Corey Heim claimed a dramatic victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday night, conquering the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway after two intense overtime restarts.
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| Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images |
While the final results might suggest a dominant run, Heim’s 14th career win was anything but routine. Driving the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra, the 22-year-old navigated chaos, late-race contact, and double overtime to earn his third Truck Series win of the 2025 season — and his first at the Fort Worth oval.
Heim led a race-high 96 of 174 laps and sealed the win by charging past Daniel Hemric and holding off Rajah Caruth in the final laps. The victory also solidified his position atop the NASCAR Truck Series championship standings, now 46 points ahead of Chandler Smith.
“I wasn’t going to let that one get away from me,” Heim said after the race. “So many restarts at the end — they were going three-wide. I drove it in as far as I could.”
The race was anything but calm. The SpeedyCash.com 250 featured 11 cautions for 57 laps, a testament to the high-speed drama at one of the most challenging 1.5-mile tracks on the schedule. It was also the first Truck Series event to go into overtime since 2023.
In the second overtime, Ben Rhodes, who started alongside Heim, went side-by-side through Turn 2. But Heim squeezed between Rhodes and Hemric entering Turn 1 and never looked back. Rhodes, a two-time series champion, fell back to sixth and later criticized Heim’s line through Turn 3, citing the narrow groove that caused multiple wrecks.
The opening stages of the race were equally chaotic. On Lap 31, rookie Giovanni Ruggiero triggered a massive crash after clipping the grass in the tri-oval, collecting Brandon Jones and Kaden Honeycutt in a heavy impact. Jones’ truck lost its right front wheel, while Honeycutt’s Chevrolet was destroyed.
“It’s hard to see the grass from behind the wheel here,” Ruggiero admitted. “It was my mistake. We had a fast JBL Toyota Tundra, and I’m disappointed for my team.”
Other incidents included multiple spins by Layne Riggs, contact involving Luke Fenhaus, and a crash by Andrés Pérez de Lara, who backed his truck into the Turn 2 wall on Lap 57.
Behind Heim, Daniel Hemric finished second, Rajah Caruth third, Tyler Ankrum fourth, and Tanner Gray rounded out the top five.
Heim’s victory not only strengthens his hold on the Truck Series Playoff standings, but also makes him the youngest driver in series history to reach 14 career wins.
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