The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series headed to the Martinsville Speedway for the third and final race of the Round of 8. Last week at Talladega, it was Gio Ruggiero playing playoff spoiler and earning his first career victory, but this week, it was time to set the 2025 Championship 4
The race start was clean, with Layne Riggs pulling away with the race lead from last week’s winner Gio Ruggiero, who was the only non-playoff driver inside the top 9. On lap 7, however, contact between Connor Mosack, Matt Crafton, and Andres Perez de Lara sent the latter spinning, bringing out the first caution of the night
They restarted on lap 12, but the caution flew again few laps later for fluid on the racetrack. On the next restart, Layne Riggs, the leader, missed a shift and caused a big accordion that damaged a few trucks, but didn’t bring out a caution
Riggs dropped from 1st to 6th, and some trucks got damaged. Most notably, Daniel Hemric had a part of the rear bumper coming off; he also reported high temperatures and possible radiator damage. A few laps later, another caution came out for a car spinning, despite them all saving it. Daniel Hemric took advantage of the caution to bring his truck down pit road for fixes.
On the restart, Corey Heim, already locked into the Championship 4, took the lead away from Ty Majeski to win the first stage
1st. Corey Heim (P)
2nd. Ty Majeski (P)
3rd. Grant Enfinger (P)
4th. Tyler Ankrum (P)
5th. Tanner Gray
6th. Layne Riggs (P)
7th. Kaden Honeycutt (P)
8th. Giovanni Ruggiero
9th. Rajah Caruth (P)
10th. Brent Crews
On lap 11/50 of the stage, the race finally restarted, and Corey Heim retained the lead
After contact from Kaden Honeycutt battling for position, playoff Driver Rajah Caruth cut a tire and spun into turn 1, hitting the wall hard, ending his chances of advancing to the championship 4, despite entering the race +14 on the cut.
They restarted on lap 32 of the stage and Corey Heim was able to pull away again, leaving the brawl between Majeski, Riggs, and Enfinger behind him. Heim won the second stage, sweeping them. His 21st stage win of the year.
1st. Corey Heim (P)
2nd. Ty Majeski (P)
3rd. Layne Riggs (P)
4th. Grant Enfinger (P)
5th. Tanner Gray
6th. Tyler Ankrum (P)
7th. Brent Crews
8th. Kaden Honeycutt (P)
9th. Conner Jones
10th. Ben Rhodes
The stage caution shuffled things up as most of the leaders chose to pit, while others decided to stay out. This meant Corey Heim and previous leaders were sent to restart midpack, while Gio Ruggiero took the lead.
On lap 136, Brent Crews took the lead away from Gio Ruggiero just as they got to lap traffic. Three laps later, the 22 of Alan Waller spun into the outside wall and brought out another caution
Brent Crews pulled away with the race lead after the restart, but Corey Heim, on fresher tires, jumped up to 3rd. The race could not get into a rhythm, however. Staropoli and Breidinger made contact entering turn 1 and both crashed into the outside wall. Breidinger’s truck was destroyed, but Staropoli was able to continue
Brent Crews retained the lead on the restart, and behind him it was a fight between Corey Heim, Layne Riggs, and Chandler Smith. Heim moved Smith up the racetrack and took 2nd away from him, and had to take 1.2 seconds away to get back to the lead.
Brent Crews had pulled away by 1.8 seconds over Corey Heim, but Connor Mosack spun out, hit the wall, and brought out the caution with around 20 laps to go.
They restarted with 15 to go, and though Corey Heim was able to stay on the outside of Brent Crews, almost clearing him into turn 3 but not quite, which allowed Crews to get beneath him and take the lead back, but not fast enough, as the caution came out again and NASCAR ruled Corey Heim as the race leader at the time of the yellow.
Heim retained the lead, while Kaden Honeycutt jumped to 2nd and Layne Riggs squeezed Ty Majeski into the wall. But again, with 5 to go, Conner Jones got turned and brought out the caution that would send the race into overtime.
Corey Heim pulled away to win after a perfect final restart, but meanwhile, the battle for the other 3 championship 4 spots was fierce. Layne Riggs tried everything he could, but a 3rd place finish was not enough for him to advance. He was obviously disappointed after the race
Heim earned his 11th win of the season, extending his all-time record. Meanwhile, Kaden Honeycutt, Ty Majeski, and Tyler Ankrum joined Corey Heim on the Championship 4
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