Corey Heim kicks off full-time opportunity with Daytona win
Four months removed from pulling off a victory at Kansas Speedway that propelled him to landing a deal to run the ARCA Menards Series season full-time in 2021, Corey Heim kicked off the season by winning Saturday’s Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona.
Heim drove his No. 20 Venturini Motorsports Toyota Camry to his second career ARCA win, leading the final 37 laps.
Heim took the lead from Tanner Gray on Lap 45 and appeared to be on his way to a comfortable victory, until a caution for Scott Reeves blowing a tire with four laps to go bunched the field up. Heim held on in overtime to win over teammate Drew Dollar.
Dollar finished second after starting on the pole and leading the first 18 laps in the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports Toyota Camry, capping off a 1-2 for Venturini. Dollar finished 10th in Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona, his NCWTS debut.
ARCA Menards Series champion Bret Holmes finished third. Holmes did not lead any laps but ran inside the Top 10 for much of the race. The third-place finish was Holmes’ 29th career Top 5 finish and 64th career Top 10 finish.
The Top 10 finishers were as follows: Corey Heim, Drew Dollar, Bret Holmes, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Sieg, Derrick Lancaster, Tanner Gray, Andrew Jankowiak, Jack Wood, Sean Corr.
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Rich Bickle finished 15th after starting fourth.
Arab-American driver Toni Breidinger finished 18th in her ARCA Menards Series debut.
Gracie Trotter finished 23rd, four laps down. Trotter led 8 laps after starting on the outside pole in her superspeedway debut.
Brittany Zamora finished 34th after encountering overheating issues in her ARCA Menards Series debut.
There were five lead changes among six drivers. Drew Dollar lead the opening 18 laps, Gracie Trotter lead Laps 19-26, Derek Griffith lead Lap 27, Derrick Lancaster lead Laps 28-32, Tanner Gray lead Laps 33-44 and Corey Heim lead the final 38 laps to win Saturday’s Lucas Oil 200.
There were four cautions in the 200-mile race.
The first caution fell on Lap 11 when Thad Moffitt spun and made contact with Rich Bickle.
The second caution fell on Lap 28 when Gracie Trotter gave a bad bump to teammate Derek Griffith in turn four. Griffith spun and was hit by Greg Van Alst in a wreck that also collected Nick Sanchez and Drew Dollar, who had slight left-front fender damage.
The third caution fell on Lap 43 for a competition caution.
On Lap 60, Chuck Hiers blew a right-front tire while running in the Top 10. Hiers also collected Gracie Trotter.
The fourth and final caution fell with four laps to go when Scott Reeves blew a tire in turn four.
The next race for the ARCA Menards Series is a 150-lap race March 12 at Phoenix (7:30 p.m. ET; TV: MAVTV, Live Stream: NBC TrackPass).
SOURCES:
ARCA
Racing-Reference.Info
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com