Corey Heim qualified third for Friday’s 134-lap event at Kansas Speedway, marking his eighth qualifying effort inside of the top-five this season in just 12 starts. As the race progressed through the first two stages, Heim never fell outside of the top-10 and earned the No. 51 team 13 stage points by finishing the first two stages in fourth and fifth, respectively. Despite dealing with a number of different handling issues throughout the night, Heim wheeled his JBL Tundra to a seventh-place finish.
The No. 51 team advanced to the Round of 8 in the owner’s portion of the Camping World Truck Series playoff bracket. As the series heads to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the opening race in the Round of 8, they find themselves sixth on the playoff grid, four points below the cutoff line to advance to the Championship 4.
Stage One Recap:
- Heim lined up on the inside of the second row in third for Friday’s Kansas Lottery 200 after putting down a lap time of 30.891 seconds at 174.808 mph in the qualifying session earlier in the afternoon.
- As the field took the green flag, Heim settled into third as they made their way back around to the stripe on lap one.
- Heim never wavered outside of the top-five for the entirety of the opening stanza before taking the green-and-white checkered flag in fourth, tallying seven stage points for the No. 51 team.
- At the stage break, the JBL driver communicated that his No. 51 Tundra was “starting to get a little tight everywhere but wouldn’t adjust much”.
Stage Two Recap:
- The No. 51 over the wall crew executed a four tire and fuel stop with a wedge adjustment at the stage break and sent Heim back out on track to restart in fourth.
- The 20-year-old driver restarted on the outside of the second row and found himself in a three-wide battle for third that would cost him two spots as he fell back into the sixth position midway through the second stage.
- Heim was able to grab one spot back and was scored in fifth when the second caution of the night came out on lap 57 for a two-truck incident, ending the middle stanza under caution.
- Opposite of the opening stage, Heim communicated that his JBL Tundra was now “firing off about three numbers too loose”.
Final Stage Recap:
- Crew chief Mardy Lindley called for another four tire and fuel stop at the stage break where the No. 51 team was able to pick up two spots on pit road and lined up for the final stage restart in third.
- Heim lined up on the inside of the second row for the restart behind his KBM teammate John Hunter Nemechek. The two KBM drivers were able to get a good jump on the restart as Heim fell in behind Nemechek in second as they made their way down the backstretch.
- As the final stage went on, the Georgia-native began to deal with more handling issues with 45 laps to go as he communicated that his No. 51 Tundra was “free on entry and super tight on exit”, while running in the fourth position.
- Heim continued to run in fourth as green flag pit stops began with around 30 laps to go in the Kansas Lottery 200. Once the field started to get sorted back out, the JBL driver was running in 10th with five laps to go.
- Over the course of the last five laps, Heim was able to pick off three more spots before taking the checkered flag in seventh, earning his seventh career top-10 finish.
Kansas Lottery 200 Race Recap:
- John Hunter Nemechek earned his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win of 2022 and will advance to the Round of 8. It was his 13th career victory. Carson Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-five finishes.
- There were four cautions for 25 laps and 11 lead changes among six drivers.
How Heim’s KBM Teammates Fared:
- John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the No. 4 Toyota, finished first.
- Chandler Smith, driver of the No. 18 Toyota, finished sixth.
Camping World Trucks Owner’s Championship Standings:
The No. 51 team advanced to the Round of 8 in the Owner’s Championship playoffs and now find themselves in the sixth seed. After the points reset, they are now four points below the cutoff line to advance to the Championship 4.
Next Race:
Corey Heim will be back behind the wheel of the No. 51 Crescent Tools Tundra TRD Pro next Thursday, September 15 as the Camping World Truck Series heads to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the opening race of the Round of 8. Live coverage of the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics will be on Fs1, Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM at 9pm ET.
