Christian Eckes and Corey Heim have dominated the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season. These two are the clear front-runners for the title.
In the fifteen races this season, the two have won eight times between them, with Heim having five victories to Eckes’ three.
The two have maintained a tight lead in the standings the entire season, although Heim was disqualified from second position at Charlotte Motor Speedway after crashing out at Darlington Raceway. Eckes is now well in charge of the regular season championship thanks to those outcomes alone.
Heim is feeling the strain of losing the regular season championship competition, even though he has more victories, and it all came to a head at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday night, July 19.
Corey Heim and Christian Eckes talk it out. https://t.co/GIv7suv4sd pic.twitter.com/FxTko7segW
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) July 20, 2024
The two made contact after squeezing one other down the backstretch shortly after the restart to start stage two.
Heim was forced to pit because that contact punctured his left front tire.
But not before showing his displeasure with driver No. 19.
By a strange and fortunate coincidence, the caution that appeared had nothing to do with Heim.The warning was due to Conor Daly, who coincidentally got a flat tire at the same time as Heim.
Heim went a lap down on pit road while changing tires, but since he wasn’t the cause of the flag, he was officially scored as the first truck to go a lap down, so he immediately received the free pass.
Heim fought back with his fresh tires to pick up stage points, but his car broke down in the last stage, leaving him unexpectedly in 17th place.
In the last seconds, Eckes was passed by Ty Majeski, who claimed second place.
Later, Heim leaped from his truck and walked straight to Eckes.
During their talk, it was evident that Heim was angry and that Eckes was aware of his responsibility.
“It’s not like I went straight to the wall, Corey,” Eckes said.
Heim didn’t see it that way.
“Well, you almost certainly did,” Heim shot back.
“I jammed the wheel to the left as I was nosing into the wall and I hit you.” Eckes shot back, “I was giving you a lane and misjudged it.”
“[…] by a significant amount. By half the length of a truck,” Heim said and turned to go.
You make the call.
After the race, Heim shared his version of events with media.
After the race, Heim remarked, “[I] basically had to turn away from the wall to not knock the fence down.” Even though there wasn’t much physical contact, I still wanted to talk to him about it because it was ruining our evening.
He may not have meant to, but it seems like he has always raced me fairly closely.
I thus requested that he show me some common courtesy by giving me an extra lane the next time. He replied, “All right, let’s go on.”
When Eckes presented his version of events, he kept acknowledging his own guilt.
Eckes stated sincerely, “Yeah, I just misjudged it down the backstretch.” He had right to be outraged. I’m not sure if it made their evening miserable or not.
They sort of faded there in the final stretch, even though they managed to go back up to second. “I feel terrible for them, but it’s not like it was planned or anything.”
With Eckes’ outstanding performance and Heim’s mid-pack finish, the No. 19 team was able to increase their advantage in the regular season title to an incredible 50 points over the No. 11.
Heim will probably need a miracle to have a chance for the regular-season championship with just Richmond Raceway left until the postseason begins.
In contrast to Eckes, who essentially collapses and scores little, he would need to be almost flawless in scoring.
With 15 points from winning the regular season title, he would pass Heim in total playoff points, and he may very well start the playoffs as the top seed overall.
One can only assume that, in a season dominated by these two drivers, animosity at IRP will further heat up as they compete more fiercely for the 2024 championship.
