my phone. He has talked to me and has sent me a text message after every win so far, and I’m still shocked every time I see his name pop up [in my phone]. I respect the heck out of him, and it’s an honor to know that he thinks of me after the race enough to shoot me a text message.
NASCAR Xfinity Series The LiUNA pole winner Sammy Smith
On winning his third career NXS pole after a lap of 29.435 seconds/183.455 mph.
“Our car was as fast as Xfinity Mobile right there, and just thanks to the Pilot team, JRM and everybody. Hopefully, we can finish it. We were solid in practice, and we just needed to work on our line and things just a little bit. Hopefully, we’ll keep it up front, and we’ll see.
“I feel really good going into tomorrow. I think we’ve got to work on our race car just a touch with it being hotter. We’ve just got to try to keep it up front, and hopefully get good stage points and then be there in the final stage.”
