Heim Gets First Truck Win, Gibbs Continues To Shine at Atlanta

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series made their debut on the new-look Atlanta Motor Speedway that showcased racing that we have never seen before, pack racing on a 1.5-mile track.

For the truck series, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen led the field to the green flag as the start was almost clean as Matt DiBenedetto hit the wall in turns three and four. He ended up with a tire down because of it. For Stewart Friesen, he would lead all of stage one and collect the stage win as well. John Hunter Nemechek also went on to win stage two. On lap 68, there was a small pileup that involved Dean Thompson, Jack Wood, Christian Eckes, and Lawless Alan. Tate Fogleman, the Talladega winner from October, was also involved in a couple of accidents. Chandler Smith led the field to the white flag, looking to go back-to-back in wins with teammate Corey Heim behind him. Heim made the move going into turn one to take the lead, all thanks to his lapped teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, which gave him his first career truck series victory, as he is driving a part-time schedule for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“It’s awesome. I was at the right place at the right time,” said Heim in his post-race interview. “Toyota Racing just helps us so much to get here and I’m just so glad to be here.”

Heim was also asked if there were any team orders involved on the final couple of laps.

“Yeah, no team orders there,” Heim said. “I think as long as one of the KBM trucks won, that’s all that matters. So, you know, the 18 (Chandler Smith) did an awesome job defending for most of the race there and the 4 (Nemechek) stuck with me when it mattered the most. So I’ve got to give all the credit to John Hunter Nemechek for helping me out there. It’s just surreal. Awesome.”

2022 FR8 208 Top 10:

1. Corey Heim
2. Ben Rhodes
3. Ty Majeski
4. Chandler Smith
5. Zane Smith
6. Stewart Friesen
7. Ryan Preece
8. Tanner Gray
9. Derek Kraus
10. Austin Wayne Self

Now it was time for the Xfinity Series cars to take to the track and see how the racing would be compared to the truck series.

It started with teammates Noah Gragson and Josh Berry leading the field to the green flag to begin the Nalley Cars 250. The first stage was calm and Noah Gragson almost led it all the way through until coming to the end of stage one, Josh Berry just nudged past Gragson to get the stage win. JR Motorsports also finished 1-2-3-4 in the stage. On lap 51, Gragson slid up high and fell back causing him to be stuck in a four-wide situation that put him in the wall. Gragson was hit with a tire rub and was forced to go down pit road with a right front going down. AJ Allmendinger, the 2020 winner, took home the stage win for stage two with teammate Daniel Hemric in second. The first incident caution came around lap 107 when Jade Buford went for a spin after contact with Brandon Brown, collecting Jeremy Clements who had significant damage. With 51 to go, Daniel Hemric slid up into Joe Graf Jr, sending both the No. 11 and No. 07 to the wall. Graf Jr was running in the top 10 before the incident.

Then with 11 to go, the Big One struck at Atlanta. On the restart, Austin Hill was trying to block Trevor Bayne as he went up the track. Bayne got squeezed up the track between Hill and AJ Allmendinger. Bayne then lost control and collected Josh Berry and Noah Gragson as well as several others that included Justin Allgaier, Sage Karam, Sam Mayer, Jeb Burton, and Alex Labbe. After finishing 1-2-3-4 in stage one, all four JR Motorsports cars were involved in that wreck. On the restart with three to go, Myatt Snider had an issue as he restarted on the front row but was instructed to stay out, which ended in the No. 31 being turned by Riley Herbst as Snider couldn’t get up to speed. It took two overtimes to finish the race as Ryan Sieg took the lead coming to the white flag and was chasing his first Xfinity win. He had a big push from Ty Gibbs, who he had a feud with at Las Vegas, and Gibbs made the move into turn one to pass Sieg. Ty Gibbs went on to win his second race of 2022 in his first start at Atlanta.

“What the heck? Oh my gosh! I didn’t expect this at all,” said Gibbs in his post-race interview. “That’s one where I learned a big lesson-just never give up. Now I’m going to go party with the boys — let’s go!”

2022 Nalley Cars 250 Top 10:

1. Ty Gibbs
2. Austin Hill
3. AJ Allmendinger
4. Riley Herbst
5. Landon Cassill
6. Mason Massey
7. Brandon Jones
8. Kyle Weatherman
9. Sheldon Creed
10. Ryan Sieg