Corey Heim had just enough time to not let an issue keep him from beating teammate Kaden Honeycutt in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Rockingham Speedway.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Corey Heim had just enough time in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Rockingham Speedway to hang on to the lead with an issue and win over teammate Kaden Honeycutt.
Credit: ROCKINGHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - APRIL 03: Corey Heim, driver of the #1 Robinhood Toyota, takes the checkered flag ahead of Kaden Honeycutt, driver of the #11 Safelite Toyota, to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black's Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway on April 03, 2026 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)Heim held off Honeycutt by a 0.090-second margin of victory, passing him back on the final lap to lead 178 of 200 laps and claim his second win of the 2026 Truck season.
Heim dominated the race but reported an issue in the final, 29-lap run of the race. Afterward, he believed he had a right-front tire going down.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I felt like I didn’t push it any harder than any previous run or do any more damage to the right front, but it was like all of a sudden with four to go, my truck started just – I had to turn more right down the straightaway to keep it straight. My wheel was clocked at like 20 degrees to the right and it was chattering really bad in the corners, and I was like oh boy here we go, we’re going to lose this one in the worst way possible," Heim said.
With Heim on the inside and Honeycutt on the outside, they raced around teammates Gio Ruggiero and Tanner Gray, trying to outmaneuver each other with the in-house lap traffic around them.
Ultimately, Heim prevailed with a couple of strong dives into the corner and a sharp defense against Honeycutt.
"I just had to use a couple of laps trucks to hold him off. Respect Kaden (Honeycutt) for racing me clean. I did what I had to do there at the end," Heim said.
Honeycutt elevated from finishing third in each stage to Heim, to finishing second to Heim in the overall race. He took the white flag but fell short of the checkered, although with more disappointment about factors out of his control.
“I was hoping everyone would have moved when we started racing each other but it is part of it. It is part of racing and you have to navigate it," Honeycutt said. "I tried to shove Tanner (Gray) as far as I can and hoped that he would have gone to the bottom or something like that, but I don’t really know what I could have done differently other than run me and him down in the marbles and all that.
"I didn’t want to do that, but I wanted to make sure that me or Corey (Heim) won the race, and I obviously wanted to win it, but it was good that our TRICON organization could do that."
Honeycutt now has three consecutive top-five finishes, each progressively better than the other: Fifth at St. Pete, fourth from the pole at Darlington and second at Rockingham.
"Our whole team has done just a great job. Fast race trucks every week, and I think our time will come," Honeycutt said.
In fourth, Friesen earned his first top-five finish since winning at Michigan in June, a little over a month before a serious, lower-extremity injury threatened to cut his career short.
"A solid day and a building day for us. Obviously, you always want to go out and win every race but the old body was pretty good in the long run. I just got to get a little bit more speed out of myself," Friesen remarked to FS1.
Two positions behind Friesen was 2025 Rockingham winner Tyler Ankrum, who finished sixth. Behind Ankrum was Corey LaJoie, who finished seventh to kick off his full-time run with Kaulig Racing's Ram Trucks team.
Pole sitter Jake Garcia finished ninth, one lap down.
TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 200): Corey Heim, Kaden Honeycutt, Layne Riggs, Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger, Tyler Ankrum, Corey LaJoie, Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia, Cole Butcher.
Chandler Smith crossed the start-finish line in fourth but was disqualified after post-race inspection.
TRICON Garage took both the front end of the finishing order and the back end. Adam Andretti crashed on the backstretch on lap 61, knocking him back to 36th.
Just ahead of him was Carson Hocevar, who went to the garage with a mechanical issue after completing 116 laps. He finished 35th, out of the race.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 45): Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Kaden Honeycutt, Layne Riggs, Tanner Gray, Cole Butcher, Jake Garcia, Parker Eatmon, Gio Ruggiero, Landen Lewis.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 90): Heim, Majeski, Honeycutt, Riggs, Grant Enfinger, Gray, Stewart Friesen, Daniel Hemric, Butcher, Garcia.
A caution fell with 34 laps to go that pushed back Majeski, Gray, and others who already pitted.
Corey Heim wasn't among those drivers. He became the first driver in any series to earn the maximum 76 points this season, winning the race, both stages and running the fastest lap of the race.
With the win at Rockingham coming a week after winning at Darlington, Heim is up to second in points, 15 points behind Chandler Smith, despite being missing two races. However, missing those races makes him ineligible for the Chase.
Heim and Honeycutt are tied for the points lead at 190 points. Riggs is 11 points back, Smith is 17 back and Majeski is 22 back, by Roundtable's count.