At one point Saturday, Heim’s No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota was swamped in water when the race was halted by severe storms at the track, but Heim had no issues when it resumed on Sunday morning.
Heim powered past leader Jake Garcia on a restart with 65 of 250 laps to go then repeated the feat over Layne Riggs on another restart with 32 laps to go.
From there, Heim stayed steady and beat Grant Enfinger by 2.474 seconds to the checkered flag and his third win of the 2024 season, all coming in the last six races.
He wasn't waiting to celebrate! @CoreyHeim_ | @TRICONGarage pic.twitter.com/tOB4QhM58Q
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 19, 2024
“It was definitely a crazy weekend with the weather, but I knew since practice that we had the speed,” Heim said. “I can’t say enough about these Tricon Garage guys. What a truck, what a weekend.
“I knew we had potential from practice, and we put it all together and executed great today.”
Riggs ended up third, Brenden Queen was fourth in his series debut and Sammy Smith rallied from an early-race pit road penalty to finish fifth.
Completing the top 20 were Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Dye and Stewart Friesen.
Stage 1
Ty Majeski elected not to pit under the late caution and held off Ben Rhodes by 0.803 seconds to take the Stage 1 win on Saturday. Rajah Caruth was third, Taylor Gray fourth and Heim rounded out the top five.
During the break between Stages 1 and 2, the race was halted for rain and postponed until Sunday morning after the completion of 81 laps.
Stage 2
Ankrum took the Stage 2 win under caution following a late-stage spin by Bret Holmes. Garcia was second, Friesen third, Jack Wood fourth and Riggs rounded out the top five.
On lap 92, while leading and racing side-by-side with Majeski, Caruth spun out in Turn 1 to bring out a caution. “Rain it too hard, that was my fault,” Caruth said on his team radio. He fell back to 26th in the running order.
A battle for the lead results in a @rajahcaruth_ spin! pic.twitter.com/Qw9MGq0PUt
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 19, 2024
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, only a handful of trucks elected to pit with Ankrum remaining on the track and in the lead when the race resumed with 104 laps to go.
Garcia powered to the lead quickly past Ankrum on the restart as Riggs moved into the runner-up position.
With 75 laps remaining, maintained a small but consistent advantage over Riggs as Heim moved into third, just over a second behind the leader.
Connor Jones spun around in Turn 4 to bring out the sixth caution of the race, which sent several lead-lap trucks down pit road for new tires. Garcia remained in the lead with 65 laps to go.
Heim, who had moved into second right before the caution, powered around Garcia on the restart to move into the lead.
No stopping the 1️⃣1️⃣ on that restart.
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 19, 2024
Just 58 laps remain at @NWBSpeedway! pic.twitter.com/Fu0hdK5ms8
Heim had built a more than 3.5-second lead over Garcia just before Sanchez got into the back of Dean Thompson on lap 212 and sent him around, which brought out a caution and set up a restart with 32 laps to go. Heim remained in command.
Heim built back almost a 3-second lead over Riggs with 10 laps remaining before Enfinger mounted a late charge for second.
