Practice #1 : Kansas Speedway

• Friday, May 9th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Corey Heim Eyes Kansas Hat Trick as Cup Stars Byron, Hocevar Join Truck Series Showdown

Even with NASCAR Cup Series drivers in the field, it’s hard to argue against NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular Corey Heim as the favorite for Saturday night’s Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In three previous races on 1.5-mile speedways this season, Heim has two victories—at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 14 and most recently at Texas Motor Speedway on May 2.

Heim is the only multiple winner in the series so far this season with three victories.

Moreover, driving the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, Heim is seeking his third straight victory at Kansas, having swept last year’s races.

At age 22, Heim is the youngest driver to reach 14 wins in the series. He’s one victory away from tying 48-year-old three-time series champion Matt Crafton for 10th on the all-time victory list.

But it’s not that Heim will have an easy time on Friday. Challenging his quest for a Kansas trifecta are Cup drivers William Byron and Carson Hocevar, both doing double duty in Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverados.

“I’m excited to get back in a truck this weekend, especially at Kansas,” said Byron, who finished 14th in his only other start this season, at Martinsville. “This is a track where I’ve run well at during my career, but extra laps are always helpful no matter where it is.

“I appreciate Spire giving me the chance to run a truck again this year and hopefully we can have a good showing for them and (sponsor) HendrickCars.com.”

Coincidentally, Byron picked up his first career Truck Series victory at Kansas in 2016.

Hocevar is one of four drivers in the field who have finished second at Kansas but have never won. The others are two-time champion Ben Rhodes, defending champion Ty Majeski and Layne Riggs.

• Kansas Speedway
• Heart of Health Care 200
• Pole Winner: Jake Garcia
• Age: 20
• Team : No 13 - Quanta Services Ford
• Owner: Duke Thorson
• Crew Chief: Jeriod Prince
• Jake Garcia won the Pole Award for the Heart of Health Care 200 with a lap of 30742 seconds, 175655 mph
• This is his second pole in 59 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his second pole and eighth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in five races at Kansas Speedway
• Corey Heim (second) posted his sixth top-10 start of 2025 and his third in seven races at Kansas Speedway
• Ty Majeski (third) posted his eighth top-10 start at Kansas Speedway It is his seventh in nine races this season
• Dawson Sutton (eighth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, May 10th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Hocevar Bounces Off the Wall and Into Victory Lane in Kansas Truck Series Thriller

Carson Hocevar survived last-lap contact from the Ford of Layne Riggs, bounced off the outside wall and half a lap later took the checkered flag to win Saturday night’s Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway.

The victory was Hocevar’s first of the season in his second NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start this year, his first at the 1.5-mile track and the fifth of his career.

But Hocevar had to keep the fast-closing truck of Riggs behind him. On the final lap, Riggs steered to the inside of Hocevar’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, got to the left rear quarter of the Silverado and slid up the track into Hocevar’s truck.

After the contact, both Hocevar and Riggs maintained control, and both scraped the outside wall before continuing toward the finish line. With William Byron looking on from what was then third place, Hocevar arrived 0.262 seconds ahead of Riggs, who appeared to have finished second at Kansas for the second straight time.

However, Riggs was disqualified after post-race inspection found a truck bed cover violation on his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, elevating Byron to second place.

“I was just hoping they would crash, but they didn’t,” said Byron, who fought a tight-handling No. 07 Spire truck as the final run progressed and finished 0.718 seconds behind the race winner.

“I just thought I’d make it entertaining,” Hocevar quipped after climbing from his truck for a frontstretch interview. “That 34 truck (Riggs) was super, super good. This truck was really good on the short runs—I didn’t think he would get to us for how far back he was, but he was super good.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been in a finish like that where it’s been all out there. So credit to him. I know he was going for everything there.”

Riggs and third-place finisher Corey Heim lost track position on the wrong side of a cycle of green-flag pit stops midway through the final stage. Riggs recovered to challenge for the lead, while Heim incurred a penalty for an improper restart to squander his chances at victory.

“Man, I gave it my all,” Riggs said. “We were really down bad with the track position there. In the third segment, we were about to take the lead, and we did a green-flag pit stop and that really hurt us—had to come from 16th on that green-flag run to get all the way back to him.

“I got to him, got into him a little bit. We both hit the wall, and he won the race. I think he was mad at me. I think he flipped me off all the way down the frontstretch coming to the checkered. But how can you be mad when you win the race?”

With the disqualification, however, Riggs had ample reason to be disappointed.

Heim led 52 of the first 53 laps and won the first stage but lost 15 positions on pit road under caution on Lap 53 when the rear tire changer’s air gun broke. Heim charged back to fourth in the running order, but lost all his progress when the sixth caution, for Frankie Muniz’s spin into the infield grass, interrupted the cycle of green-flag stops on Lap 97, trapped Heim a lap down and forced him to take a wave-around.

That’s when Hocevar, who remained on the lead lap after pitting, gained control of the race, which featured seven cautions for 33 laps. Hocevar led three times for 75 laps.

Heim did further damage to his own chances by changing lanes to the outside behind the truck of Toni Breidinger before the start/finish line on a Lap 103 restart. Thwarted in his attempt to win a third straight race at Kansas, Heim charged back to third at the finish.

“Started out with that pit gun breaking—no fault to my pit crew there,” Heim said. “They did an awesome job all night. It seemed like a situational kind of deal there and then caught on the exact wrong time on the green-flag cycle.

“Had to take the wave and start from the back again and got out of line for a penalty on my part. A roller coaster kind of day today.”

Rookie Gio Ruggiero ran fourth, followed by Stewart Friesen, Brandon Jones, pole winner Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Grant Enfinger and Daniel Hemric.

• Drivers Entered: 31
• Laps Scheduled: 134
• Margin of Victory: 0.262 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 48 Minutes 49 Seconds
• Average Speed: 110.829
• Cautions: 7 for 33 laps
• Lead Changes: 8
• Green Flag Passes: 1,618 (16.0 passes per green flag lap)

• Kansas Speedway
• Heart of Health Care 200
• Race Winner: Carson Hocevar
• Age: 22
• Team : No 7 - Delaware Life Chevrolet
• Owner: Jeff Dickerson
• Crew Chief: Brian Pattie
• Carson Hocevar won the Heart of Health Care 200, his fifth victory in 79 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in six races at Kansas Speedway
• William Byron (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Kansas Speedway It is his first top-10 finish in 2025
• Corey Heim (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in seven races at Kansas Speedway
• Giovanni Ruggiero (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 64 points over Chandler Smith