Heim wins 2025 NASCAR Trucks championship with historic season of 12 wins

Corey Heim finally captured the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship he had pursued for two seasons by winning on Friday night at Phoenix Raceway. Heim completed a historic campaign with 12 wins in 25 races and set multiple records, including leading laps in every event on the 2025 calendar.

The final battle against defending champion Ty Majeski was decided by less than a second in a dramatic double overtime. Heim, driving the TRICON Garage No. 11 Toyota, charged back from a difficult position on the first restart when he was tenth, but his fresh tires allowed him to execute a spectacular seven-wide move that proved decisive.

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Heim Rewrites Record Book with Historic Season

Heim's numbers speak for themselves: 12 wins eclipse any previous record in the series, and his 1,625 laps led broke the record of 1,533 set by Mike Skinner in 1996. His unique achievement of leading at least one lap in all 25 races on the calendar had never been accomplished before.

"I don't care if I had 100-lap old tires, no one was going to beat me tonight," declared Heim. "We fought all weekend in practice. We were missing something in qualifying. You can always trust Scott (Zipadelli) on the pit wall to do whatever it takes and put me in position to win."

Stress had affected Heim since his qualification for the Championship 4 at Charlotte Roval. "I've been so stressed since we went to the Roval. I've been terrible to talk to as a person, very stressed," he admitted. "This is a relief, to say the least. Very thankful for TRICON Garage, Toyota for betting on me years ago, Safelite, Mobil 1, Yahoo, Celsius."

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Majeski Aims to Match Crafton's Historic Feat

Ty Majeski arrived at Phoenix as the only contender capable of matching Matt Crafton as a back-to-back series champion. His ThorSport Racing team developed a risky strategy that nearly worked perfectly.

Crew chief Brad Means explained the decision: "We thought two tires were going to be the winning call if a caution didn't come out. We were literally 200 yards away from winning the race." The call by Joe Shear Jr. initially worked when Majeski jumped to the lead on the first overtime restart.

The defending champion had turned his season around after a difficult start. "We had a tough stretch in April, May, June. We had a tough meeting with ourselves, looked in the mirror and said: 'We are champions, we can turn this around'," explained Majeski. "We built a streak of 12 consecutive top-10 finishes, nine of them top-five."

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ThorSport Racing Closes Era with Crafton's Retirement

The race also marked the end of an era for ThorSport Racing and Matt Crafton, who finished 13th in his final race as a full-time competitor. Crafton remains the only driver in history with back-to-back series championships (2013-2014).

His teammate Majeski acknowledged the rival's superiority: "In portions of the race I thought we were better than the 11. Overall, he was just too strong. I couldn't get a good enough restart to take advantage of where my car was better."

The team had shown dominant speed at Phoenix the previous year but failed to replicate that superiority. "Obviously we had high hopes coming back here because of last year's success," explained Means. "We thought in practice we were going to have the same trend, but we didn't qualify as well as we wanted."

Mosack's Crash Forces Decisive Overtime

Scott Riggs, eliminated from the Playoffs at Martinsville by a tiebreaker, was leading by less than a second over Heim when Connor Mosack hit the wall in Turn 4 with just over two laps remaining. The incident sent the race into overtime and completely changed the race's outcome.

On the first additional restart, Heim executed the decisive move from tenth position. The fresh tires were crucial as Heim went to the inside and emerged in second, directly in Majeski's wake. A second accident involving playoff contender Tyler Ankrum forced another overtime, where the No. 11 Toyota finally secured the victory.

"Proud of Joe (Shear) for making that risky call," said Majeski about the two-tire option. "It's a tough call to make in that moment. You always want to be on offense at the end of these races. Two tires gave us the best chance tonight."

Heim also thanked 23XI Sports for their development support and Trevor and Blake for their preparation work. When asked about the moment, he responded humorously: "It's 'Heim Time' tonight, for sure."

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NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race Results

Phoenix Raceway - Avondale, Arizona - Friday, October 31, 2025