Corey Heim Strikes Late For The Victory At Las Vegas

Corey Heim celebrates his 13th career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with a burnout at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

LAS VEGAS — Corey Heim came through in the clutch in the late going by taking his second victory of the 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series campaign, winning Friday night’s affected Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Heim would lead only seven laps on the day as the TRICON Garage pit crew was able to turn in quick pit stops to keep the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra in contention all night for Heim’s 13th career win in the Truck Series.

Hendrick Motorsports development driver Corey Day broke through on Friday afternoon’s qualifying session, locking out the front row with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Tyler Ankrum to kick off the 134-lap event.

As the green flag flew for the field of 31 trucks, Day’s teammate and full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Justin Haley, helped in pushing the No. 7 Chevrolet way out in front, giving Haley to lead the first official lap of the race.

As Haley fell back, Ankrum moved forward and found himself in a heated battle early in Stage 1 with Day as the THORSPORT Racing duo of Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia had their battle for third right behind the two leaders.

As Lap 10 rolled in, Majeski had gotten by both his teammate of Garcia and passed Ankrum as Majeski honed in on running down the 19-year-old of Day for the race lead.

With just over 10 laps remaining in the 30-lap opening stage, Majeski scooted past Day for the lead, which shuffled him behind Ankrum for third as the rain rolled right into the path of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As the caution came out with 4 laps to go in Stage 1 for rain, Majeski would be declared the stage winner, picking up his first of the 2025 season as the trucks were called to pit road to wait out the weather delay.

With the leaders pitting on Lap 32 after the rain delay was lifted, Heim came out third but was flagged for speeding on pit road, dropping him all the way to the tail end of the field for the restart.

Ben Rhodes would rocket out to the lead early in Stage 2 as Ankrum was back in action and looking for the race lead once again.

As the battle kicked on at the front, Heim had been carving through the field, getting back inside the top 10 as Stage 2 reached the halfway mark.

Ankrum would cruise to the Stage 2 victory as rain struck again at the track for the second time of the evening.

As the truck covers were lifted and the field took back to the track, Stewart Friesen and Heim had found themselves on the front row for the final 65 laps of the race.

Corey Heim kept his head down all night from several incidents to claim victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

Friesen and Heim continued their intense battle within the first five laps of the restart while the field behind them jockeyed for positions.

Ankrum found himself in trouble late in the race as he slammed the wall, avoiding a spinning Kaden Honeycutt, bringing out the caution with 50 laps to go.

Heim would get swarmed by both Front Row Motorsport trucks of Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith as the restart fell with 44 laps to go in the race.

After the fourth caution of the day came out for a spinning Jack Wood in Turn 4, Majeski, Riggs, and Friesen would go at it for the race lead with just 32 laps to go.

Heim would navigate around Grant Enfinger for the lead in the closing laps As he took the white flag, Heim jumped out to a half-a-second lead over Enfinger as the driver of the No. 11 led only seven laps on the day as he scored a crucial win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Our pit crew did such a good job to get us back out in front,” Heim said in a post race interview. “Made the mistake of speeding on pit road at the end of Stage 1, but incredible truck, incredible crew, I’m a little bit speechless right now.

“I mean this isn’t exactly what we wanted as far as the weather, clearly mixed emotions going into this race, but it paid off.”

The Truck Series is back in action next Friday evening as they take on another 1.5-mile oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the fourth race of the 2025 season.

Stage 1 Results

1. Ty Majeski
2. Tyler Ankrum
3. Corey Day
4. Corey Heim
5. Stewart Friesen
6. Jake Garcia
7. Justin Haley
8. Chandler Smith
9. Gio Ruggiero
10. Rajah Caruth

Stage 2 Results

1. Tyler Ankrum
2. Chandler Smith
3. Stewart Friesen
4. Corey Heim
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Justin Haley
7. Jake Garcia
8. Rajah Caruth
9. Kaden Honeycutt
10. Corey Day

Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Race Results