Loop Data Box Score : Pocono Raceway

• Thursday, June 19th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Corey Heim Leads the Charge at Pocono as Truck Series Playoff Clock Ticks Down

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns from a week off for Friday night’s MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

It’s been a busy summer for the teams, which raced six consecutive weekends between May 2 and June 7 – a string of races that featured five different winners and two first-time winners on the season (Rajah Caruth and Stewart Friesen).

The series championship leader, TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim is the defending Pocono race winner. And there’s absolutely no reason he won’t be the favorite this weekend. Heim led a dominating 55 of the 70 laps last year, including the final 34 and beat Grant Enfinger to the line by nearly a second.

Chandler Smith is the only other full-time driver with a previous Pocono victory – taking the trophy in 2022.

With only five races remaining to set the 10-driver Playoff field, There are six drivers eligible based on wins. Enfinger, Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, and reigning series champion Ty Majeski currently hold the four positions based on points-only. Majeski is only four points up on Jake Garcia, however, in 11thplace. Two-time series champion Ben Rhodes is 55 points behind Garcia.

There are 12 drivers making their first Pocono start. The last six Pocono races have been won by six different drivers – half of them by full-time Truck Series competitors.

Practice is Friday at 12:35 p.m. ET followed immediately by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 1:40 p.m. ET. – both sessions available on FS2. Christian Eckes, now an Xfinity Series rookie, started from pole position in this race last year.

• Pocono Raceway
• MillerTech Battery 200
• Pole Winner: Layne Riggs
• Age: 23
• Team : No 34 - Bare Knuckle Brawl Ford
• Owner: Bob Jenkins
• Crew Chief: Dylan Cappello
• Layne Riggs won the Pole Award for the MillerTech Battery 200 with a lap of 53.126 seconds, 169.409 mph
• This is his first pole in 43 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first pole and eighth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in two races at Pocono Raceway
• Kaden Honeycutt (second) posted his ninth top-10 start of 2025 and his first in three races at Pocono Raceway
• Corey Heim (third) posted his third top-10 start at Pocono Raceway It is his 11th in 14 races this season
• Giovanni Ruggiero (sixth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, June 21st, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Riggs Seizes Pocono Spotlight After Heim’s Heartbreak and Hocevar’s Misstep

Layne Riggs capped one of the best race weekends of his young career, claiming his first ever pole position then leading the final 20 laps of Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 to take his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory of the season in the opening race of a NASCAR tripleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway.

Riggs’ No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford beat TRICON Garage driver Tanner Gray to the checkered flag by a healthy 3.64-seconds delivering the young star his third career series win.

Riggs had been fast all day and was running second to championship leader Corey Heim coming to a restart with 19 laps to go only to have Heim’s No. 11 Toyota suffer a flat tire just as the field was about to take the green flag.

Just after Heim pulled off the track for a quick tire change, NASCAR Cup Series driver and former Truck Series regular Carson Hocevar moved his No. 7 truck forward and into the lead on the restart – but was handed a penalty for the move.

Riggs as the second place car, was the “control” car when Heim pit – not Hocevar – and Riggs assumed the lead for good when Hocevar pit with 18 laps remaining to serve the stop-and-go penalty for his restart violation.

“That’s just a testament to this team, that thing was bad fast especially that last run right there,” said Riggs, the 23-year-old son of former NASCAR Cup Series standout Scott Riggs.

“I really hate the 11 [Heim] fell out and not sure what the seven [Hocevar] was doing on the restart there, but made sure to take advantage of it.

“But, hey, I’m a happy man right now. … this is not what I had circled. Last year we wrecked in practice, didn’t qualify and ran dead last all day. And today we were the best. It’s amazing.”

For much of the early race – before the tire problem – it appeared the season’s four-race winner Heim would essentially turn in a repeat performance of his work a year ago at the 2.5-mile Pocono track when he swept both stages and won the race. Heim did lead a race best 48 of the 90 laps and set an all-time series record claiming his 12th stage win.

But to his credit, Riggs – who also took a stage win – kept Heim honest all day. And that’s what put him in position to capitalize.

Kaden Honeycutt, who started on the front row alongside Riggs, finished third in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet. Brandon Jones in the No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota and former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric in the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet rounded out the top-five.

Rookie Connor Mosack, Riggs’ teammate Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, reigning series champion Ty Majeski and Rajah Caruth completed the top-10.

Heim rallied to a 23rd-place finish and leads Riggs’ teammate, Chandler Smith by 124 points in the championship standings.

With the victory, Riggs claims the seventh Playoff position based on race wins. Only four more regular season races remain to decide which 10 drivers will compete for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship.

The series heads to the historic Lime Rock Park road course in Connecticut for next Saturday’s inaugural LIUNA 150.

• Drivers Entered: 35
• Laps Scheduled: 80
• Margin of Victory: 03.640 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 43 Minutes 18 Seconds
• Average Speed: 116.167
• Cautions: 4 for 24 laps
• Lead Changes: 7
• Green Flag Passes: 955 (17.1 passes per green flag lap)

• Pocono Raceway
• MillerTech Battery 200
• Race Winner: Layne Riggs
• Age: 23
• Team : No 34 - Bare Knuckle Brawl Ford
• Owner: Bob Jenkins
• Crew Chief: Dylan Cappello
• Layne Riggs won the MillerTech Battery 200, his third victory in 43 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in two races at Pocono Raceway
• Tanner Gray (second) posted his second top-10 finish in six races at Pocono Raceway It is his third top-10 finish in 2025
• Kaden Honeycutt (third) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at Pocono Raceway
• Connor Mosack (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie