Corey Heim will once again strap in behind the wheel of the black and red No. 11 Toyota Tundra for Tricon Garage full-time when the Craftsman Truck Series season gets underway at Daytona International Speedway (Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – and the bar is higher than ever.
The return to Truck Series action will mark Heim’s third full-time campaign in the national series division, an easy decision for the 22-year-old from Marietta, Georgia when it came time to firm up his 2025 plans.
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“Those guys are awesome,” Heim said with a smile in a mid-January sitdown with NASCAR.com. “You know, it wasn’t a hard decision when they gave it to me to go back with those guys at Tricon Garage and have the same team from top to bottom, with Scott Zipadelli and the whole No. 11 crew.”
Through his previous two years in the Truck Series, Heim and his familiar Toyota team present an impressive résumé bolstered by nine wins and a combined total of 26 top-five finishes. It is a performance review that produces self-admitted high expectations for the rising talent in his quest to chase the elusive championship at season’s end.
“Certainly, I’ve had my fair share of success with those guys and couldn’t do without them,” Heim said. “Having them back for another year is, you know … our expectations are just as high as ever and we’ve yet to close it out with a championship. So, of course, that’s our primary goal, but I want to get a lot of race wins along the way.
“I certainly can’t wait to work with these guys. It’s always a privilege to be able to work with a team that’s capable of winning on a weekly basis, and I can’t wait to get started.”
There are many changes planned for the upcoming 2025 Truck Series season throughout the garage. New teams will welcome fresh faces, and several familiar names will return to the series to join Heim in the hunt for a title, as he aims to make the Championship 4 for the third year in a row.
“This year, specifically, it’s a lot of fresh faces, as you mentioned, my new teammates and some other guys coming in,” Heim said. “I saw, you know, Kaden Honeycutt is going be full-time; Layne Riggs is coming back. He was really good at the end of the year and then there are still very good guys you have, like ThorSport (Racing) and whatnot. So, yeah, some good guys are leaving, some good guys are coming in.
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“But it’s cool to see a lot of talent in the Truck Series right now. I’m fortunate to be a part of it, and our goal remains the same: to keep winning some races and have fun while doing it.”
In addition to Heim’s full-time job for Tricon Garage, he is also a student of the sport, taking time to expand his horizons when his schedule allows him to. Heim races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Sam Hunt Racing on a part-time basis, and made three Cup Series starts in 2024 split between Legacy Motor Club and 23XI Racing.
“When you’re in a development stage kind of like I am, I want to be in the Cup Series within the next few years and be full-time, of course, and compete for wins as early as possible,” Heim said. “From a development standpoint, the more you race, I feel like the more you learn. So I’ve been fortunate in the past couple of years to really make my schedule diverse and race a lot of different things to keep my mind open and fresh about different things. And you know, everyone knows how different these Cup Series cars are compared to an Xfinity car and a truck. So, having that open mind is pretty big in that sense.
“In 2020, I think I ran like seven different series, and I feel like that was a big year in my development; I finally started to win some races. And I feel like through 2021 in ARCA and beyond, up to this point, I’m unfortunate to learn some new everyday kind of thing. So it’s very important as a young driver like myself.”
The start of the 2025 season is just around the corner, with the Truck Series set to the high banks of Daytona International Speedway before you know it. At a track where anything can happen at any moment, preparations for the driver and team can be pretty tricky.
Superspeedway racing is something Heim, he admits, struggles to prepare for. For now, he’s choosing to take each event as it comes, trying to find different ways to be up front when it matters and the checkered flag flies.
“I’m not the greatest superspeedway racer by any means,” the 22-year-old acknowledged. “I’m a pretty safe guy, so I don’t make any crazy moves. And I think a guy who might, you know, lean more towards that direction of making more off-the-wall moves in the middle of the race to get track position, wherever it may be, they might do some more research on when to make those moves and whatnot.
“I feel like there does come a point, though, where I hope to be in the Cup Series, as I mentioned. And if I do race some superspeedways, eventually, I feel like I’m going to have to be more aggressive. So I think the main thing, I guess, to answer your question is just to have more of an open mind and look at how these guys, especially in the Cup Series, the best superspeedway racers, end up at the front at the end of the race.”
Only time will tell if the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota contends up front when the Truck Series kicks off its 2025 season at Daytona next month.
And Heim knows the expectations are higher than ever – but he’s ready to deliver.