Corey Heim reflects on brilliant victory after bizarre accident at XPEL 225: “I was super nervous”

Following an impressive run at the qualifying rounds on Friday, Cory Heim started the XPEL 225 race from the second spot of the grid and left the track as the winner.

However, Corey Heim has now put forth some ‘surprising’ details after the bizarre accident at the COTA track.

Cory Heim talks on crucial XPEL 225 win

On Saturday, 23rd March, the 21-year-old Tricon Garage racer Cory Heim delivered a spectacular run with his No. 11 Toyota Tundra, as he grabbed the white flag as the pole-sitter at the XPEL 225 race at the Circuit of the Americas.

Cory Heim and his Tricon partner Taylor Gray, who both made an impressive 1-2 finish, kept racing on the track till the end without pitting, despite being low on fuel.

In the post-race interview, Heim reflected on his low-fuel case during the race, by saying, “I was super nervous. On the last lap of the last restart, I stuttered a little bit on the right-handers, because the fuel pick up is on the other side. The whole fuel load would go to the other side. I thought I was going to be out by the time I came around.”

“Luckily I had a couple of left-handers at the end of course – and I had fuel, but regardless of that, I’m super thankful for everyone at Tricon Garage, Toyota Racing. This Tundra TRD Pro was just kick-ass all day long. We put a beating on them, so that is that a pretty good feeling,” he added.

“To do that at Mid-Ohio last year, and to come back here and do the same thing with better equipment, was really special. I can’t wait to see what the year has in store for us,” Corey Heim concluded, expressing his enthusiasm.

In the end, Corey Heim crossed the chequered flag of the COTA track with the pole spot and left with a grand total of 50 points.

These strong performance from Corey Heim comes after the race experienced a ‘never seen before’ accident from Marco Andretti.

Video: Marco Andretti suffers never seen before accident

Marco Andretti, who is the former SRX Series champion, finished his first start to the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in just few moments after the race kicked off. Andretti, driving for Roper Racing, saw his No. 04 Chevy’s rear axle split off suddenly. This dangerous incident took place when he spun rapidly at Turn 11, and slid to a break in the racing surface, while the rear axle ran away from the track.

Soon after this incident, the NASCAR officials showed the red flag to alert the drivers and let the safety crews remove the rear axle of Andretti’s truck.

At the end of the day, Corey Heim raced off the COTA track as the ‘pole-sitter.’ while Marco Andretti left early with a 31-spot finish.

Corey Heim will now take on the Martinsville Speedway on April 6th, while Andretti will return at the TSport 200 race on 20th July.

Can Heim pull off another win at the next Truck Series’ race? Should Andretti race more often in this Series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.