Corey Heim engineers last-lap pass to win Truck race at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Same guy. Different truck. Same result.

Driving the No. 5 TRICON Garage Toyota on a part-time basis, Corey Heim shocked race leader Ross Chastain with a last-lap pass and collected his second-straight victory at Darlington Raceway in Friday night's Buckle Up South Carolina 200.

Last year, the No.11 TRICON Tundra carried Heim to a record 12 victories and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.

This year, the No. 5 truck carried him to a two-overtime win in his second series start of the season, as Heim is running a cobbled-together schedule of Truck Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Cup Series races.

Heim also collected the $50,000 Triple Truck Challenge bonus for the victory. Should he run again on April 3 at Rockingham Speedway, he would be eligible for a $100,000 prize available to a driver who wins two races in "The Trip."

Heim's overtime victory on Friday night was unlikely enough, and it boiled down to strategy. On Lap 145, with three laps left in regulation, Heim brought his Tundra to pit road for scuffed tires that were five laps fresher than those of Chastain and other frontrunners.

Restarting 15th on the first attempt at overtime, Heim gained six spots before the ninth caution for a wreck involving Jake Garcia, Tyler Ankrum, Corey LaJoie and Stewart Friesen.

Heim was ninth for the final restart and used his tires to excellent advantage, making the pass for the win through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap.

"I'm out of breath, for sure," said Heim, who led three times for 28 laps and picked up his 24th win in 91 Truck Series starts. "Man, we had a set of scuffs laying, and they were five laps fresher than everyone else's. It was worth a shot. I didn't think we could win from where we were at.

"I felt like I made all the right moves. I had it three-wide coming to the white (flag) and bombed on in there on Ross (into Turn 3). I was shocked he gave me the bottom like that with fresher tires."

Chastain, who led 35 laps and controlled both overtime restarts, thought he had the race won.

"I have no idea what just happened," said Chastain, who is running races in all three NASCAR series this weekend. "We did so much right... I think that's on us as a whole that we didn't catch that.

"Of course, I would have run the bottom if I thought he would have been close, but I thought I got a good restart. Bummer."

Kaden Honeycutt, who won his first career pole earlier in the day, led a race-high 59 laps in the No. 11 TRICON Garage truck Heim drove last year. Honeycutt restarted second and chose the top lane for both overtimes but faded to fourth after the final restart.

"That last restart, the top lane wasn't preferred," Honeycutt said. "It was like that all night, obviously. The bottom was really good. I tried not to spin the tires as much as I possibly could...

"By the time the 5 (Heim) got by me and the 91 (third-place finisher Christian Eckes) was in front of him, I pretty much just committed to helping (Heim) and see if he could get up there and win the race. I don't know how in the world he did, but he did."

Connor Mosack finished fifth, followed Christopher Bell, Grant Enfinger, Gio Ruggiero, Daniel Hemric and William Sawalich.

Chandler Smith ran 17th but left Darlington with a 33-point lead over second-place Honeycutt in the series standings.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race -- Buckle Up South Carolina 200

Darlington Raceway

Darlington, South Carolina

Friday, March 20, 2026

1. (5) Corey Heim, Toyota, 157.

2. (9) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 157.

3. (16) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 157.

4. (1) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 157.

5. (10) Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, 157.

6. (6) Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 157.

7. (11) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 157.

8. (4) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 157.

9. (14) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 157.

10. (27) William Sawalich(i), Toyota, 157.

11. (22) AJ Allmendinger(i), RAM, 157.

12. (8) Layne Riggs, Ford, 157.

13. (3) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 157.

14. (26) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 157.

15. (25) Justin Haley, RAM, 157.

16. (19) Conner Jones, Chevrolet, 157.

17. (12) Chandler Smith, Ford, 157.

18. (36) Frankie Muniz, Ford, 157.

19. (24) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 157.

20. (29) Brenden Queen #, RAM, 157.

21. (20) Corey LaJoie(i), RAM, 157.

22. (2) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 157.

23. (23) Jake Garcia, Ford, 157.

24. (18) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 157.

25. (13) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 157.

26. (34) Justin Carroll, Toyota, 157.

27. (35) Caleb Costner, Chevrolet, 155.

28. (17) Cole Butcher #, Ford, 153.

29. (33) Clayton Green, Ford, 148.

30. (32) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 147.

31. (7) Ty Majeski, Ford, DVP, 123.

32. (21) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, Accident, 122.

33. (28) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, Suspension, 111.

34. (30) Mini Tyrrell #, RAM, Steering, 93.

35. (31) Josh Reaume, Ford, Suspension, 51.

36. (15) Ben Rhodes, Ford, Accident, 2.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 97.005 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 12 Mins, 39 Secs. Margin of Victory: .145 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 9 for 47 laps.

Lead Changes: 14 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K. Honeycutt 1-8;C. Heim 9-12;C. Bell(i) 13-18;C. Heim 19-41;C. Eckes 42-48;K. Honeycutt 49-65;R. Chastain(i) 66-74;K. Honeycutt 75-107;T. Hill 108-110;R. Chastain(i) 111-123;C. Jones 124-126;K. Honeycutt 127;C. Hocevar(i) 128-143;R. Chastain(i) 144-156;C. Heim 157.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kaden Honeycutt 4 times for 59 laps; Ross Chastain(i) 3 times for 35 laps; Corey Heim 3 times for 28 laps; Carson Hocevar(i) 1 time for 16 laps; Christian Eckes 1 time for 7 laps; Christopher Bell(i) 1 time for 6 laps; Timmy Hill 1 time for 3 laps; Conner Jones 1 time for 3 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 91,11,5,34,1,88,77,45,15,19

Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,45,88,5,91,18,77,34,98,1

--Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.