Pit Stops : Martinsville Speedway

• Thursday, March 27th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

NASCAR Truck race at Martinsville a landmark event for Toyota

On Friday night, Toyota will mark its 500th race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In 499 previous races, Toyota drivers have claimed 236 combined victories, led by Kyle Busch with 56, Todd Bodine with 22 and Johnny Benson with 14.

That prolific winning record, which began with Travis Kvapil’s victory at Michigan on July 31, 2004, has led to nine drivers’ championships and 13 manufacturers’ titles.

Driving the flagship Tundra for Toyota on Friday is Corey Heim of TRICON Garage, who has contributed 13 victories to the manufacturer’s total since his series debut in 2021.

Heim has two wins in four starts this season and leads the series standings by eight points over reigning champion Ty Majeski.

Heim won at Martinsville in 2023 and has posted three top 10s in four starts there.

Chevrolet driver Grant Enfinger, however, may be a strong candidate to spoil the Toyota party. Enfinger comes to Martinsville with a career-best streak of nine straight top 10s, dating to last season.

In addition, NASCAR Cup regular William Byron returns to the Truck Series in the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Byron gave Spire its first win in the series at Martinsville in 2022.

Also, the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series’ Triple Truck Challenge gets underway this Friday at Martinsville with the highest finishing Truck Series regular taking home a $50,000 bonus in prize money.

• Martinsville Speedway
• Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200
• Pole Winner: Corey Heim
• Age: 22
• Team : No 11 - Mobil 1 Toyota
• Owner: Johnny Gray
• Crew Chief: Scott Zipadelli
• Corey Heim won the Pole Award for the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 with a lap of 19654 seconds, 96347 mph
• This is his ninth pole in 69 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his second pole and third top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in five races at Martinsville Speedway
• Ty Majeski (second) posted his fourth top-10 start of 2025 and his third in five races at Martinsville Speedway
• Kaden Honeycutt (third) posted his second top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway It is his second in five races this season
• Connor Mosack (11th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Friday, March 28th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Daniel Hemric Claims First NASCAR Truck Series Win in Martinsville Shootout

During the week before Friday night’s Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 at Martinsville Speedway, Daniel Hemric practiced his back flip.

It was the signature move he had been able to use just once in NASCAR national series competition—when he won the 2021 season finale at Phoenix Raceway to clinch the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

But on Friday, the 34-year-old from Kannapolis, N.C., had a chance to perform the celebratory move once again, after capitalizing on the misfortunes of others—notably series leader Corey Heim—to win the first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race of his career.

Hemric even stuck the landing, reveling in the race win that earned him a coveted grandfather clock trophy and a $50,000 Triple Truck Challenge bonus as the highest finishing series regular.

“It’s a funny thing, because my wife asked me a couple weeks ago if I was not too old to do it,” Hemric said of the back flip. “I practiced once last week in the back yard and did a back flip on solid ground.

“I thought, ‘The old man’s still got it,’ and I proved that tonight.”

Hemric needed help to win the second national series race of his career. Heim won the first two stages and led a race-high 149 of 200 laps, but side-to-side contact with Kaden Honeycutt’s Chevrolet after a Lap 166 restart cut Heim’s left-rear tire and sent his No. 11 Toyota to pit road for fresh rubber.

Honeycutt inherited the lead, but on Lap 187, the Ford of Ty Majeski broke loose under Honeycutt’s Silverado as the two drivers were battling for the lead, and both trucks spun into the outside wall.

That put Tyler Ankrum, Hemric’s McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate, at the front of the field, but with four laps left, Hemric used his bumper to dive underneath Ankrum’s truck, made the pass for the lead and pulled away to win by 0.544 seconds.

“Congratulations to Daniel—I can’t think of a nicer guy to win,” Ankrum said. “Yeah, he gave me the bumper, but you’re going to do that at Martinsville. I honestly would much rather have a teammate give me the bumper for the win, so we can just get a win for MHR.”

Jake Garcia finished third, followed by Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes. Heim rallied to finish sixth after the tire change but fell short in his attempt to win in Toyota’s 500th race in the series.

“I feel like we got used up a little bit there,” Heim said of the contact with Honeycutt. “I don’t think he intended to cut my left rear down. I think if he had wanted to do that, he would have just wrecked me as it is…

“I just needed a better restart, I guess.”

It was the second straight week of frustration for Heim, who won the first two stages at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Mar. 21 before losing power in the late going and finishing third.

• Drivers Entered: 35
• Laps Scheduled: 200
• Margin of Victory: 0.544 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 50 Minutes 2 Seconds
• Average Speed: 57.364
• Cautions: 10 for 69 laps
• Lead Changes: 5
• Green Flag Passes: 1,223 (9.3 passes per green flag lap)

• Martinsville Speedway
• Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200
• Race Winner: Daniel Hemric
• Age: 34
• Team : No 19 - Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet
• Owner: Bill McAnally
• Crew Chief: Joshua Graham
• Daniel Hemric won the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200, his first victory in 55 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in six races at Martinsville Speedway
• Tyler Ankrum (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in ten races at Martinsville Speedway It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2025
• Jake Garcia (third) posted his first top-10 finish in four races at Martinsville Speedway
• Andres Perez De Lara (seventh) was the highest finishing rookie
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 20 points over Ty Majeski