Sports

GA 19-Year-Old Wins His First NASCAR Truck Series At Atlanta Motor Speedway

Corey Heim, 19, of Marietta, landed his first NASCAR Truck Series win over the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Corey Heim poses with the trophy after winning a NASCAR trucks series auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Corey Heim poses with the trophy after winning a NASCAR trucks series auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., Saturday, March 19, 2022. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

MARIETTA, GA — Nineteen-year-old Corey Heim of Marietta scored his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, according to multiple news outlets.

Heim powered to the inside of Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith, got a push from teammate John Hunter Nemechek and held on to win the race, according to NASCAR.com. Heim's No. 51 Toyota crossed the finish line 0.173 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, Ben Rhodes.

"I can't believe it," Heim told ESPN. "It's so surreal to be at my home track. I've been coming here since I was 2 years old to watch Cup races."

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Heim is not competing for the series championship, since he's racing a partial schedule, according to NASCAR.com. Smith, who won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, is running a full schedule for KBM.

“Yeah, no team orders there,” Heim told ESPN. "As long as one KBM truck won, that's all that mattered. All the credit to John Hunter Nemechek for giving me help there."

Find out what's happening in Mariettafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

“It‘s awesome — I was at the right place at the right time,” Heim told NASCAR. “Toyota Racing just helps us so much to get here and I’m just so glad to be here.”

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