If there was one breakout star who turned heads across the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, it was Corey Heim. The 23-year-old phenom showed maturity well beyond his years, mixing raw aggression with calculated racecraft that had veterans taking notice. And amidst all that talent, he broke a vintage record of veteran Greg Biffle, by surpassing his nine wins in 1999 and finishing this year with a mammoth 12 wins.

Heim’s adaptability and fearlessness have made him one of the most talked-about young names in the garage, confirming why teams across NASCAR view him as the sport’s next big thing. So, after one of the most dominant campaigns in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history, Corey Heim finally took a moment to reflect on how he feels shattering Greg Biffle’s long-standing single-season win record.

Heim reflects on record-shattering season

Heim’s 12 victories, 1,627 laps led, and a top-five finish in 19 of 25 races marked a season of consistency and control rarely seen in NASCAR’s national divisions. Talking on the NASCAR Live Podcast. “Yeah, I’d say it was close to perfect,” Heim admitted, acknowledging both the early challenges and the remarkable turnaround that defined his championship run.

The record Heim surpassed had stood for over two decades; Biffle’s nine-win performance with Roush Racing in 1999 once symbolized near-total domination in the Truck Series. But in 2025, Heim, driving for TRICON Garage, elevated that standard. “We won in Daytona, in Vegas, and were in position to win the next three,” he said. “It was win or bust early on.” That hot streak established momentum, though Heim conceded that the first half of the year wasn’t without hurdles. Pit-road miscues and late cautions occasionally derailed strong runs at tracks like Martinsville and Kansas.

Still, the second half of Heim’s season transformed into a masterclass in precision and patience. From mid-summer through the playoffs, Heim never finished worse than third, collecting eight of his 12 wins in that stretch. “The first half of the year was up and down,” he explained. “But in the second half, a lot of situations played out in our favor, things started to come back to us.”

When Heim had equaled Biffle’s record with his ninth win of the season at New Hampshire, the latter had congratulated him on X, saying “Welcome to the 9-win club @CoreyHeim_ cheers !”

To Heim, the idea of winning a dozen races in one year never felt unrealistic, but he admitted it’s “close to unfathomable” looking back. “I’ve never been the type of guy to project how many wins I want in a year,” he said. “But we were more than capable of bettering our number from 2024, which was six, so I definitely wanted to do more than that, and we did our part there.”

Statistically, Corey Heim’s 2025 season now stands among the greatest in Truck Series history. He became the first driver ever to lead a lap in every race, scored seven poles, and collected 23 stage wins, a feat unmatched in any previous season. His performance also reinstates in him the faith that the Trucks series is the proving ground for younger talent.

Heim insists Truck Series is best for Cup hopefuls

Truck Series sets the stage for raw talent to catch attention. It is where future stars either make their mark or fade into the shadows. Heim, who’s had seat time across all three national divisions, believes that the trucks bear the closest resemblance to Cup cars, both in setup and in intensity, giving drivers the best chance to adapt before joining the sport’s elite ranks.

“I think the trucks are probably the most similar to Cup cars. I’ve driven all three. From a vehicle perspective, I think it definitely resonates the most when you’re trying to develop to be a hopeful Cup driver like myself. Xfinity is great, too,” the Tricon Garage driver said.

Heim didn’t downplay Xfinity’s value, though. “You’re comparing apples to oranges at the same time. You race a lot more on the Xfinity side. They’re a little tougher to drive at the end of the day. When you want to go Cup racing, you have to come to the truck,” he added.

The Truck Series regularly attracts Cup veterans who make select starts, giving young drivers a firsthand look at what it takes to compete at the sport’s highest level. That exposure sharpens the racecraft of aspiring drivers, tests their mental toughness, and offers a front-row education in aggression and precision.

With NASCAR’s latest rule change allowing Cup regulars with more than three years of experience to run up to 10 Xfinity and eight Truck races per season, the developmental ladder is about to get even steeper. Beyond racing, the Truck Series functions as a full-scale apprenticeship, too.

Development programs like NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity use it as a training ground for drivers, molding them as professional racers. Media relations, sponsorship dealings, and brand management, off-track responsibilities that can make or break a career, are taught just as heavily as lap times in the program.

For the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Champion, the logic is that the closer a driver can get to Cup-level competition early, the more refined and ready they’ll be when the call finally comes.