Heim Makes It an Even Dozen, Completes Historic NASCAR Truck Series Season
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Dennis Krause
In almost any other form of motorsport, Corey Helm’s 11 race wins would’ve clinched a championship much earlier in the season than having to fight it out with three other competitors in the final race of the year - who together had won only one race between them.
But, fair or not, that’s the way NASCAR titles are won these days - a one race, winner take all playoff championship.
NASCAR avoided a major embarrassment when Heim won Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series Championship 150 at Phoenix Raceway, out-dueling reigning champion Ty Majeski in double overtime, collecting his 12th victory of the season and the title to go along with it.
For Heim, it was a moment of great satisfaction - and relief.
“Yeah, I can’t say I’ve felt this feeling in past years. The first year I was a part of the Championship 4 (2023), I was not a rookie technically, but rookie from a full-time perspective. Was just kind of happy to be there, but also knew we had a lot of momentum; so wanted to prove myself.
“Things got out of control, didn’t get that one. Last year I felt it was our year. We had the momentum. For lack of a better word, kind of got our teeth kicked in.
“This year we came back and broke just about every record you possibly could. Felt the pressure that if I didn’t get the championship, that cherry on top, the season obviously would have been really good in where we were at. That was the ultimate goal. Even if we had no wins to our name in 2025, we still were trying to win the championship. That was our number one goal.
“Just felt a lot of pressure to get that done. Especially being with the best truck team in the garage as well, I felt a lot of pressure to fulfill that and make the most of it. Certainly had some crazy stuff going on at the end there that almost took us out of it. It was just meant to be, for sure.”
That crazy stuff included a caution at the end of regulation with Heim running second, in championship-winning position, as well as a crazy, seven-wide run into the first turn from tenth to second on the first overtime restart. With his whole season on the line, it was a roller-coaster of emotions for Heim.
“Honestly, yeah, I had a lot of thoughts brewing in the back of my head about just how terrible the end of the race could have gone for us there, starting 10th on fresh tires with 10 to go.
“I was completely determined to make sure that we had a shot at it at the end of the day. I’m not going to say I’m going to go and wreck by any means, but I drove into three on the inside wall there as hard as I could. It stuck thankfully. If not, we would have probably wrecked about 20 of ’em.
“I was so determined to make up for it. (crew chief) Scott (Zipadelli) did the right thing. He put us on four tires at the end there. I didn’t think we’d be that much better than everyone else, being able to drive around the inside wall, take all those spots. Certainly we did the right thing. That’s why we were in Victory Lane.”
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota, leads the field during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
To go along with his 12 race wins, Heim led a lap in every truck series race in 2025. How does one do that?
“Cross the start/finish line first as the leader (laughter). I’m kidding.
“To bring the best equipment every single week is a feat that’s maybe overlooked,” Heim continued. “I know a lot of people are talking about statistically how good we are. We were so good every single week. That truly takes a team from top to bottom.
“Everyone at TRICON Garage, this crew, Toyota, the support from them, it really takes an organization, team, manufacturer. You don’t see it every day where we can bring cutting-edge speed every week. We haven’t had that in years past. We’ve been good at intermediates, road courses. We were able to put everything together this year and bring our best. That’s a phenomenal feeling for me.”
With how dominant he was this season and all the records that he broke, Heim struggled to put his finger on what stood out for him this year.
“Yeah, I don’t know if there’s anything specifically. I mean, just looking back at what we’ve been able to accomplish this year, a lot of it is because who on the 11 crew has made it happen.
“It’s such a team effort at the end of the day. Those guys have just consistently set me up with really winning equipment. Scott being the captain of the team, he’s been the guy that’s kept that whole crew together since 2023. We’ve had literally every person, other than pit crew, together on that 11 crew from the middle of 2023.
“Obviously guys want to work for him and with him. It’s really a big family, honestly. It feels like a family. I want it to be remembered that way. We won as a family. We did everything right. Looking back at 2024, where our weak spots were, we really honed in on that and made it better.
“Just a consistent progression from 2023 when I first started with those guys. Truly took a family to get it done.”
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Heim says he went to school on studying Majeski after losing the championship to him a year ago.
“I just had these tendencies that really stuck out in the data that we looked at.
“Looking at Ty, he does a really good job at just kind of optimizing his equipment with his driving style. He’s a short track guy. Comes from late models. Looking at that data from SMT, looking at what made him so good at these style racetracks, why he significantly outperforms his equipment most of the time. I was essentially able to copy that. I think that’s a resource that I was able to take advantage of, continue to execute on.
“He does a great job. I was just able to kind of mirror that tonight and also set my truck up around that as well. We spend so much time on sim. I think it gets to a point where you sort of set your truck up based on someone’s driving style. We had to do a lot of changes to be able to go towards that direction.
“Definitely cool to see that pay off, for sure.”
After the season he had, the pressure to finish it off with the championship was real according to Heim.
“It’s definitely a lot of weight off my shoulders to be able to come and do it at the championship race, for sure. I think everyone has known how good we’ve been throughout the year, how dominant we’ve been, how many stage wins and wins and poles, whatever you name it. At the end of the day, coming into Phoenix, we all knew we were the best team. But anything can happen at the end of the day.
“I was very stressed, to be honest,” Heim confessed. “I think everyone that’s close to me kind of knows that at this point. Yeah, to be able to win and do it for everyone on our crew that’s worked so hard those early mornings, late nights. Those guys work their tails off on the 11 crew. Everyone that put effort into it. To be able to see the smiles on their faces after the race really means the world to me.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.