Corey Heim leads Toyota top five in Toyota 200

Toyota was more than thrilled with how Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway transpired. Living up to the Toyota 200 name, Toyota drivers occupied the top five positions led by Corey Heim, who secured his second career Truck win after taking the lead from fellow Tundra driver Christian Eckes in overtime.

The Toyotas of Eckes and Ben Rhodes won the first two stage. Chevrolet’s Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger, as well as Ford’s Zane Smith prevented the Japanese make from fully dominating as they led laps, but Hocevar would be involved in a horrific accident on the final lap that ended the race under caution: Hocevar had spun before being impacted at race speed by Tyler Hill.

Although Hocevar walked to the ambulance and gave a thumbs up, he was hospitalised for further examination.

“Following the incident on the last lap of today’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at World Wide Technology Raceway, Carson Hocevar was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation of his right lower extremity,” reads a statement from employer Niece Motorsports later in the day. “Additional medical updates will be forthcoming, with no further comment at this time.”

It was not all smooth sailing for Toyota, who lost points leader John Hunter Nemechek to a multi-driver wreck on lap 55, his first retirement of the year. The exit and second-to-last-place finish dropped Nemechek from first to fourth in the standings while Rhodes assumed the lead.

Despite the setback for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Heim held off Eckes and team-mate Chandler Smith to hold the lead when the Hocevar accident occurred, ending the race under caution. The win is Heim’s second after triumphing in Atlanta, and the first for KBM at Gateway since Christopher Bell in 2016.

“For the rest of this year, I’ve found myself in bad spots and really just not been able to finish races so today really helped my mindset of just finishing, being there in the end and just keeping my truck clean,” said Heim. “I felt like out of the whole entire top ten, everyone had damage except for me. It was great for a situation in the end, where we could win the race.”

“It was a great day. I just tried to stay out front and stay out of trouble for the most part. I’ve had my ups and downs this year where I’ve kind of been a little too aggressive and it came back to bite me. I was just trying to stay up front and keep my truck clean in the end and it all paid off. My Tundra TRD Pro was phenomenal. KBM did a great job and I’m proud to be a part of this Toyota 200.”

Stewart Friesen and Johnny Sauter rounded out the Toyota-only top five. Rhodes and Chase Purdy also notched top tens for the manufacturer.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	165	Running
2	5	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	165	Running
3	4	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	165	Running
4	3	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	165	Running
5	18	13	Johnny Sauter	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	165	Running
6	16	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	165	Running
7	36	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	165	Running
8	15	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	165	Running
9	2	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	165	Running
10	13	61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	165	Running
11	19	7	Rajah Caruth	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	Running
12	11	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	165	Running
13	20	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	165	Running
14	25	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	Running
15	26	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	165	Running
16	30	3	Jordan Anderson	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	165	Running
17	29	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	165	Running
18	24	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	Running
19	32	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	165	Running
20	22	02	Jesse Little	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	Running
21	35	30	Tate Fogleman	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	165	Running
22	23	9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	165	Running
23	7	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	165	Running
24	12	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	164	Accident
25	27	5	Tyler Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	164	Accident
26	28	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	164	Accident
27	33	33	Mason Maggio	Reaume Brothers Racing	Chevrolet	164	Running
28	10	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
29	21	35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	161	Running
30	14	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	156	Accident
31	34	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	151	Electrical
32	8	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	136	Running
33	17	44	Kris Wright	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	93	Accident
34	31	46	Brennan Poole	G2G Racing	Toyota	77	Rear Gear
35	6	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	57	DVP
36	9	17	Taylor Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	45	Accident
DNQ		20	Matt Mills	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ			Justin Carroll	TC Motorsports	Toyota
DNQ		43	Blake Lothan	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyoya

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year