(photo credit Leon Hammack)

(photo credit Leon Hammack)

As with the NASCAR Xfinity Series, one driver has dominated the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season and comes to Phoenix racing for his first major NASCAR Championship. TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim has turned in a season for the record books and hopes to top it off Friday in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Heim will be competing for his maiden title against reigning series champion and defending race winner, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski (No. 98 Ford), along with Halmar-Friesen Racing’s Kaden Honeycutt (No. 52 Toyota) and McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Tyler Ankrum (No. 18 Chevrolet).

The season statistics mightily favor Heim, but as record-breaking a season as he his having, he has never won at Phoenix. Heim comes into the title race with a record 11 wins including six in the last eight races alone and is the only driver in series history to have a streak of 10 straight top-three finishes. Only one other driver in the Championship Four, Ankrum (one) has a win this year.

The 23-year-old Georgia native and driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota has led more than 40 percent of all laps this season– an all-time record. Heim’s streak of leading laps in 25 consecutive races is not only a record, but should he lead a lap Friday he would become the first driver to lead every single race in a season. He is six laps shy of breaking former champion Mike Skinner’s single season record of 1,533 laps led (1996).

Heim scored his best finish at Phoenix last year, finishing runner-up to Majeski by almost four-seconds.

Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith is the only other fulltime driver with a victory at Phoenix (2021).

Practice for the race is Thursday night at 7:35 p.m. ET with Kennametal Pole Qualifying on Friday at 3:35 p.m. ET (FS2). Majeski won pole position for last year’s race en route to the series championship.

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!