NASCAR Media | Photo: Sean Gardner – Getty Images
Corey Heim powered to his first victory of the season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, pulling away in the final stage and surviving an overtime scramble in Saturday’s event at Circuit of The Americas.
Heim’s Tricon Garage No. 11 Toyota led a race-high 31 of the 46 laps in the XPEL 225, taking the checkered flag by a 1.625-second margin. His first win at the 3.41-mile Austin, Texas, road course was the sixth of his Truck Series career.
Teammate Taylor Gray recovered from a penalty off the initial start, then stretched his final tank of fuel and drove home as the runner-up in Tricon’s No. 17 Toyota. Ty Majeski placed third, with rookie Connor Zilisch and Cup Series regular Ross Chastain rounding out the top five in that order.
Zilisch, a Trackhouse Racing prospect, started from the pole position in his Craftsman Truck Series debut but overshot the first turn in his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. His lock-up led to a flat tire, and he lost a lap in the pits for a sway-bar replacement, dropping him outside the top 30. His comeback through Stage 2 was slowed by a spin and a track-limits penalty, and the 17-year-old driver rallied again for a top-five result.
Nick Sanchez won Stage 1 but dropped back after a Stage 2 penalty for cutting the course in the esses and a spin in close-quarters racing with Jake Garcia on Lap 21. After another spin in Turn 1 in overtime, he finished 20th in Rev Racing’s No. 2 Chevrolet.
The race was forced to four extra laps after a late caution when the rear-end housing broke off the No. 04 Roper Racing Chevrolet driven by Marco Andretti. The event was briefly red-flagged for clean-up, and Andretti finished 31st in his first Truck Series start of the year.
The Truck Series will return to the short-track scene in two weeks as Martinsville Speedway awaits on April 5 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR Media | Photo: Sean Gardner – Getty Images
