Corey Heim avoids major contact for a runner-up finish at Daytona (Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After a disappointing end to the 2023 season, Corey Heim started the 2024 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series off with an impressive second-place finish at Daytona International Speedway.
Qualifying before the race, however, did not go as smoothly for Heim and the No. 11 team. Heim qualified to start the Fresh From Florida 250 from the 26th position. Notably, track position was not the only thing that Heim and his team had to think about when the green flag dropped for the race. In addition to cautions for wrecks at the notoriously unpredictable track, there was also a series of cautions for rain throughout the race.
Heim was able to show more speed throughout the first laps of the race work his way inside the top ten for a tenth-place Stage 1 finish. The Marietta, Georgia, native was able to maintain his track position throughout Stage 2.
Heim really showcased his skills during Stage 3, by this point avoiding several notable wrecks and still maintaining his respectable track position. The TRICON Garage driver was ninth-place with 10 laps to go in the race.
When Taylor Gray (No. 17) and Jack Wood (No. 91) were battling for second on the last lap of the race and got into each other, Heim was able to manage to avoid any contact himself and drove to a second-place finish behind Nick Sanchez in the No. 2.
After the race, Heim spoke about how he felt after the first race of the 2024 season.
“I guess just not wrecking for the most part,” Heim said. First of all, I hope everyone’s okay. That was crazy to see in my mirror. It looked bad, that was crazy. I’ve never avoided so many wrecks in my life. I can’t believe I have a clean truck, but I’m not going to complain about it.
“It’s truck racing, that happens. [I’m] super proud of TRICON Garage and Toyota Racing, we have a little bit of work to do before Talladega with the speed of this thing , but I thought the best strategy for me was to lay low and hopefully be there at the end and we were. It looks like we came up one short.”
“I really didn’t contribute to the draft at all,” Heim added. “I just avoided wrecks and I just kind of figured this is what was going to happen. I didn’t feel like we had a truck to win tonight but I could run top five and we did. Thank you to everyone at Toyota Racing, Safelite and TRICON Garage. We’ll move on to Atlanta.”
