by Crystal Clay, Chief Motorsports Correspondent
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Corey Heim, 22 year old driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra, reflected on his development in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, focusing on both his personal growth and the lessons learned from the previous season. Several key themes emerged that highlight how he’s matured overall as a competitor.
Earning the NCTS Regular Season Championship and finishing 3rd in the 2023 season, it’s worth revisiting past events—even the chaotic ones. With just 30 laps remaining in the 2023 Championship 4 finale, the on-track drama reached a boiling point, and right in the middle of it all was Championship contender Corey Heim.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s coming into this race weekend with a chip on his shoulder because of it.
“Not from what happened with racing and wrecking side of what happened in the championship race last year. I feel like we just had so much speed and had a really good opportunity to close out that race and didn’t. That has certainly put a chip on my shoulder to come back and do it this year. I think we were the best truck out of the four, last year, and to come back and have a shot at it again has definitely put a chip on my shoulder for sure,” said Heim.
He acknowledged that his first full-time season was a learning experience and has grown both in terms of how he handles tough situations and improving as a driver. It’s a continual learning process, and his development is not just a result of one or two key moments but the cumulative effect of all the challenges and experiences he’s faced.
Heim’s self-awareness and understanding of where he needs to improve will be significant in his pursuit of the championship title. It isn’t just about speed or performance but about handling the pressure of the high-stakes moments in a ‘winner-takes-all’ race.
“I certainly learned a lot from last year – circumstantially and how to handle myself in tough situations. I feel like every race I’ve grown as a driver, and I feel like I’ve done that every year at TRICON since I’ve started out with those guys. Last year was my maiden full-time voyage and I learned a lot on the points race and how to put myself in position, now that I have the full season under my belt and can run it back, I can improve on that from last year and I feel even better about it.”
Being the least seasoned driver in the Championship 4, his competitive experience, confidence, and insight to improve and tackle future challenges with a more mature mindset can’t be doubted.
“I think a lot of it is just experience. Last year was my first full-time year, and I was able to keep a level head and put myself in a good position for stages one and two. Just feel like there was some circumstances – green flag pit stops were tough. It’s hard when you don’t have a lot of experience in that kind of stuff. I made some of my own mistakes on those. Late race restarts where you have to kind of be clutch – just getting those extra laps and extra reps in throughout last year and leading into this year was really big for me. I feel like the experience out of it has really paid off for me.”
Heim heads to Phoenix as the No. 4 seed in the 2024 NCTS Playoff standings with 4,000 points and with all of the lessons learned over the last season he feels rested and mentally prepared to be crowned a champion come Friday night.
“I feel like I just really learned kind of how to mentally prepare for these races. The preparation side has always been pretty key to my success and being able to mentally focus going into a race weekend. Over the last couple of years, I’ve kind of learned what matters and what doesn’t in a given week on preparing for a race. Just being able to spend some time for myself and be able to feel mentally cleansed going into a race weekend and not feel so overloaded with information, on the preparation side of things. Just a healthy balance and all of that kind of stuff leads to good things as well.”
WATCH Video: Corey Heim talks to Racing Refresh, NCTS Championship Playoffs Round of 4 at Phoenix Raceway Media Day. November 07, 2024
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