NCTS Race Recap: Slim Jim 200

The Slim Jim 200 was the penultimate race in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs. Layne Riggs was the fastest truck in qualifying, so he started the race from the pole. Gio Ruggiero joined him on the front row. Playoff drivers, Ty Majeski and Corey Heim started on the second row. More playoff drivers, Kaden Honeycutt and Tyler Ankrum started on row three. The stage lengths were 50 laps for the first and second stages. The final stage was 100 laps.

Cautions Early and Often

Riggs got a better launch at the start and took the lead out of two. The top six quickly single-filed out. Layne Riggs began to build a lead.

Matt Crafton began to fall back. On lap seven, Andres Perez was spun out by Matt Crafton. That brought out the first caution.

On lap 13, Riggs and Ruggiero restarted on the front row. Riggs got another good restart. He quickly pulled away from Majeski and Ruggiero, who were side by side. Heim watched that battle pan out. Ruggiero was able to claim the second spot.

Crafton and Connor Jones got together, battling for position. Jones bumped Crafton in his rear bumper.

The second caution came out on lap 22. Fluid was reported to have been dropped on the track.

More Cautions

Majeski joined Riggs on the front row for the restart. Riggs could not get going on the restart. Majeski assumed the lead. Heim quickly pounced to take second. Riggs was able to get going, but fell to sixth.

Daniel Hemric sustained some damage due to the stack-up behind Riggs. Riggs ended up with damage to his rear bumper. He passed Tanner Gray to get back into the top five.

Rajah Caruth got the worst of the incident. He got severe damage to his rear and front bumpers.

Norm Benning got turned sideways, which brought out the third caution. Brendan Queen was trying to get by Benning but ended up turning him.

The green flag came back out with four to go in the stage. Majeski and Heim brought the green back out. Majeski was able to claim the lead. Heim drove underneath Majeski and he was able to take the lead. He would take the field to the green-white-checkered to win stage one in the Slim Jim 200!

Majeski, Enfinger, Ankrum, and Gray rounded out the top five.

Tick Tock

Heim and Majeski brought the field back to green. Heim was able to get the lead into turn one. Riggs tried to snatch some spots on the outside. He fought Gray and was able to take fifth. Heim began to build his lead to over half a second.

On lap 73, Caruth was fighting off Honeycutt for seventh. Caruth made contact with Honeycut, which cut his left rear tire. That sent him into the turn one wall. Caruth was unable to drive it back to the garage.

Heim and Majeski restarted the race. Heim got a great jump to take the lead. Enfinger quickly jumped underneath Majeski to fight for second. Enfinger tried to block Riggs, but Riggs sent him up the track in turn two. Riggs snagged third from Enfinger.

Heim built his lead to over three-quarters of a second. Before the stage ended, Heim pulled away by over a second. He went on to get the stage two win in the Slim Jim 200! Majeski, Riggs, Enfinger, and Gray finished the stage in the top five.

The front-runners all pitted while several drivers stayed out under the caution.

More Cautions

Brent Crews and Ruggiero got the race restarted on the front row. They got equal restarts and were side by side out of turn two. Ruggiero got the edge out of four and was able to take the lead. Crews stayed on the rear bumper of the leader.

Heim began to gain spots after pitting during the stage break. Riggs and Honeycutt tried to follow him through the field. On lap 133, Heim got back into the top five after passing Bayley Currey. Riggs got by Currey as well.

Crews was able to get underneath and pass Ruggiero to take the lead.

On lap 140, the seventh caution came out when AJ Waller spun out by himself. He drove into turn three but was unable to make the turn and spun out.

The front of the field stayed out of the pits under the caution.

Crews and Ruggiero led the field back to the green flag. Crews used the inside line on the restart to retake the lead. Chandler Smith fought Ruggiero for the runner-up spot. Heim followed Smith on the bottom line to get around Ruggiero. Ruggiero continued to bleed spots after being passed by Riggs.

The eighth caution came out when Corey Lajoie turned Toni Breidinger into the outside wall. Breidinger squeezed Lajoie in the inside and ran out of room.

Tick Tock

Crews and Smith restarted the race on the front row. Crews powered out of turn two to take the lead. Smith got pushed out of the pack by Heim, who took second.

Bayley Currey limped into the pits after beginning to smoke. Daniel Hemric retired his truck.

Crews extended his lead to over a second. Heim could not close the gap to his teammate.

On lap 179, Ruggiero spun Connor Mosack in turns three and four. That brought out the ninth caution of the night. Mosack was able to get his truck back around and get to the pits.

Crews and Heim brought the green back out with 15 to go in the race. Heim got the better restart, but they drove out of turn two side by side. No one could take the lead. Bayley Currey brought out the tenth caution on lap 187. NASCAR determined that Heim was in the lead at the time of the caution.

Heim Time

Honeycutt joined Heim on the front row for the restart. Heim immediately took the lead on the restart. Honeycutt got a bad launch and settled for second. Majeski hit the wall and began to bleed spots.

The eleventh caution came out when Connor Jones spun off of turn two. Dawson Sutton, Andres Peres, and Jake Garcia were collected in the spin.

Heim and Honeycutt, again, brought the green flag back out. Heim retook his lead on the restart. Crews challenged Honeycutt for the runner-up spot. Honeycutt was able to hold him off.

Heim would take the checkered flag to win the Slim Jim 200, marking his 11th win of the season! Honeycutt, Riggs, Crews, and Lajoie rounded out the top five.

Marvin’s Minute:

Corey Heim has done it all season. He is far and away the best driver in the series. His closest competition was Layne Riggs. Unfortunately for Riggs, he did not make it to the championship race next week. Heim, Makeski, Ankrum, and Honeycutt will battle for the trophy at Phoenix. Because it is a one-race shootout, there is no telling who will win the Championship. You will have to tune in next week to find out!