It looked like Corey Heim had Rockingham all figured out. He swept both stages and led 178 of 200 laps. However, the race started to take a turn after the final restart, when no one but his teammate posed a major problem for him.

Kaden Honeycutt began closing in lap after lap, and so soon the race went from Heim comfortably cruising to him now having to defend aggressively. But call it his luck or Honeycutt’s fate, but when the latter made his first real move with five laps remaining, he was held up by Gio Ruggiero in traffic. That cost him the momentum, but he continued till another teammate blocked his path.

Honeycutt had pulled alongside Heim, and he looked poised enough to complete the pass. But this time, blocking him was Tanner Gray. Honeycutt, at that moment, hesitated a little, and Heim saw the opening and zoomed past Turns 3 and 4 and powered back ahead to win by 0.090 seconds.

The issue of backmarkers being a nuisance at Rockingham this Friday was first raised by . “Lap traffic in truck series,” Brad Keselowski posted on X.

The audience is angry about the fact that those backmarkers might have sabotaged Honeycutt’s bid for his first Truck Series victory. He is currently second in the standings, looking strong for the championship bid with the same points as Corey Heim (190). However, inside the garage, though, the mood was a lot calmer. Honeycutt, in fact, didn’t place the blame on anyone, shouldering the result on himself.

“Ultimately, it changed the way the finish was, I think, but they’re racing for a spot, so you can’t blame them for anything,” Honeycutt said. “At the end of the day, it’s up to me to figure out how to win the race in lapped traffic, and Corey did a great job navigating traffic.”

This race for sure does stir up the question of how teammates should race each other in the closing laps. More so when two of them are going for the win. At the end of the day, though, Honeycutt is still looking for that first victory, and that day he was super close to the win. Now, while the fans did not accuse Corey Heim, they are calling out other drivers, accusing them of robbing Honeycutt of his win.

NASCAR fans accuse Tanner Gray of ruining the Rockingham finish

Almost immediately, fans brought up the issue of backmarker drivers not being careful enough while racing in the NASCAR Truck Series. A fan posted the image of a blue and yellow flag that indicates lapped cars, meaning the race leaders are behind them. 

Calling out such drivers, the fan said, “This flag is totally ignored in NCTS. In fact, sometimes we have lapped traffic mixing it up with the leaders at Daytona and spinning in front of the field.” Soon, the conversation shifted to Tanner Gray and his behavior on track at Rockingham.

“Absolute horse s***. Honeycutt was absolutely robbed.” One of the fans could not hold back their frustration as Honeycutt’s golden chance at victory slipped away. He had faced a similar situation a few weeks earlier against Spire Motorsports drivers Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar while racing at Atlanta.

Several others joined in accusing Gray of not being aware of his teammates battling it out. “How does a teammate not just let them race it out? Insane.” Similarly, one of the users suggested that Gray should’ve served on-track justice, getting pushed into the wall by Honeycutt.

“That was ridiculous. I would’ve sent him into the turn-one wall so fast after the flag. No f**** given.” Amidst all of this, the fans are raising questions about Gray’s career too. “And in 7 years in the same equipment, Tanner Gray has 0 wins and 0 playoff appearances.”

Considering the records of his teammates, it is rather diabolical for Tanner Gray to post such numbers. Not only that, he was getting lapped in the same machinery by two of his teammates. For now, the fans can’t forgive Tanner Gray for his actions on track yesterday. It doesn’t seem like his results are going to impress them either.