The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series made its way to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday night in the Baptist Health 200. Tricon Garage driver Corey Heim started the race on the pole with his teammate Tanner Gray starting in the second position.
In Stage 1, the first caution of the night came out on the first lap when Ben Rhodes and Giovanni Ruggiero got together at Turn 2. On lap 29, Corey Heim passed Kyle Larson for the lead and went on to win the stage. In the second stage, Corey Heim dominated leading all 23 laps to win Stage 2.
In the final stage, Kyle Larson spun his tires on the restart allowing Corey Heim to clear him. Layne Riggs, Daniel Hemric, and Kyle Larson were in a three-way battle for second place before Larson secured it and began chasing down Corey Heim. Meanwhile, Riggs and Ross Chastain were chasing Larson as Hemric was forced to lift the throttle and fell to eighth place.
On lap 71, Riggs, Chastain, Larson, and Heim were battling for the lead and Chastain cleared Heim to take the lead. Heim battled back to pass Chastain at Turn 3 on lap 88 for the lead. On lap 90, Kyle Larson was battling for second place when he lost control of the truck and spun around bringing out the fourth caution of the night.
On the final restart on lap 95, Ross Chastain cleared Corey Heim for the lead. Heim would get the lead a lap later. Kyle Larson restarted in 23rd place. He made his way up the field quickly on fresh tires. Upfront Corey Heim began experiencing mechanical issues by losing power to the truck. Despite losing power, he was able to get the truck going again and challenge Chastain for the lead and passed him on lap 123 while Larson was up to the sixth position.
On lap 130, Kyle Larson passed Ross Chastain for second place 2.3 seconds behind Heim. Then, with three laps to go, Heim’s truck suffered two power outages allowing Larson to catch up and pass him for the lead. Layne Riggs took the second position away from Heim as he got the truck rolling again. Larson went on to win the race by 1.340 over Layne Riggs and Corey Heim finished in third place.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Tyler Ankrum fourth, Daniel Hemric fifth, Ross Chastain sixth, Jake Garcia seventh, Chandler Smith eighth, Grant Enfinger ninth, and Kaden Honeycutt tenth. There were four cautions for 22 laps and 13 lead changes among four drivers. Corey Heim led the most laps in the race (78), while Larson led 20 laps.
The Craftsman Truck Series heads to Martinsville Speedway next Friday at 7:30 pm on FS1. Purchase NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series tickets today at StubHub.
