Dominant Corey Heim checks off a Darlington NASCAR Truck win

It was ‘Heim Time’ once again as the NASCAR Truck Playoffs began at Darlington. Earning his eighth win of the 2025 season, Corey Heim has already guaranteed his advancement into the next round.

Heim has now won four of the last five Truck races on the schedule, and the TRICON driver has already reached 19 career victories.

“I felt like the No. 34 [Riggs] and the No. 38 [Smith] were really good, but I could make a little bit of speed on the wall,” said Heim. “It was such a high-risk play. If you screw up — I mean, you saw so many people have those right-front issues. I put a little pressure on the 34 and he got into it, and we were able to take advantage of it. So proud of these TRICON guys. It feels like I’m in a dream — eight wins this year is phenomenal. 

Daniel Hemric finished second, Grant Enfinger third, Ty Majeski fourth, and Trevor Bayne was the best non-playoff driver in fifth. Bayne, who won the 2011 Daytona 500, was making a surprise return to the driver’s seat this weekend.

Tanner Hill, Tyler Ankrum, Timmy Hill, Corey Day, and Jake Garcia rounded out the top ten.

Some playoff drivers deeper in the field included Rajah Caruth 12th, Layne Riggs 17th, Kaden Honeycutt 18th, and Chandler Smith with a DNF.

Leaving Darlington, Smith (-2pts) and Honeycutt (-7pts) are the two drivers in the drop zone with Garcia sitting on the bubble.

Stages 1 and 2

The fast-paced race saw several drivers find trouble early, including playoff drivers: Smith slammed the wall and went behind the wall, while Honeycutt had to make an unscheduled pit stop under green due to a flat tire.

Outside of the title hunt, Matt Crafton and Matt Mills hit the wall and were forced onto pit road. While he fell out of the race, Smith said he wasn’t “too worried about it” when asked about points, looking ahead to the upcoming races as places where he can be strong.

Even though Riggs started from pole position, Heim ran him down to win Stage 1, adding to his impressive points total. Riggs fought back in Stage 2, claiming a stage win for himself.

There were no natural cautions during the first two stages.

Stage 3

However, Enfinger moved into the lead on pit road during the stage break, but Heim quickly snatched it back on the restart. Riggs wasn’t far behind, running down the regular season champion and taking the lead with 36 laps left in the race. 

It was a bold dive-bomb into Turn 1, sliding up in front of Heim.

While the race was fairly calm, things took a turn with 20 laps to go. Riggs slowed from the lead and hit the wall with a cut right-front tire, and at around the same time, Honeycutt spun after colliding with Andres Perez at the exit of Turn 4. This triggered the first natural yellow of the race. The timing of the yellow saved Riggs, who was still scored in third place.

Even still, Riggs had a very slow stop as the team worked on his truck. Heim and Enfinger were the first two drivers off pit road, giving them the front row for the restart that followed.

No one had anything for Heim as he sailed away with the race lead, driving straight into the winner’s circle for the eighth time in 2025.