Corey Heim earned a remarkable 12th victory at Phoenix Raceway to earn the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.
Heim dominated once again, and completed his remarkable season with the championship that had eluded him two seasons prior to this record-breaking season.
The first two stages of the event were relatively quiet compared to the final stage, which went into overtime after the No. 81 of Connor Mosack spun in Turn 1.
There were two multiple-car wrecks that both sent the race into overtime.
The first red flag collected Bayley Currey, two-time champion Ben Rhodes, Andres Perez, and Giovanni Ruggiero.
The second red flag collected the No. 62 of Cole Butcher, Grant Enfinger, Tyler Ankrum, and Tanner Gray.
Ankrum, the fourth and final Playoff contender, finished 14th.
“Last year, I thought it was our year. We had the momentum. And for lack of a better word, we kind of got our teeth kicked in,” Heim said. “And this year we came back, and, I mean, broke just about every record you possibly could.”
Those records included his win total (a record previously set by Greg Biffle in 1999), 1,627 laps led, the first driver to lead in every race throughout a single season, and his 1.4 average finish throughout the Playoffs.
“It’s definitely a lot of weight off my shoulders to be able to come and do it at the championship race, for sure,” Heim said. “I think everyone has known how good we’ve been throughout the year and how dominant we’ve been, how many stage wins and wins and poles, whatever, you name it. At the end of the day and coming into Phoenix, we all knew we were the best team, but anything could happen at the end of the day.
“So I was very stressed, to be honest. I think everyone that’s close to me knows that at this point. But yeah, to be able to win and do it for everyone on our crew that’s worked so hard those early mornings and late nights … those guys work their tails off on the 11 crew, and everyone at Tricon and Toyota really put an effort into it. To be able to see the smiles on their faces after the race really means the world to me.”
Heim led a race-high 100 laps and held off defending series champion Ty Majeski to secure the championship.
Heim was forced to restart in the 10th position on the first restart in overtime, but with fresh tires from a previous pit stop, the Tricon Garage driver was able to go to the bottom of the track and through the dogleg, to make an impressive seven-wide pass.
“I don’t care if I was on hundred-lap tires, nobody was going to beat me tonight,” Heim explained. “It wasn’t going to happen. We struggled all weekend in practice a little bit. In qualifying, we missed it a little bit. You can always trust (crew chief) Scott (Zipadelli) up on the box to do everything he can to put me in position to win the race. That’s what he did.
“Drove it in deep until I couldn’t anymore. Drove away with it.”
The late-stage cautions helped Heim return to the lead and secure the championship. Heim was behind Majeski before Mosack’s spin sent the race into overtime.
Heim regained the lead over Majeski on the final restart and held onto the race lead for the 12th win of the season and 23rd time in his career.
“Honestly, just a little bit short,” Majeski said. “Yeah, very close. Tonight, at portions of the run to the 11, I thought at times we were actually better than him. Overall, he was just too strong.
“I couldn’t get a good enough restart to take advantage of where in the run my truck was better.”
Playoff contender Kaden Honeycutt finished third, followed by Layne Riggs and Rajah Caruth.
Jake Garcia finished sixth, Corey LaJoie seventh, while Chandler Smith, Tyler Reif, and Jack Wood finished eighth through 10th place, respectively.
Matt Crafton, a three-time series champion, finished in the 13th position at Phoenix. The ThorSport Racing driver is retiring from full-time competition.