Georgia’s Corey Heim Captures First NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Win At Atlanta

Georgia’s Corey Heim Captures First NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Win At Atlanta

by March 19, 2022 1 comment

HAMPTON, Ga. – Nineteen-year-old Georgia native, Corey Heim captured his first-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after winning the Fr8 208.

Heim quickly made his way through the grassroots level, and now he’s competing for wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series while piloting Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 51 JBL Toyota. Last year, he competed in only three races and now two races into this season, Heim is in Victory Lane celebrating his first win.

“First off, my crew chief Marty Lindley put me in a perfect spot,” Heim said. “We were running in the 20s for most of the race to try to stay safe. I knew strategy was going to have to take us to the front. Marty did a great job so did my whole KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) No. 51 JBL Tundra TRD Pro crew. Just such a phenomenal job by these guys. They really helped me at the end.”

Heim grew up in nearby Marietta, Georgia, so winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway is extremely special. Throughout the day, Heim led 22 laps, and on the final lap of Saturday’s race, Heim made a last-lap pass on his teammate, Chandler Smith heading into Turn 1, and then he held off the field to seal the deal.

“It’s super special,” Heim said. “I’ve been in victory lane here a bunch of times as a kid racing Bandoleros. It was such a dream to come back here and win race. It’s surreal. It hasn’t sunk in. Just unbelievable to be here.”

ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes finished runner-up. The impressive finish marked Rhodes’ second runner-up finish in three races this season. On Saturday, Rhodes wasn’t able to earn any valuable stage points, but he was there at the end competing for the win.

“Chaotic race at Atlanta Motor Speedway today,” Rhodes said. “Different than anything I’ve experienced at a mile-and-a-half track. I’m super thankful to have our Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro with a clean second-place finish especially after no stage points. That’s tough to go out and race for a championship. You’ve got to get those every single week. We will work on that to be better.”

Ty Majeski is having a great season so far. He finished third, earning his third top-10 finish of the season. Majeski felt that his team had a winning truck, but in the end, the Kyle Busch Motorsports trucks were too strong.

“Solid race all day,” Majeski said. “We had a really fast Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. It’s cool to have American Racing on the side of it. We gave it a really good run. Joe (Shear, Jr., crew chief) did a really good job all day long. We worked really well with Ben (Rhodes). I felt like we had a shot to win, but that 4 (John Hunter Nemechek) got in the mix and it was hard to dismantle three KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) trucks, but overall a really solid day.”

Smith finished fourth, and Zane Smith rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 was Ryan Preece, Tanner Gray, Derek Kraus and Austin Wayne Self.

Throughout the day, there were 17 lead changes among 10 drivers. Stewart Friesen led a race high of 49 laps. There were also seven cautions for 40 laps.

Up next on the schedule for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the XPEL 225 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Live coverage will broadcast on FS1 at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 26.

Photo Credit: Tyler Goodson/TheFourthTurn.com

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