While Corey Heim’s Friday was unlike your typical trip to Las Vegas, it started much the same, with hope of winning big.

It appeared as if lady luck would get the better of the #11 team after an electric issue hampered the team in practice. Heim rolled off 16th at the start of the Ecosave 200.

However, once the green flag waved, Heim’s truck took off like a rocket ship. The young driver sliced his way through the field to the tune of eight positions in six laps. Though it wasn’t enough to take stage one, Heim continued to climb finishing the stage in fourth.

Ty Majeski’s stage one was much more eventful, making quick work and holding off pole-sitter Corey Day for a stage win, but mother nature had other plans. An unexpected rain shower delayed the race for around an hour.

Out of the rain delay, it was Tyler Ankrum’s turn to dominate the stage. Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen followed behind, but it wasn’t enough to stop Ankrum front taking the stage.

Another fourth place finish from Heim in stage two and a helpful hand from his pit crew gave him the second spot to begin stage three. After a little more rain, the trucks were back at it.

As Heim battled with Chandler Smith for second, a dubious caution was thrown for a minor incident between Ankrum and Kaden Honeycutt. With 42 laps to go, Heim got a helpful hand from his pit crew, taking the lead from Friesen on pit road.

Heim must have hit on 16 though and just as he got the lead he lost it. After a battle with Smith, Lanye Riggs dove low and took the lead away.

Luck was on Heim’s side though and he hit the jackpot as only two laps later Jack Wood met the fence in turn four bringing out a caution and another opportunity for Heim.

Intense restarts were a theme of the night with trucks bouncing and narrowly avoiding each other for the next two laps. Heim and Riggs traded the lead for two laps until Heim finally cleared Riggs going into turn one with under 30 laps to go.

That was the last chance any of the field had at the lead, Heim’s truck only got better in clean air and he continually extended his lead until he took the checkered.

This is Heim’s second win of the season, after inheriting a win at Daytona after Parker Kligerman’s disqualification. The young Toyota driver looks to be next in the long line of phenoms produced by the manufacturer.

Takeaways:

Jack: It was refreshing to see NASCAR back at a more prototypical oval and the trucks put on a show. Despite the rain, I commend NASCAR for letting these drivers battle it out until the end of the scheduled distance.

While it might not look like it is based on winners, the Truck Series has been full of parity and talent this season. It seems like every race Ty Majeski has the best truck until stage two starts and Smith, Riggs and Friesen are all knocking on the door of victory lane.

That makes it even more impressive what Heim did on Friday night, fighting his way back through the field consistently. While we still haven’t seen the series hit a short track, Heim might just be my championship favorite.

Cam: I wish this series got a little more love, honestly. You get the feeling that it’s sheer purpose is to be a feeder series, but it should be more than that. The racing is fun, the trucks are cool, and there’s plenty of guys on every team who will maintain a presence there and not move up the ladder.

I’m excited to see what Homestead will bring for teams and I have a feeling the parity Jack mentioned will only become more aggressive. Drivers like Rajah Caruth have found misfortune early in the season and are poised to return to normalcy in racing.

Despite this, I do think it will be Heim Time in Phoenix and that his domination of the series is inevitable. Question is, how fast does Toyota want to shoot him up the ladder?