Corey Heim’s Bristol truck race ended in a wreck after Christian Eckes sent him into the walls. Fans were quick to call for Eckes’ suspension, while the crash also collected Kaden Honeycutt, Layne Riggs, and Chase Briscoe.
Heim hoped to continue his win streak on Friday’s Tennessee Army National Guard 250. The reigning Truck Series champion would’ve racked up $500,000 if he’d swept the Triple Truck Challenge.
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Halmar Freises Racing’s Christopher Bell claimed the win instead, while Heim was left to rue a final stage wreck. Heim had initially nudged Eckes to grab the lead, and the latter tagged his right rear to send him spinning into the fence.
Here are some fan reactions to Eckes’ move.
“That’s a suspension,” a fan wrote.
“Eckes drives like an idiot and you won’t penalize it?????,” another commented.
“The 91 RIGHT hooked CoreyHeim. You definitely need to do something about that. It was still obvious,” an X user said.
“Christian Hackes, the guy who couldn’t win in a KBM truck,” someone wrote.
“All these comments, yet Heim just said, it def wasn’t intentional on Eckes part Nobody getting suspended, ha,” a fan penned.
Corey Heim was credited with a 30th-place finish with 14 points to his name. Eckes ultimately finished among the top-5, while Chandler Smith and Gio Ruggiero rounded out the podium places.
Corey Heim sheds light on Christian Eckes incident
After Corey Heim was released from the infield care center, the TRICON Garage driver reflected on his incident with Christian Eckes. Heim absolved Eckes of any blame and offered his explanation.
“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything…..I don’t think I really touched him to get him out of the way, I just sort of, he was already free, just packed some air on him and got him free. I think he was just trying to get behid me and just ship me which would have been totally fine, because I did it to him. And he just misjudged it. I’ve raced him for a long time, and I don’t think he would ever do that on purpose. So, we’re all good,” he said via Athlon Sports.
Despite being a part-time driver, Corey Heim entered the race atop the points table. He was closely trailed by fellow TRICON driver Kaden Honeycutt.
Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith slipped from his lead after facing a post-race disqualification at Rockingham. Smith has now returned to the top with a single-point lead over Heim.
Recent results have signalled talks on an extended season for Heim, who’s currently competing across all three NASCAR series. The 23-year-old shared how his wins have drawn sponsorship interest for future outings. Nonetheless, Heim ruled out a title fight this year.
Edited by Vignesh Kanna
