TRUCKS: Heim twice rallies from bad pit stops, only to be disqualified for unsecured lug nuts

May 24

by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Corey Heim picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #11 Safelite Toyota finished 2nd and completed all 134 laps, only to be disqualified for three lug nuts not safe and secure in post-race inspection.

The finish came in Heim’s 52nd series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 8th for the #11, the 9th by disqualification, and the 56th for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 55th by disqualification, the 62nd for the #11, and the 410th for Toyota.

Jeffrey Earnhardt picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #67 Forgotten Coast K9 Toyota was collected in a multi-truck accident after 65 of 134 laps.

The finish came in Earnhardt’s 11th series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 1st for the #67, the 56th for Toyota, and the 193rd from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 26th for the #67, the 410th for Toyota, and the 1,376th from a crash.

In so doing, Earnhardt also became the 45th driver to complete the LASTCAR Triple Crown and the third driver to do so in the last two months, joining David Starr and Kyle Busch. Earnhardt’s first XFINITY Series last-place finish came on October 10, 2014 at this same Charlotte track. His first in Cup came at Phoenix on March 19, 2017.

Heim enters the 2024 season as arguably the most impressive talent in the current Truck Series field. Were it not for mid-race contact from Carson Hocevar in last fall’s championship race at Phoenix, he would have likely been the series champion in his first full season. Coming into Charlotte, he’s already matched his 2023 season total on Truck Series wins with three - most recently last Saturday in North Wilkesboro. He’s also continued to expand into NASCAR’s other national series ranks with similar success. Last year, he finished 10th in only his second series start at Darlington, then 4th at Richmond this spring, his seventh start. This year, his status as Legacy Motor Club’s standby driver gave him the opportunity to drive in place of an injured Erik Jones at Dover and Kansas. He finished 25th in his debut, then was battling inside the Top 20 at Kansas before a last-corner spin dropped him to 22nd. He’s also slated to run a third 23XI entry in the upcoming Cup race at Nashville.

Heim’s position was far different than that of perennial underdog Carl Long. With limited staffing in recent years, Long’s team Motorsports Business Management has focused on the XFINITY Series with only the occasional starts in Cup, but hadn’t started a Truck Series race since November 14, 2014, when team co-owner Derek White finished 27th at Homestead. MBM did dabble in the Trucks at the beginning of this season when they helped prepare and field start-up team Floridian Motorsports, whose driver Mason Maggio qualified at both Atlanta and Bristol.

As it happened, Charlotte would see Maggio and the Floridian team attempt its first race since Bristol, but this time MBM would also enter a truck of their own. Likely since the #66 in the Truck Series is campaigned on a part-time schedule with Conner Jones at ThorSport, MBM had to pick a different number, and would run a Toyota instead of Floridian’s Ford. They selected the #67, a number that had only 30 previous Truck Series starts, and none since November 4, 2005 with 16th-place Texas finisher Steve Park. In those 30 starts, the #67 had never finished last in a Truck Series race.

Jeffrey Earnhardt would drive the #67. If he qualified, it would mark just his 11th series start and his first since October 22, 2011, when he finished third-from-last at Talladega after a crash while driving Rick Ware’s #1 Poynt Chevrolet. This time, Earnhardt’s truck carried primary sponsorship from service dog company Forgotten Coast K9. Associate backing came from O’Brian Renovations, LLC and Three Rangers, among others. As one of the lead-off events for Memorial Day Weekend, the patriotic scheme featured a mix of military green hues and an American flag pattern. It also bore reflective numbers, though these seem to have been swapped out for yellow door numbers by race day.

Earnhardt and Maggio were among the 39 drivers who originally planned to attempt Friday’s 36-truck starting grid. That list soon shrank to 38 after the withdrawal of Ryan Huff, whose planned debut for Gator Mountaineer Racing’s #53 was only shown on NASCAR.com’s entry list. In practice, Earnhardt ran 36th of the remaining 38 entries, then managed to qualify as the 31st and last truck in on speed, clocking in at 168.513mph (32.054 seconds). The first truck sent home was Justin S. Carroll, whose #90 Carroll’s Automotive / Duratain Toyota was a half-second slower than Earnhardt, followed by Jennifer Jo Cobb in the #10 Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet.

Heim, meanwhile, leapt from 18th in practice to qualify on the outside-pole alongside TRICON teammate Tanner Gray, clocking in a lap of 177.795mph (30.372 seconds), or 76-hundredths off Gray’s time.

Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Daniel Dye, whose #43 Champion Container Chevrolet was one of two trucks to not clock in a lap in qualifying along with 35th-place starting Christian Eckes in the #19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet. While Dye suffered a throttle issue in qualifying, Eckes’ crew was repairing damage to the driver’s side door after contact from Kaden Honeycutt’s #45 R.D.C. Shoe Company Chevrolet when the two were running side-by-side. Neither Dye nor Honeycutt needed to drop to the rear for a pre-race penalty, but Eckes did, citing unapproved adjustments. Also docked for the same reason were 21st-place Lawless Alan in the #33 AUTOChargit Ford, 34th-place Tyler Ankrum, who spun during his qualifying lap in the #18 LiUNA! Chevrolet, and 31st-place Earnhardt. When NASCAR reorganized the lineup on race day, Alan, Earnhardt, and Eckes were the final three trucks on the inside line. Ankrum pulled behind Dye as the last truck on the outside line, taking over the 36th position.

When the green flag dropped, Eckes was last across the stripe, 3.113 seconds back of the lead, but by Lap 2 both he and Ankrum had climbed to 32nd and 33rd, dropping Thad Moffitt to last place. Moffitt’s #46 Customers Bank Chevrolet from Faction 46 was already 4.992 seconds back of the lead and 0.739 behind new 35th-place runner Earnhardt in the MBM #67. Earnhardt then climbed to 34th on Lap 3, dropping to Keith McGee to 35th in the #22 More Core Drilling Services Ford fielded by Reaume Brothers Racing. Moffitt caught McGee on Lap 4, and a side-by-side battle ensued. At Lap 5, Moffitt was just 0.098 second behind McGee, then inched ahead on Lap 6 by 0.037. McGee fought back, keeping the interval at 0.051 on Lap 7. It wasn’t until Lap 8 that Moffitt finally cleared McGee by 0.562 second. By then, the pair were nearly three full seconds behind 34th-place Earnhardt.

Over the next several laps, Moffitt pulled away from McGee and began to reel in Earnhardt. By Lap 12, McGee was 3.301 seconds behind Moffitt and 25.783 back of the lead. That grew to 4.412 and 27.857 on Lap 13, then 5.046 and 29.718 on Lap 14 and 6.036 and 31.742 on Lap 15. On that same 15th circuit, Moffitt had finally caught 34th-place Earnhardt, drawing within 0.951 second of the #67. He passed Earnhardt on Lap 17, the same time that McGee was caught by the leaders and became the first driver one lap down. Four laps later, Earnhardt and Moffitt were both a lap down. McGee remained in last on Lap 31, when the caution fell to end Stage 1.

During the caution, McGee had radio issues, then was able to tell the team he was happy with the truck’s handling. McGee dropped Earnhardt to last on Lap 35, and the #67 remained in that spot for the Lap 39 restart. That time by, Earnhardt clawed his way to 33rd, running his fastest lap of the race. This dropped McGee back to last. On Lap 47, McGee relayed that his water temperature was at 196 degrees, and the spotter encouraged him to “keep pushing it.” By Lap 55, the leaders caught and lapped McGee a second time, just before the end of Stage 2 on Lap 61. Back on the radio, McGee said he was still happy with the truck, though it was now a little loose going into the corners and he once backed off when he slid into the marbles. Earnhardt retook last under caution on Lap 65, after which Carl Long said, “Pit stop wasn't great, but it was a whole lot better than the first one.”

Earnhardt was still running last, two laps down, when the race restarted on Lap 68. The next time by, the field was still locked in a tight battle for position when trouble broke out heading into Turn 3. Running 18th at the time, Tyler Ankrum made contact with another truck, sending him spinning to the apron. He then slid up the track and into the outside wall, where he was t-boned by a fast-approaching Thad Moffitt. The impact bent the entire left side of Moffitt’s splitter against the radiator and caved in the passenger side of Ankrum’s truck. It also sent both trucks back down the banking, where both McGee and Earnhardt tried to escape onto the apron.

“Coming back up, coming back up - keep going low,” said Earnhardt’s spotter. Both Earnhardt and McGee nearly had Ankrum cleared, but the hole closed an instant too soon, causing both to make contact and spin up the track. “Dammit, they got him in the right-rear.” All four drivers climbed from their trucks without serious injury, done for the night. This kept Earnhardt in last place followed by McGee and Moffitt with the lead-lap Ankrum in 33rd. “We're done,” said Long. “Just start cleaning up everything.” Matt Crafton rounded out the Bottom Five after his #88 Chi Chis / Menards Ford slammed the outside wall. Crafton managed to finish in 32nd, 15 laps down.

Rough end to the day but thankful for opportunity to support @ForgotnCoastK9 in the @MBMMotorsports @ToyotaRacing Tundra. And that @JEarnhardt1 is ok. pic.twitter.com/yUNWuXsNRO
— nikko lavey (@nikkojei) May 25, 2024

Meanwhile, Heim was on his way to still another impressive victory. He swept both stages, leading 72 of the first 83 laps, but a broken jack on his next pit stop dropped him back in the order. He recovered, only to once again lose time on pit road under the last caution when the tire changer couldn’t secure the lug nuts on the left-rear wheel. In fact, Heim hit the gas a moment early while the changer was still trying to secure the lugs, nearly injuring the crew member’s wrist. Once again, Heim was on the charge, and in the sprint to the finish came up just a 0.507 second short of taking the win from Nick Sanchez. It wasn’t a fourth win on the 2024 season, but was his seventh Top Five and ninth Top Ten. That is, until post-race inspection, when NASCAR declared Heim’s truck had three lug nuts not safe and secure. Under the rule book, this resulted in a disqualification. If just one more lug nut was secured, the penalty would have only been a $5,000 monetary fine and a one-race suspension for his crew chief Scott Zipadelli. The disqualification bumped Earnhardt out of last place, Matt Crafton out of the Bottom Five, and Bayley Currey out of the Bottom Ten.

Charlotte sees Honeycutt endure and Mills excel for Niece team

Heim’s disqualification also invalidated both his stage victories, handing Kaden Honeycutt his first stage victory from Stage 1, where he’d originally finished 2nd in the Al Niece #45. This was cold comfort for Honeycutt, who much like at Kansas was having a career run until a sluggish final pit stop cost him a shot at victory. This time, both the highs and lows were much greater – he was running 2nd and catching then-leader Christian Eckes when the final caution fell with 13 to go, and the ensuing pit stop took full minutes after the air hose broke while the crew changed the right-rear wheel. Nevertheless, Honeycutt still charged through the field once more to finish 8th – a run that improved to 7th after Heim’s disqualification.

Matt Mills, one of Honeyutt’s teammates at Niece in the #42 J.F. Electric / Utilitra Chevrolet, earned a career-best 4th, improving one spot over his 5th-place performance eat Richmond last summer. This took place in just the 34th series start of Mills’ career, and bested his previous season-best mark of 11th two rounds ago in Darlington.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #11 in a Truck Series race at Charlotte since May 26, 2020, when Spencer Davis’ #11 Tower Sealants / Southern Premier Construction Toyota had transmission trouble after 54 laps. That race was also the most recent for the #11 in any Truck Series race coming into Friday’s race.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #11-Corey Heim / 134 laps / disqualified

35) #67-Jeffrey Earnhardt / 65 laps / crash

34) #22-Keith McGee / 65 laps / crash

33) #46-Thad Moffitt / 65 laps / crash

32) #18-Tyler Ankrum / 67 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Young’s Motorsports (2)

2nd) Faction 46, Front Row Motorsports, Hill Motorsports, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Spire Motorsports, Terry Carroll Motorsports, ThorSport Racing, Trey Hutchens Racing, TRICON Garage (1)

2024 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (6)

2nd) Toyota (3)

3rd) Ford (2)

2024 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP