Corey Heim dominates in Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Corey Heim picked up the ninth win of his ARCA Menards Series Career at Kansas Speedway.

Heim would lead over 95 of the 105 laps completed. It was the fourth win of 2022 for the Venturini Motorsports Team.

Heim’s No. 20 got a big jump on the start and pulled a quick multi-second lead early and stabilized throughout the first run until the lap 25 comp yellow, Heim stayed out while others pitted and managed to hang onto the lead despite his competitors coming with fresh tires.

On lap 40, the first caution for a crash happened in turn 2 involving the No.7 Matt Wilson and the No.35 Greg Van Alst, with the No.35 Van Alst suffering the most damage ending his day, while the No.7 Wilson continued on with damage all over the car.

ARCA officials extended the 2 competition yellow to lap 55 instead of 50, with the No.72 Cody Coughlin and No.42 Christian Rose staying out to try and get some track position for the restart. However it didn’t pay off and No.20 Heim and No.2 Sanchez quickly took back the top-2 positions.

No.6 Caruth struggled all day, coming to pit road early for a flat tire, but managed to get the lucky dog and back up to 3rd place for the final run. No.20 Heim pulled out once again to a three-second lead and it stabilized as No.2 Sanchez couldn’t catch up.

It looked like No.20 Heim would pull off an easy win when with 3 laps left, No.6 Caruth blew a right front tire and hit the wall hard in Turn 2 ending his day.

With everyone having 1 set of stickers left, all lead lap cars pitted, with the No.20 Heim keeping the lead. On the last restart Heim got the jump he needed while the No.18 Smith and No.2 Sanchez were banging doors and the No.20 Heim cruised to his 2nd win of 2022.

The win also extends the No.20 Venturini car’s lead in the Owner Points to a 15 point lead over the No.18 KBM entry.

As for the drivers championship, No.2 Sanchez finished ahead of his title contenders No.43 Daniel Dye and No.6 Rajah Caruth. No.2 Sanchez now holds an 11 point over the No.43 Dye with No.6 Caruth over 35 points behind.

Going into Bristol this Thursday, the top 3 will need a great run to keep their title hopes alive.