Friday, March 28th, 2025
Martinsville Speedway , Ridgeway, VA
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.
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.
FIN | ST | # | DRIVER | MAKE | TOT PTS | FIN PTS | STG PTS | PO PTS | LAPS | LED | X LED | S1 | S2 | STATUS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 19 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 55 | 40 | 10 | 5 | 200 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 5 | Running |
2 | 24 | 18 | Tyler Ankrum | Chevrolet | 37 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 200 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | Running |
3 | 8 | 13 | Jake Garcia | Ford | 34 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
4 | 4 | 38 | Chandler Smith | Ford | 43 | 33 | 10 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | Running |
5 | 20 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | Ford | 32 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
6 | 1 | 11 | Corey Heim | Toyota | 54 | 32 | 20 | 2 | 200 | 149 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Running |
7 | 21 | 77 | Andres Perez de Lara | Chevrolet | 30 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
8 | 10 | 71 | Rajah Caruth | Chevrolet | 29 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Running |
9 | 12 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Toyota | 29 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | Running |
10 | 9 | 1 | Lawless Alan | Toyota | 31 | 27 | 4 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | Running |
11 | 7 | 34 | Layne Riggs | Ford | 26 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
12 | 16 | 17 | Giovanni Ruggiero | Toyota | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
13 | 2 | 98 | Ty Majeski | Ford | 40 | 24 | 16 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Running |
14 | 13 | 07 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | Running |
15 | 23 | 42 | Matt Mills | Chevrolet | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
16 | 22 | 26 | Dawson Sutton | Chevrolet | 21 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
17 | 26 | 76 | Spencer Boyd | Chevrolet | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
18 | 29 | 90 | Justin Carroll | Toyota | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
19 | 17 | 91 | Jack Wood | Chevrolet | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
20 | 35 | 84 | Patrick Staropoli | Toyota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
21 | 6 | 15 | Tanner Gray | Toyota | 26 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | Running |
22 | 27 | 66 | Luke Baldwin | Ford | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
23 | 18 | 44 | Matthew Gould | Chevrolet | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
24 | 25 | 5 | Toni Breidinger | Toyota | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 199 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
25 | 11 | 81 | Connor Mosack | Chevrolet | 26 | 12 | 14 | 0 | 198 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | Running |
26 | 3 | 45 | Kaden Honeycutt | Chevrolet | 29 | 11 | 18 | 0 | 198 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Running |
27 | 14 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Ford | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 197 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
28 | 30 | 02 | Nathan Byrd | Chevrolet | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 196 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
29 | 19 | 9 | Grant Enfinger | Chevrolet | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 195 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DVP |
30 | 32 | 2 | Cody Dennison | Ford | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 195 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
31 | 28 | 22 | Alan Waller | Ford | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 174 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
32 | 15 | 7 | Corey Day | Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Suspension |
33 | 31 | 33 | Frankie Muniz | Ford | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 133 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rear End |
34 | 33 | 6 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brakes |
35 | 34 | 67 | Ryan Roulette | Chevrolet | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Handling |
Penalties imposed prior to or during the race.
Driver | Infraction | Penalty | Lap | Lap Assessed | Flag |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ryan Roulette | Unspecified Choose Violation | Tail End | 18 | 19 | Yellow |
Ben Rhodes | Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon | Tail End | 106 | 112 | Yellow |
Justin Carroll | Unspecified Equipment over the wall too soon | Tail End | 107 | 112 | Yellow |
Justin Carroll | Unspecified Choose Violation | Tail End | 111 | 112 | Yellow |
Connor Mosack | Unspecified Pulling out of line on the restart | Pass Thru | 120 | 125 | Green |
William Byron | Pitting before pit road is open | Tail End | 149 | 154 | Yellow |
William Byron | Speeding on pit road | Tail End | 149 | 154 | Yellow |
William Byron | Unspecified Pulling out of line on the restart - Garage | Pass Thru | 154 | 0 | Green |
Matthew Gould | Pitting before pit road is open | Tail End | 158 | 165 | Yellow |
Nathan Byrd | Pitting before pit road is open | Tail End | 161 | 165 | Yellow |
Toni Breidinger | Speeding on pit road | Tail End | 163 | 165 | Yellow |
Toni Breidinger | Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area | Tail End | 163 | 165 | Yellow |
Grant Enfinger | Pitting before pit road is open | Tail End | 180 | 185 | Yellow |
Patrick Staropoli | Unspecified Pulling out of line on the restart | Tail End | 185 | 192 | Green/Yellow |
Jack Wood | Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area | Tail End | 189 | 192 | Yellow |
Kaden Honeycutt | Pitting before pit road is open | Tail End | 191 | 192 | Yellow |