Josh Bilicki during qualifying for the LiUNA! 150 at Lime Rock Park on Saturday, June 28, 2025. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
LAKEVILLE, Conn. — Part-time Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series driver Josh Bilicki had an impressive run to the finish at Lime Rock Park, scoring the first top 10 of his young Truck Series career in the process.
The weekend started on a bleak note for Bilicki and his No. 44 Niece Motorsports team as they qualified in the 18th position for the LiUNA! 150, but that did not mean that the weekend was over for the road course specialist.
Lime Rock presents the challenge of a small road course with tight track limits, giving the potential for multi-truck accidents throughout the course of the event, but that was not the case for the Truck Series this time around.
From the drop of the green flag, Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra, was dominant. Heim was able to put around six to seven seconds between him and the rest of the competition, giving the field only a slim chance of finding a way around him through the twists and turns of the 1.5-mile road course.
For Bilicki, his race was pretty laid back for the most part. The No. 44 stayed where he started for most of the race, hovering around the 16th to 20th position. The track limits played a key role in how the drivers completed passes, and it was very evident that it would be tough to pass throughout the course of the LiUNA! 150.
Josh Bilicki turns a corner during qualifying for the LiUNA! 150 at Lime Rock Park on Saturday, June 28, 2025. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Heim led almost every lap of the race, despite encountering a small challenge for the lead when chaos ensued at the end of the race.
Heim and Layne Riggs restarted from the front row with only four laps remaining in the event. It was clear that Riggs was going to have to wreck or bump Heim to somehow win the race, but that backfired on him when he went sliding through the grass outside of Big Ben, causing a pileup in his wake.
Through all that chaos and havoc, Bilicki was able to navigate his way into the top 10, sitting in seventh place for the final stretch. The No. 44 came home in that spot, giving Bilicki a good result on a day when his truck did not have the speed to move up through the field.
“We needed that. We made a lot of changes throughout the race, and we were still tight. We were probably a 15th place racecar, it was just hard to pass,” said Bilicki in his post-race comments. “It was a good points day for us. Again, props to these guys (No. 44 team) for making that call because I don’t think we would have gotten to seventh if we had not come in and take tires.”
Bilicki was pretty happy that he brought the truck home in one piece and that he delivered a solid points day to the No. 44 team, which currently sits 17th in the owner standings for the Truck Series.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has a few weeks off before their next event on Friday, July 25 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Meanwhile, Bilicki will hit the track next weekend, running the No. 66 for Garage 66 in the NASCAR Cup Series, when they hit the streets of Chicago for the Grant Park 165.
