(photo credit Leon Hammack)

Corey Heim turned in yet another successful chapter to one of the most dominant seasons in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series history – claiming his record-tying ninth season win in Saturday’s Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The 23-year-old Georgia native’s race effort was nearly as perfect as the NASCAR weekend setting – sunshine, cool Fall temperatures set among the beautiful season-changing foliage for which New England is renowned.

Heim claimed pole position in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, swept both stages, led a race best 124 of the 175 laps, set the fastest lap of the day and then motored off to a .823-second victory over Chandler Smith to end the first round of the series Playoffs as dominantly as the Regular Season Champion started them.

The nine-victory effort this year ties the single-season win mark set by former series champion Greg Biffle in 1999. And immediately after Saturday’s checkered flag, Biffle posted a photo on social media of him holding a lobster (New Hampshire’s traditional trophy award) on a beach with the caption, “Welcome to the 9-win club.”

“It’s a dream come true to be able to race with these guys,” Heim said of his team. “Seems like everywhere we go this year we’re a contender or we win so just can’t say enough about those guys.

“But got to keep it going,” continued Heim, who now has 20 wins in 85 career starts. “Still have four more races left [this year] and want to break that [single season wins] record. Shout out to Greg Biffle. He’s a great dude.

“Dream year for me personally and just have to keep it going. It’s awesome. Gotta keep the ball rolling.”

Smith’s runner-up showing was an inspired rally to try to advance to the next round of the Playoffs, but ultimately the Front Row Motorsports driver came up 10-points shy of moving on in the championship battle. ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia, who finished 16th Saturday also failed to move on in the title fight.

“Just a lot of bad luck, but honestly, I’m a faithful guy and been doing a lot of praying about it and my prayer’s been specific for the Lord’s will and obviously it wasn’t in his will for us to advance to the next round, obviously,” Smith said.

“Super grateful for these group of guys that we assembled on this 38-team and we huddled together before the race and I let them know this doesn’t define us no matter what the outcome. I’m proud of each and every one of them.”

Smith’s Front Row teammate Layne Riggs finished third at New Hampshire and the season’s three-time winner will begin this next three-race round of Playoff competition ranked second to Heim – 47 points behind the championship favorite.

Heim’s rookie teammate Gio Ruggiero crossed the line fourth in one of his best showings of the season. And reigning series champion, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski was fifth.

The championship lineup going forward with points re-set includes – in order – McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric, Majeski, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum, CR7 Motorsports Grant Enfinger, Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth and Halmar-Friesen Racing’s Kaden Honeycutt.

Caruth’s gamble to stay out on old tires to gain extra points in Stage 2 proved critical in his advancing. He finished 10th.

“It was kind of best-case scenario, the 38 [Smith] didn’t win and we got good stage points,” Caruth said. “Just proud of my Spire team. We just kept getting better and the truck was decent. I don’t feel like tenth was really indicative of where we could have finished but that’s how it went with how the tires were today, the way the cautions fell and our strategy.”

Enfinger, Honeycutt, Corey LaJoie, Christian Eckes and Caruth rounded out the top-10.

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series  returns to competition with an Oct. 3 series debut at the Charlotte ROVAL – race one in the final three-race run to decide which four drivers will be eligible for the championship at Phoenix on Oct. 31.

Check out the results of the EJP 175 at Loudon.

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