Corey Heim wins Toyota 200 at Gateway

It was “Heim Time” in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as Corey Heim won Saturday at the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Leading twice for 65 laps, Corey Heim took the checkered flag in the Toyota 200 Saturday, his fourth win of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season and the ninth of his career.

Heim is now 2-for-2 at Gateway as he won at the track in his only start there two years ago.

With the most victories in the series this year, Heim’s other wins came at Austin, Kansas and North Wilkesboro.

Christian Eckes, who led two laps, finished second, extending his streak of 10 consecutive Top-10 finishes.

Nick Sanchez took third, following his win at Charlotte in the last Truck Series event.

Ty Majeski, who led four times for 44 laps, finished fourth.

“We just didn’t keep up with the track enough,” Majeski said. “It is disappointing but we executed on all fronts today. I thought our strategy was good and the pit crew did a phenomenal job. We were just a little short

Rounding out the Top-5 was rookie Layne Riggs with his second Top-5 finish of the year.

“It is hard to pass here,” Riggs said. “Dirty air is so bad and it is so single run. It was a tough day but we came out with a good solid finish which is what we needed for this team.”

Through the Field

Chase Purdy, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Andres Perez de Lara, and Luke Fenhaus finished out the Top-10.

Last year’s winner, Grant Enfinger, finished 17th.

Perez and Fenhaus each made their debut Saturday.

Fenhaus spun on lap 11 and went a lap down. It was the only caution during the first stage.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 35): Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez, Stewart Friesen, Corey Heim, Dean Thompson, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Daniel Dye, Taylor Gray

During the first caution, Colby Howard, Lawless Alan and Tanner Gray pitted. When everyone else pitted, Gray, Alan and Howard led the field on lap 41.

Gray earned a two-second lead while Alan and Howard held onto the top-10.

Then, Howard got right-front damage that caused a tire rub, which put him into the outside wall, causing a caution and knocking him out of the race on lap 47.

The caution erased the advantage Gray and Alan had as they dropped to eighth and 27th, respectively, in the 15 remaining green-flag laps in stage two.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 70): Majeski, Eckes, Sanchez, Rhodes, Heim, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray, Chase Purdy, Ty Dillon

Stage three went green on lap 77 with Tyler Ankrum in front with two fresh tires. He led a green-flag lap before Corey Heim took the lead on lap 78. Heim led for 38 laps and held off Ty Majeski who closed to within six tenths of a second but could never get the best of Heim.

Green flag pit stops began on lap 116. Nick Sanchez stayed out for 10 laps, Tanner Gray for two laps and Chase Purdy for five laps, all hoping to hit the lottery and get a timely caution.

Purdy got it as he led on lap 130 when Vicente Salas crashed on the backstretch. That let him and others get effectively a free pass pit stop and fresher tires for the finish.

Riggs, Friesen, Purdy, Tanner Gray, Friesen, Timmy Hill, Crafton were 7th-13th on the final restart with 23 laps to go. While Heim shuffled around to the lead on lap 134 and won, making the strategy calls moot for the win, the call was a net gain for many of those who pitted.

Riggs, Purdy, Friesen, Fenhaus and Hill finished fifth, sixth, eighth and 10th after being outside of the top-10 before green-flag pit stops. Meanwhile, Hill finished 18th after running 26th before stops.

Meanwhile, Gray and Crafton finished 11th and 20th respectively.

While Gray is in good shape for the playoffs, at +28 points to the cutline, Crafton is in trouble. He is now -46 points to the cutline with four races left until the playoffs begin.

Only Stewart Friesen is within reasonable distance of trying to claim a playoff spot at -26 to the cutline heading into Nashville Superspeedway on June 28 (7 p.m. ET; FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)