AVONDALE, Ariz. – Corey Heim had a career season, a personal best and series high six wins, but his second-place showing to Ty Majeski in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race left him a championship runner-up when the final checkered flag flew at Phoenix Raceway.
Majeski absolutely dominated the night leading 132 of the 150 laps and ultimately taking a substantial 3.945-second victory over Heim, who conceded Majeski was just in a league of his own.
“I think the story of the night is, I don’t think anyone had anything for the 98 [Majeski], they were above average all year, nothing special then show up at Phoenix and just completely tear us up,” Heim said. “I drove my guts out and did everything I possible could.”
Heim’s 16 laps out front was next best to Majeski, but he had to rally late in the race for that, recovering from an uncharacteristic miscue. He was penalized for passing before the start-finish line on a late race re-start which dropped him from third place to 19th – the restart violation on Lap 99 marking his only pit penalty of the year.
Yet even that setback ultimately set the stage for an impressive comeback and Heim had his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota right back inside the top-10 only 11 laps later. He opted not to pit during a subsequent late race caution period and made a stunning move forward – from eighth place to third on the restart with 33 laps to go. He methodically worked his way forward and was second with 27 laps remaining.
“I gave a 110 percent and they were still two-tenths faster than me,” Heim said. “So, there’s not much you can do about that. I feel like this was the best Toyota Tundra we had all year even than ones we completely dominated with but still had nothing for him. It’s hard to even be upset about that. I don’t know what we could have done better, but nothing to hang our heads about. A great season for us and TRICON Garage, set career highs in pretty much everything we could for myself, the team and our organization. … sucks to come up short.
“The penalty was brutal at first but we were able to race back to third in two re-starts. … I drove super hard and gave him fits at points but it was like he was in a different zip code most of the night.”
Heim’s veteran crew chief Scott Zipadelli compared his driver to a “caged tiger” on the television broadcast, marveling at the confidence and comeback as well. As disappointed as they were in the ultimate outcome, both he and his driver remained proud of the year’s performance which included the six wins, 13 top fives and 17 top 10s in 23 races and 666 laps led.
“We had a lot of work to do and I think we achieved our goals,” Zipadelli said. “We wanted to win more races than last year, and, you know, we doubled our wins. We gave a few away this year. But you know, we’re going to work really hard on our short track package over the winter-time and get that as good as our mile-and-a-half packages next year. We hope to achieve more.
“One driver penalty all year, and it comes in this race here, and yet he was able to rebound. I know he was frustrated on the radio, but again, resiliency and some great strategy, there was a lot – both on the pit box and behind the wheel.”
Despite the disappointment at not capping an incredible year with the series trophy, the 22-year-old Georgia-native said he didn’t even have to wait a day to appreciate the kind of season he and the team turned in.
“It’s a six-win season for us and we’ve put together some really incredible races this year and there’s really nothing to hang our heads about right now,” Heim said. “It’s really unfortunate that I came up short but looking back at the season, I’ve had our highs and had our lows. In 2023 I feel like we were always kinda in contention and didn’t get the wins we might have deserved at point.
“Here we’ve pulled off some really good runs and had a shot and to be a race car driver and have a shot at the championship is really all you can ask for at the end of the day. We were just one spot short.”
Heim just signed a contract to return to TRICON Garage next week and Zipadelli will return to lead the No. 11 team.
“Being able to keep our group together is really, really going to be something special, because, you know, you saw what we did the first year and then the second year, obviously the third year, we’re even more motivated,” Zipadelli said.
-NASCAR Wire
