Corey Heim wins Richmond finale as NASCAR Truck Playoff field set
Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images
RICHMOND, Va.—Corey Heim earned a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series’ best seventh victory of the season in the eero 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Friday night, but this first short track victory for the Regular Season Champion took a fast Toyota truck, some real perseverance and a bit of racing good fortune.
The 23-year-old Georgia native started from pole position in the series’ regular season finale on the historic three-quarter mile venue, but he quickly had to deal with his front row starting mate, Ty Majeski who pressed him all night. Majeski swept both stage wins and his race best 143 of the 250 laps out front was more laps led than he turned in the entire season.
Ultimately, Majeski’s shot at his first win of the year suffered a setback when he was collected in an incident with his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton while leading late in the race.
Although Majeski recovered and raced forward, Heim, who led 75 laps himself in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, got to the front when it mattered most and drove away – taking the lead for good with 20 laps remaining and then holding off the reigning series champ Majeski by .923-second at the checkered flag.
With the victory, Heim becomes the youngest driver in series history to get to 18 career wins.
“Felt like we were the best truck at [short tracks] Martinsville (Va.) and North Wilkesboro (N.C.) but they got away from us and we kind of got this one back,” Heim said of his short track struggles this season. “I didn’t feel like we were the best truck tonight. I feel like the 98 was really stout, but obviously had a run-in and got some damage.
“Being there when it counted was the first goal and we were and just able to execute from there.”
The race formally set the 10-driver Playoff field. Heim, Layne Riggs, Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum and Rajah Caruth advanced to the six-race Playoffs via victories. Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt and Jake Garcia topped the rest of the series in points to earn their championship chance.
The 20-year-old Garcia had to hold off former series champion Ben Rhodes and highly-touted rookie Gio Ruggiero Friday. Ultimately his seventh-place finish was enough to give Garcia a 19-point edge on Rhodes and 31-point margin on Ruggiero, who made a valiant run, restarting second on that final restart with 35 laps remaining despite starting last in the 35-truck field.
“Just did my best to run a smart race the second half,” said Garcia, driver of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford. “Even in the first half there were moments we were four wide and that’s not gonna work out at Richmond. There were some points I had to bail out and lost a lot of spots on the restarts just being really conservative.
“But our truck was really fast and I think we could have finished top-five. I want to thank all my guys. They worked really, really hard on this truck like they do all the trucks and gave me a really fast piece today.”
Riggs finished third in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford with Spire Motorsports teammates Sammy Smith and Corey LaJoie rounding out the top-five positions.
Ruggiero, Garcia, Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt rounded out the top-10. Honeycutt will compete for the driver’s title and his No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota will contend for owners’ points.
The 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs begin Saturday, Aug. 30 with the Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain won the 2024 race at Darlington. This is the first year the historic track has hosted the series in a Playoff contest.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 18
Race Results for the eero 250 - Friday, August 15, 2025
Richmond Raceway - Richmond, VA - 0.75 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 250 Laps - 187.5 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 8/15/2025 @ 10:24 PM Eastern
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 11 Corey Heim Safelite Toyota 250 3 3 56 Running 6 75 5
2 2 98 Ty Majeski Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford 250 1 1 55 Running 6 143 2
3 3 34 Layne Riggs Love's RV STOP Ford 250 2 10 44 Running
4 5 7 Sammy Smith(i) Pilot Chevrolet 250 4 0 Running 1 31
5 26 77 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 250 32 Running
6 35 17 Giovanni Ruggiero # First Auto Group Toyota 250 31 Running
7 8 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 250 9 2 41 Running 1 1
8 17 99 Ben Rhodes TSPORT Trucks Ford 250 7 33 Running
9 6 38 Chandler Smith The Pete Store Ford 250 5 8 37 Running
10 11 52 Kaden Honeycutt Halmar International Toyota 250 6 6 37 Running
11 16 18 Tyler Ankrum LiUNA! Chevrolet 250 9 28 Running
12 9 16 Christian Eckes(i) AAA Premium Battery Chevrolet 250 7 4 0 Running
13 4 9 Grant Enfinger Grant County Mulch WVU Chevrolet 250 8 5 33 Running
14 18 15 Tanner Gray Place of Hope Toyota 249 23 Running
15 25 97 Carson Kvapil(i) Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 249 22 Running
16 19 1 Brent Crews JBL Toyota 249 21 Running
17 20 42 Matt Mills J.F. Electric Chevrolet 249 20 Running
18 14 81 Connor Mosack # Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet 249 19 Running
19 21 71 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 249 18 Running
20 13 45 Bayley Currey DQS Solutions & Staffing Chevrolet 248 17 Running
21 22 44 Andres Perez De Lara # Telcel Chevrolet 248 16 Running
22 15 66 Luke Fenhaus Soda Sense Ford 248 15 Running
23 24 84 Patrick Staropoli(i) Syfovre Toyota 247 0 Running
24 30 5 Toni Breidinger # 818 Tequila Toyota 247 13 Running
25 29 41 Matthew Gould Niece/DQS/J.F. Electric Chevrolet 247 12 Running
26 7 88 Matt Crafton Ideal Door/Menards Ford 247 10 12 Running
27 27 02 Nick Leitz(i) Precision Measurments Chevrolet 246 0 Running
28 23 76 Spencer Boyd Tibbetts Lumber Chevrolet 245 9 Running
29 33 67 Ryan Roulette VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars Chevrolet 240 8 Running
30 32 74 Caleb Costner Auto Owners Insurance Chevrolet 239 7 Running
31 12 26 Dawson Sutton # Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 223 6 Running
32 28 33 Frankie Muniz # Reaume Brothers Racing Ford 208 5 Rear Gear
33 10 19 Daniel Hemric NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 186 5 Running
34 31 22 Stephen Mallozzi Ford 5 3 Mechanical
35 34 2 Clayton Green Ford 2 2 Mechanical
Fastest Lap Bonus: 19 56 / 23.465 # lap
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Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 13 Mins, 12 Secs. Average Speed: 84.459 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.923 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 98, 34, 11, 7, 38, 52, 16, 9, 13, 88
Stage 2 Top 10: 98, 13, 11, 16, 9, 52, 99, 38, 18, 34
Race Comments: Corey Heim has won the eero 250 at Richmond Raceway, his 18th victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: No. 17 (Unapproved Adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 5 for 48 laps; Laps: 72-80 (Stage 1 Conclusion [18]); 91-96 (#66, 76 Incident Turn 2 [71]); 109-117 (#26 Stopped at Pit Entry [17]); 142-150 (Stage 2 Conclusion [77]); 201-215 (#88, 98 Incident Turn 4 [13]).
Lead Changes: 13 among 4 drivers; C. Heim 1-17; T. Majeski 18-74; C. Heim 75; T. Majeski 76-79; C. Heim 80-102; T. Majeski 103-112; C. Heim 113-121; T. Majeski 122-143; J. Garcia 144; T. Majeski 145-150; C. Heim 151-155; T. Majeski 156-199; S. Smith(i) 200-230; C. Heim 231-250.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: August 30, 2025 - Darlington Raceway
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