Pit Stops : Charlotte Motor Speedway

• Thursday, May 22nd, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Busch, Chastain Challenge Heim on Familiar Ground in Charlotte Truck Series Thriller

It’s old home week for most of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series teams competing in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

All but two of the teams in the series are based in the Charlotte area. The exceptions are ThorSport Racing from Sandusky, Ohio, and Rackley W.A.R. from Centerville, Tenn.

If you’re looking for a favorite for Friday’s race, it might be wise to stay close to home, specifically at TRICON Garage in Mooresville, N.C. That’s home base for Corey Heim, who has won four of the last eight Truck Series races on intermediate speedways.

Unfortunately for the driver of the No. 11 Toyota, Friday’s Truck Series event will be the last on a 1.5-mile intermediate track this season.

A three-time winner so far this year, Heim is the only driver to have led laps in all 10 Truck Series races this season. With 14 career victories, he needs one more to tie three-time series champion Matt Crafton for 10th on the all-time win list.

Standing in Heim’s way are full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. Busch’s record at Charlotte is unassailable—he has eight wins and 12 top-two finishes in 15 Truck Series starts at the track.

Driving the No. 44 Chevrolet for Niece Motorsports, Chastain hopes to reprise his 2022 victory at the track.

“I think Charlotte is a great track for us to race on,” Chastain said. “The pavement is wore out and bumpy, so we’re always searching around for grip. With how short the truck race is (134 laps) compared to the other series, we all know that we have to make moves quickly to get track position.

“When we were able to win here a few years ago, it felt so rewarding because we had been close so many other times. I’m hoping we can have another chance at doing that again this week.”

• Charlotte Motor Speedway
• North Carolina Education Lottery 200
• Pole Winner: Giovanni Ruggiero
• Age: 18
• Team : No 17 - First Auto Group Toyota
• Owner: David Gilliland
• Crew Chief: Jerame Donley
• Giovanni Ruggiero won the Pole Award for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 with a lap of 30177 seconds, 178944 mph
• This is his first pole in 11 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first pole and sixth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in one races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Tanner Gray (second) posted his fifth top-10 start of 2025 and his fifth in six races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Corey Heim (third) posted his third top-10 start at Charlotte Motor Speedway It is his eighth in 11 races this season
• Giovanni Ruggiero (first) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Friday, May 23rd, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Corey Heim Crushes Field at Charlotte, Widens NASCAR Truck Series Points Lead

This time, Corey Heim didn’t just slam the door on his NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition—he nailed it shut.

Heim’s three previous 2025 wins notwithstanding, the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota has had difficulty closing out races with a dominant truck this season.

That was emphatically not the case on Friday night, when Heim led 98 of 134 laps and beat runner-up Ross Chastain to the finish line by 6.229 seconds in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Heim’s first victory at Charlotte and his fourth of the season was the 15th of his career, tying him with Matt Crafton for 10th on the career list. At age 22, he is the youngest to reach the 15-win milestone.

It was a perfect night. Heim swept the first two stages of the race and set the fastest lap, scoring a maximum 61 points to widen his series lead to a massive 100 points over second-place Chandler Smith. His margin of victory was the largest ever in the series at Charlotte.

“I felt like we’ve had the speed the last couple years here, but circumstances haven’t let us get it done,” said Heim, who has won five of the last nine Truck Series races on intermediate speedways.

“Obviously, it was such a good truck. I had to execute on my part. The pit crew did a great job. Just a really nice clean day. … It feels great. It feels like we’ve had a lot of opportunities to do that this year, really. Just can’t say enough about these guys. My team gave me a great Tundra, and we just really checked all of the boxes tonight. It feels great.”

Chastain was the best of three Neice Motorsports Chevrolet drivers in the top seven. Kaden Honeycutt ran third, and Matt Mills was seventh. But none of the Niece trucks could mount a challenge to the race winner, particularly on longer runs.

“Best in class,” Chastain said of his own effort. “The 11 (Heim) is the best in the field right now, and none of us had anything for him. The 7 (Kyle Busch), the 38 (Smith), the 34 (Layne Riggs)—it was a heck of a race (for second) back there between us, but we’ve got to make it last longer.”

Riggs and Busch came home fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by Grant Enfinger, Mills, Daniel Hemric, Rajah Caruth and Brandon Jones.

Smith fell victim to a Lap 71 wreck involving pole winner Gio Ruggiero, reigning series champion Ty Majeski and Connor Mosack. The winner last week at North Wilkesboro, Smith was the first driver eliminated from the race and finished 34th.

There were three cautions for 20 laps, two of the yellows for stage breaks.

The only negative for Heim is that there are no more 1.5-mile intermediate speedways remaining on this season’s Truck Series schedule.

• Drivers Entered: 34
• Laps Scheduled: 134
• Margin of Victory: 06.229 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 33 Minutes 38 Seconds
• Average Speed: 128.800
• Cautions: 3 for 20 laps
• Lead Changes: 14
• Green Flag Passes: 1,452 (12.7 passes per green flag lap)

• Charlotte Motor Speedway
• North Carolina Education Lottery 200
• Race Winner: Corey Heim
• Age: 22
• Team : No 11 - Safelite/Foster Love Toyota
• Owner: Johnny Gray
• Crew Chief: Scott Zipadelli
• Corey Heim won the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, his 15th victory in 75 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his fourth victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in three races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Ross Chastain (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in seven races at Charlotte Motor Speedway It is his second top-10 finish in 2025
• Kaden Honeycutt (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Andes Perez De Lara (16th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 100 points over Chandler Smith