Heim Prepares for Championship Fight After Contract Extension

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — “Heim Time” is here to stay for the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series campaign.

Heading into the NCTS Championship Race, Corey Heim enters Phoenix Raceway with another a shot at a championship and will be staying with TRICON Garage for a third year.

Despite the controversy from last year’s Championship 4 finale where his clashes with Carson Hocevar are still burning in the back of many people’s minds, Heim takes Friday’s finale with a cool and calm approach as he gets a chance of bringing the David Gilliland and Johnny Gray co-owned organization its first championship.

“I feel like last year, I didn’t know how to feel going into the race,” said Heim during Thursday’s Media Day.

“I’ve never been in situation like this where it is a one race claims everything, one race wins everything kind of format. I was obviously nervous going into the race, but I prepared really hard, and I felt really good going into it.

“Looking back at it, I think I’ve just learned to enjoy the moment. You don’t get these opportunities every day, so I’m honestly feeling pretty good about it – pretty loose compared to last year, and can’t wait to get out there.”

Since Phoenix, Heim has certainly earned his stay with the No. 11 organization, doubling his win count from three to six with full intentions of going for a seventh win to lock up the championship.

When asked about what it’ll mean to win it for Gilliland and Gray in a year they’ve rebranded themselves from DGR to TRICON, it’s everything to Heim.

“Those guys are so committed to their game, and have done such an incredible job these last two seasons of being a championship caliber race team,” said Heim. “To make that into a championship winning race team, would mean the world to me and them as well. They deserve it and so do my guys.”

If there’s one trait Heim has learned over the past couple of years with the No. 11 squad, it’s mental preparedness for a race. A trait that’s meshed well for the 22-year old standout.

“The preparation side has always been pretty key to my success and being able to mentally focus going into a race weekend,” Heim commented. “Over the last couple of years, I’ve kind of learned what matters and what doesn’t in a given week on preparing for a race.

“Just being able to spend some time for myself and be able to feel mentally cleansed going into a race weekend and not feel so overloaded with information, on the preparation side of things. Just a healthy balance and all of that kind of stuff leads to good things as well.”

In addition of excelling even more in Trucks, Heim has kept himself busy throughout 2024 which included three NASCAR Cup Series starts with Legacy Motor Club and 23XI Racing.

There were rumblings of even Heim making a fourth start if Bubba Wallace would’ve faced suspension following last Sunday’s race manipulation scandal at Martinsville. However, Wallace, along with Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon, were only fined $100,000 and docked 50 driver points, but allowed to race in Sunday’s 312-lap finale.

“Certainly a little bit,” said Heim on the matter. “It was a pretty rare situation with Martinsville and you just never know. There was a little bit of question on that for sure.”

Now knowing his 2025 plans, Heim can fully focus on the championship with many looking at him and Christian Eckes as the favorites to win it all. Outside of Heim, Eckes has been the class of the field with four wins and has finished all but one race in the top-10. Such consistency has played a vital role on Eckes’ average finish being a 5.5 to Heim’s 7.4 with Friday’s 150-lapper remaining.

Compared to Hocevar where there were some animosity, Heim has been satisfied of how Eckes has raced against him throughout this year which has carried all the way back to late models.

That said, Heim knows Eckes isn’t the only one he’ll to worry about as both Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski will make it difficult when it matters most.

“It has been fun racing with Christian this year,” Heim said of Eckes. “He’s been on top of his game pretty much every week. I think he has a pretty crazy top-10 streak or something going on right now. I’ve raced with him for a long time – ever since I started out in late models. It’s been seven or eight years I’ve been racing against him.

“It’s cool to see him have the success he’s had this year, but like you said, there will be other trucks to be worried about. It is the Championship 4 after all. It just matters who peaks at the right time. I guess we will see. We will just have to be on top of our game, and we will be there at the end.”