It was Corey Heim’s time to shine with his Fr8 208 win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)
Whenever Corey Heim’s competing in a superspeedway style race, it’s likely his time to shine as evident in Saturday’s Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Despite starting 19th due to rain washing out qualifying, the 19-year-old Marietta, Georgia native knew he had a sporty No. 51 Toyota Tundra.
As Heim bided his time at the newly repaved and refit 1.54-mile quad oval, his fellow Toyota Racing colleagues, Stewart Friesen and John Hunter Nemechek, flexed their muscles respectively with wins in stages 1 and 2.
Once the action picked up for stage 3, the intensity followed suit with some incidents mainly in turns 1 and 3. Namely, Dean Thompson, Lawless Alan and Christian Eckes tangled in turn 3 on lap 69.
Meanwhile, Tate Fogleman, last fall’s Talladega winner, was involved in a couple of incidents, including a lap 81 frontstretch spin and a turn 1 incident including Jordan Anderson and Tanner Gray.
As attrition set in, Heim, who led on four occasions for 22 laps, had some hardy drafting help from Nemechek, his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate, especially on the final lap.
Nemechek’s helpful draft along with Heim’s cool as the other side of the pillow approach earned him his maiden Truck win. The mild mannered Georgian credited his head wrench atop his pit box following a burnout along the dogleg.
“First off, my crew chief Marty Lindley put me in a perfect spot,” Heim said. “We were running in the 20s for most of the race to try to stay safe. I knew strategy was going to have to take us to the front.
“Marty did a great job so did my whole KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) No. 51 JBL Tundra TRD Pro crew. Just such a phenomenal job by these guys. They really helped me at the end.”
Likewise, reigning Truck champion, Ben Rhodes, capitalized with a methodical approach, rewarding his No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota colleagues with a runner-up result.
Although Rhodes would’ve enjoyed his first win of the season, he looked toward the positives during a gritty Saturday drive.
“Chaotic race at Atlanta Motor Speedway today,” Rhodes reflected. “Different than anything I’ve experienced at a mile-and-a-half track. I’m super thankful to have our Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro with a clean second-place finish especially after no stage points.
“That’s tough to go out and race for a championship. You’ve got to get those every single week. We will work on that to be better.”
Rhodes’ teammate, Ty Majeski, continued his marvelous form, just two positions adrift from his first Truck win. In spite of a podium finish, Majeski pondered about the finish had Heim’s teammate stayed out of the battle.
“Solid race all day,” Majeski observed. “We had a really fast Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. It’s cool to have American Racing on the side of it. We gave it a really good run. Joe (Shear, Jr., crew chief) did a really good job all day long.
“We worked really well with Ben (Rhodes). I felt like we had a shot to win, but that 4 (John Hunter Nemechek) got in the mix and it was hard to dismantle three KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) trucks, but overall a really solid day.”
In the end, Heim had the most incredible day in terms of his fellow Truck Series cohorts. Needless to say, Heim’s home state win meant a great deal to him given his roots to the Peach State.
“It’s super special,” he offered. “I’ve been in victory lane here a bunch of times as a kid racing Bandoleros. It was such a dream to come back here and win race. It’s surreal. It hasn’t sunk in. Just unbelievable to be here.”
Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers
Friesen-Enfinger-Kraus-Eckes-Crafton/Gray-Chandler Smith-Chastain-Nemechek-Ankrum
Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers
Nemechek-Majeski-Chandler Smith-Eckes-Ankrum/Crafton-Thompson-Gray-Hocevar-Preece
Fr8 208 Top 10 Finishers
Heim-Rhodes-Majeski-Chandler Smith-Zane Smith/Friesen-Preece-Gray-Kraus-Self
