Denny Hamlin’s Short Listed Favorite Dazzles at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s CARS Tour at North Wilkesboro

Going back to your roots can be dynamic. When Cup Series driver Josh Berry raced in the CARS Tour race at Hickory, it was a trip down memory lane. But unexpectedly, he found his speed a little lacking. The same situation cannot be said about Corey Heim. The Craftsman Truck Series stud tried his hand at his alma mater CARS PLM Tour at the Reverend 100 and produced silver twice.

Although gold slipped from his reach in narrow shaves, Heim’s runs were impressive. No wonder Denny Hamlin picked him to run the No. 50 23XI Racing car in the Nashville Cup Series race!

Corey Heim comes so close to a win

After a wreck-riddled race at Hickory last weekend, the CARS Tour headed into North Wilkesboro Speedway held new challenges. Besides another rain delay that bored spectators, the freshly paved surface of the track challenged the competitors who struggled for track position. Yet Corey Heim was at ease—with no NASCAR events scheduled for the Olympic break, he ran both Late Model Stock and Pro Late Model races.

Denny Hamlin had heaped praise on Corey Heim throughout this year, and the latter lived up to that. He came dangerously close to toppling teenage racer Tristan Mckee in the No. 6, who hauled his third CARS win. Tristan is 6 years younger than Heim and recently turned 14. He achieved this amazing win by fending off challenges from PLM Tour points leader Spencer Davis and Truck star Corey Heim.

Heim, as he finished right behind the 14-year-old, said what he could have done better post-race: “I think if I had a few more laps, yes. I didn’t really get to race around him much to figure out his weaknesses and whatnot. I literally got to him in three of the last laps. If I could have found out where he was lacking speed, maybe I could have sized him up.” He could not help but praise the young speedster, saying, “Just a good job by him to controlling the race all night.”

Then Corey Heim star described the Late Model race, won by a NASCAR Canada Series champion. The latter almost lost his pace by slipping on the leaking oil of a wrecked car, and Heim took full advantage of that. “I wanna say we started 8th, made to 4th pretty quick, and just rode there all night. We were so even with the 81, it was hard to pass him. 03 had a little bit, 77 was gone…Felt like I was stuck in line right and forth, restarts were absolutely everything. And the 03 seemed to not launch very good. So every time we landed up behind them, we’d lose a spot or two and they got into each other, and ended up second.”

After reliving his past CARS Tour memories, Corey Heim is now all set to return to NASCAR. Today’s performance might help his pace in the Truck Series; who knows?

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Is it going to help Heim in Richmond?

The Craftsman Truck Series season has largely been dominated by two people. Christian Eckes, a three-time winner this year and a top Cup Series aspirant, currently ranks on top of the points board. And Denny Hamlin’s favorite is close behind him—Corey Heim ranks second with five wins. So Heim has some path to cover to ensure his championship hopes. The two drivers are fiercely locked in contention anyway, and their emotions bubbled over at Indianapolis two weeks ago. So Heim is clocking all the time he can to improve his Truck performance.

So Heim admitted that the CARS Tour runs were not done on a serious note. “This is more fun for me…kind of knock the rest off, get some experience. I’ve always kind of enjoyed racing a three-point performance for these guys. Anytime an opportunity comes up to sub in for somebody or just race in general…I like to do it. I don’t think it’ll translate too much to Richmond. But any time you get, time is really key.”

Clearly, Corey Heim made a feast out of his ‘fun’ runs. Let us wait and see if this practice pays off at the upcoming Truck Series regular-season finale race in Richmond.