Corey Heim Caps Historic Season with Truck Series Title

Corey Heim capped off a historic 12-win season with the 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship at Phoenix. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Corey Heim put the finishing touch on his historic 2025 season, winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.

Despite leading 100 of the 161 laps and sweeping the stages, Heim’s title hopes came down to two restarts, where on the first one, he lined up in 10th place after his No. 11 team elected to take four tires during the caution period. Through the dog leg, Heim made a seven-wide pass to clear into the second position, which set him up to pass Ty Majeski for the lead, race win and championship on the final restart.

“I’m just so grateful to be where I’m at,” said Heim. “I was so stressed out ever since we won the (Charlotte Motor Speedway) ROVAL because I knew we had to defend this insane year we’ve been having. This is just such a relief to say the least.”

When looking back at the seven-wide move on the restart, Heim said he was just determined not to let anyone steal the championship from him and the No. 11. He also credited Scott Zipadelli for the four-tire call on the final pit stop of the race.

“I don’t care if I was on 100 lap tires, nobody was going to beat me tonight,” Heim said. “We struggled all weekend, really. You can always trust Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) up on the box to do everything he can to put me in a position to win the race, and that’s what he did. Just drove it in deep until I couldn’t anymore and just drove away with it.”

Zipadelli had no regrets about the tire decision and felt taking four tires and putting Heim on offense was the best call to make.

“We do a lot better when we’re on offense and not defense,” said Zipadelli. “When you put two tires on like that, it’s going to mess your balance up as it is, and then you’re going to be on defense to anybody who does put four tires on.”

Heim finished up his historic season with a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record 12 victories, to go along with 19 top fives, 21 top 10s and a fifth-place average finish.

In his last race driving full-time for Tricon Garage, Heim wanted to go out as champions with his No. 11 team, who have been together since joining the organization in 2023.

Corey Heim concludes his tenure with TRICON Garage in emphatic fashion at Phoenix. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

“We’ve had literally every single person other than the pit crew together on that (No.) 11 crew from the middle of 2023,” he said. “It feels like a family, and I wanted to be remembered that way. We won as a family.”

Majeski finished in the runner-up position, one spot short of defending his title. During the final pit stop, Majeski’s team elected to take two tires to jump in front of Heim, but wasn’t able to hold off the No. 11 in the end.

“Proud of Joe (Shear, crew chief) for making that gutsy call,” said Majeski. “Hard to make that in that moment. You always want to be on offense at the end of these races. I think two tires gave us the best opportunity to win tonight.”

Even though Majeski didn’t win the title, he still said the two-tire call was the correct decision and would’ve worked if Heim wasn’t able to make up so much ground on the second-to-last restart.

“I think it was the right call, gave ourselves a shot at a championship,” Majeski said. “If that restart goes a little bit differently, I get a little bit of a gap, we’re probably sitting here as two-time champions.”

Kaden Honeycutt finished in third place, coming up a little short in his first Championship 4 appearance. Fellow title contender Tyler Ankrum finished in 14th place after being involved in a multi-truck incident on the second-to-last restart.

When asked about the seven-wide second-to-last restart, both had similar reactions to Heim’s move to put himself in position to win the title.

“It was a pretty impressive move on his part to go seven-wide like that,” said Ankrum. “To do that, you probably didn’t lift until you’re at the center of the corner. I mean, it’s doing it. That’s doing it pretty good.”

Honeycutt, who lined up ahead of Heim on the restart, said he thought he maximized the restart as much as possible on his part, but Heim just did better than everyone else.

“He did an excellent job on the start and executed really well,” Honeycutt said. “I think I maxed out my restart pretty good there. Just unfortunately didn’t have enough to hold him down.”

Layne Riggs and Rajah Caruth finished in the top five to end the season. Jake Garcia, Corey LaJoie, Chandler Smith, Tyler Reif and Jack Wood rounded out the top 10.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Corey Heim
2. Brent Crews
3. Ty Majeski
4. Rajah Caruth
5. Tanner Gray
6. Corey LaJoie
7. Kaden Honeycutt
8. Stefan Parsons
9. Jake Garcia
10. Gio Ruggiero

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Corey Heim
2. Ty Majeski
3. Brent Crews
4. Kaden Honeycutt
5. Rajah Caruth
6. Tanner Gray
7. Layne Riggs
8. Jake Garcia
9. Stefan Parsons
10. Gio Ruggiero

Corey Heim had a night to remember as he captured the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship at Phoenix. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race at Phoenix Raceway Finishing Results