NASCAR News: Heim wins Martinsville truck race, Toyota clinches crown
Corey Heim inched by TRICON Garage teammate Brent Crews with less than 20 laps en route to victory in Friday night’s Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. The Georgia-native added to his Truck Series single season win record with his 11th victory this season and 22nd victory of his career.
In the last 10 races, Heim has won seven and had already clinched a Championship 4 berth at Phoenix next weekend by virtue of his win at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval earlier this month. It is the third straight year that Heim will be a Championship 4 participant.
Heim crossed the finished line ahead of Toyota teammate Kaden Honeycutt and fellow Toyota Development Driver Brent Crews, who recorded his second career top-five in just nine career Truck Series starts.
14 titles for Toyota
For the 14th time in its history, Toyota has won the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Manufacturers’ Championship. This is the third time in the last five seasons Toyota has captured the coveted title, while the 14th overall title extends Toyota’s advantage in Truck Series history.
Toyota drivers and teams reached new heights during the 2025 Truck Series season, visiting victory lane 13 times, as well as earning 37 top-five and 58 top-10 finishes amongst its drivers. Toyota drivers also accounted for 25 stage wins on the year.
“The 2025 NASCAR Truck Series season has been a historic one for Toyota, culminating with our 14th Manufacturers’ Championship,” said Paul Doleshal, general manager, sponsorships and motorsports, Toyota Motor North America. “We cannot thank our drivers, team partners and TRD personnel enough for their efforts and sacrifices in helping Toyota win this championship. It’s been a special year in the Truck Series, and we look forward to celebrating this tremendous feat.”
Success this season was led by Toyota Development Driver Corey Heim, who garnered a record-breaking 2025 in his third full-time Truck Series campaign. The TRICON Garage driver captured 11 race victories so far on the season – a series record – along with earning the most Playoff points ever in a regular season (65) and stage wins in a full season (21) en-route to the 2025 Truck Series regular season championship with an eye on the series title next weekend in Phoenix.
A missed shift
While Heim continued his propensity for sweeping stages and races, a missed shift Friday at Martinsville Speedway likely cost Layne Riggs a chance to race for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship.
Heim won both stages in the Slim Jim 200 on the way to his 11th victory of the season, extending his own series record. The driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota led a race-high 77 laps and beat Kaden Honeycutt to the finish line by 0.451 seconds in overtime.
The real drama in the elimination race took place immediately behind the race winner. Honeycutt finished a career-best second, the position he needed to oust Riggs from the Playoffs on a tiebreaker that rewards the best finish in a given Playoff round.
Riggs came home third, followed by non-Playoff drivers Brent Crews and Corey LaJoie. Defending series champion Ty Majeski (seventh) and Tyler Ankrum (ninth) secured the remaining two berths in the Oct. 31 Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway—by one point over Honeycutt and Riggs.
Fastest in practice, Riggs won the pole and led the first 27 laps, but after the second caution of the evening for fluid on the track, Riggs missed a shift on the ensuing Lap 29 restart and fell to sixth in the running order.
As the race neared conclusion, Honeycutt engineered a masterful restart from the fifth position on Lap 186, gained the front row when Crews chose to line up behind Heim, his teammate, for a restart on Lap 192 and held the second spot—and the one critical point he needed—through the overtime finish.
In the wild two-lap overtime, Riggs beat Crews to the finish line but couldn’t catch Honeycutt.
“I was dejected even when I thought we were in (the Championship 4) at first,” said Riggs, a three-time winner this year. “I just don’t like racing that way, man. I’m hearing, ‘Gotta get one (position), gotta get one,’ and everybody knows how it is.
“If I’ve got the opportunity to get in for my team, I’m going to do it, even if I don’t want to do it … It all kind of started with that missed shift on that restart. I’m not really sure what happened. I’ve never missed a shift in a truck my whole career.
“We do have some new transmissions. I guess I’m just not quite used to them yet. I’m pretty upset about that. I think things could have been a lot different.”
Honeycutt, who took over the No. 52 Toyota from injured Stewart Friesen at Richmond in August, was elated to finish on the positive side a breathtakingly close battle for the final three Championship 4 spots.
“Oh, man, we get to go next week,” said Honeycutt, who was released from his ride at Niece Motorsports after his plans to change teams surfaced. “I very easily should have been at home watching this race…
“I get to go and carry this race team (Halmar-Friesen Racing) to Phoenix next week to have some fun and see if we can contend for that championship.”
Heim, who already had qualified for the championship race, simply wanted to maintain momentum into the final week of the season.
“I don’t want to jump to any conclusions yet,” Heim said of his title prospects. “We’ve got a big race next week…
“We wanted to capitalize on our day and make the best of it. Once we got out front, we showed that we really had something to work with here. We’ve got a big one next week to close it out. It’s going to be tough, but I’m confident we can do it.”
Two Playoff contenders saw their hopes of advancing to the Championship 4 evaporate long before the race ended. On Lap 73, side-by-side contact with Honeycutt’s Toyota cut the left rear tire on Rajah Caruth’s Chevrolet.
Caruth slowed suddenly and spun in Turn 1, crashing into the outside wall with enough force to knock him out of the race. Having entered the elimination event 14 points above the cut line, Caruth was suddenly out of the running for the title.
“We were in a really good spot, but it is what it is,” said Caruth, who had finished ninth in the first stage. “We’ll keep pushing, and the sun will come up tomorrow. It sucks now, but that’s part of it.”
Daniel Hemric, who came to Martinsville realistically needing a victory to advance, sustained significant damage to both ends of his No. 19 Chevrolet when he was sandwiched on the on Lap 29 restart when Riggs missed the shift.
Hemric’s truck began overheating, and after losing two laps under repairs, he failed to score points in either of the first two stages. The beneficiary under two cautions, Hemric regained the lead lap but his winning chances—and hopes for a Championship 4 berth—were gone.
On Lap 166, Hemric took his truck to the garage, dropping out of the race in 31st place.
Also eliminated from Championship 4 eligibility was Grant Enfinger, who entered the race 40 points below the elimination line and finished 12th.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Slim Jim 200
- (4) Corey Heim (P), Toyota, 203.
- (5) Kaden Honeycutt (P), Toyota, 203.
- (1) Layne Riggs (P), Ford, 203.
- (21) Brent Crews, Toyota, 203.
- (16) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 203.
- (18) Chandler Smith, Ford, 203.
- (3) Ty Majeski (P), Ford, 203.
- (12) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 203.
- (6) Tyler Ankrum (P), Chevrolet, 203.
- (13) Brenden Queen(i), Chevrolet, 203.
- (2) Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, 203.
- (8) Grant Enfinger (P), Chevrolet, 203.
- (19) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 203.
- (11) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 203.
- (29) Patrick Staropoli(i), Toyota, 203.
- (26) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 203.
- (28) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 203.
- (22) Jake Garcia, Ford, 203.
- (14) Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, 203.
- (31) Justin Carroll, Toyota, 203.
- (20) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 203.
- (25) Conner Jones, Chevrolet, 203.
- (32) Frankie Muniz #, Ford, 203.
- (27) Casey Mears, Ford, 201.
- (30) Logan Bearden(i), Chevrolet, 197.
- (24) Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, 196.
- (23) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 194.
- (10) Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, 189.
- (15) Matt Crafton, Ford, Brakes, 180.
- (17) Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, Accident, 179.
- (9) Daniel Hemric (P), Chevrolet, Engine, 163.
- (33) Alan Waller, Ford, Accident, 136.
- (34) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 114.
- (7) Rajah Caruth (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 72.
- (35) Clayton Green, Ford, Electrical, 0.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 58.34 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 49 Mins, 49 Secs. Margin of Victory: .451 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 11 for 75 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: L. Riggs (P) 1-27;T. Majeski (P) 28-47;C. Heim (P) 48-106;B. Crews 107-110;G. Ruggiero # 111-135;B. Crews 136-161;C. Smith 162;B. Crews 163-184;C. Heim (P) 185;B. Crews 186;C. Heim (P) 187-203.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim (P) 3 times for 77 laps; Brent Crews 4 times for 53 laps; Layne Riggs (P) 1 time for 27 laps; Giovanni Ruggiero # 1 time for 25 laps; Ty Majeski (P) 1 time for 20 laps; Chandler Smith 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,98,9,18,15,34,52,17,71,1
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,98,34,9,15,18,1,52,41,99