NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — A clash between Layne Riggs and Corey Heim on the final lap allowed Chandler Smith to scoot by both to claim his second victory of 2025 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The Window World 250 saw the green flag for the first time with pole sitter Heim and all-time Truck Series wins leader Kyle Busch leading the charge downhill into turn 1.
Busch’s Gainbridge Silverado lacked early on, falling back to the latter half of the top-5 over the first 40 laps while Heim commanded the race. Heim’s Tricon Garage teammate Gio Ruggiero rose to second with fellow Toyota driver Stewart Friesen in tow prior to the first caution for a Tyler Tomassi spin on lap 47.
Some of the lead-lap trucks swung onto pit road for service, including Heim. The first restart of the day led to a brief battle between Friesen and Ruggiero that featured a little bit of contact before Ruggiero was able to use the run off the high side to grab the top spot.
In the end, stage 1 went Ruggiero’s way, notching his first career stage victory with Heim, Friesen, Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs, Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Hemric, Grant Enfinger, and Kyle Busch rounding out the top-10 that earned stage points.
More action broke out on the opening start of stage 2 as Layne Riggs’ Long John Silver’s machine washed up off the bottom in turn 1 and got into Heim, creating a path for Grant Enfinger to take advantage and pass both drivers on the bottom. Instead of being on the front row, Heim dropped to third while Riggs fell to fifth.
New players entered the fray as Truck Series debutant Brent Crews raced his Tricon teammate Heim hard for the better part of 25 laps side-by-side for second while the two Front Row trucks attempted to recover from Riggs’ early error.
With 35 to go, Crews lost the battle to Heim in turns 3 & 4, and Heim set his sights on Enfinger in the lead.
As the laps wound down on stage 2, Enfinger’s advantage shrunk like a cotton shirt in the wash as Heim and Smith broke containment and pulled up to the tailgate of the Champion Power Equipment Chevy.
Niece Motorsports driver Connor Jones spoiled the finish by bringing out the caution with three laps remaining, handing Enfinger his second stage win of 2025 with Heim, Chandler Smith, Ankrum, Riggs, Busch, Rajah Caruth, Brent Crews, Ben Rhodes, and Sammy Smith constituting the top-10 points-paying spots.
Heim assumed his spot on the front row after pit stops with Enfinger taking the outside with Riggs lined up behind Heim on the bottom and Chandler Smith restarting on his outside.
A clean first set of turns quickly got dirty as Chandler Smith’s QuickTie Ford popped Enfinger’s Chevy up the track in turn 4, making the race for the lead three-wide briefly before Heim cleared up and took the lead.
The battle for first settled down after nearly 30 laps with Smith’s F-150 starting to fade after trying to pass Heim whose Safelite Auto Glass Tundra ripped effortlessly around the high side.
Just a handful of laps later, Tyler Tomassi did his best to not be in the way after bringing out the first yellow, but a pesky right-front tire went down on entry to turn 1 on lap 211, bringing out the race’s fourth yellow flag.
With just 40 laps to go and fuel not a factor, most teams at the front of the field decided to stay out as tire wear failed to present itself on the newly-repaved North Wilkesboro surface, but Chandler Smith’s team thought differently, opting to have a 70-lap tire advantage for the run to the finish.
The race restarted with 32 laps to go with the 11 truck ripping around the top to regain the lead while Layne Riggs squeezed into second off of the bottom.
Though it looked like the Georgia native would cruise into the distance for his fourth win in the season’s first 10 races, a fellow Georgia native on fresh rubber started growing in size in his rearview mirror.
With five laps to go, Chandler Smith made his move, slamming Heim’s rear bumper to move him out of the way to take the lead coming out of turn 4, but it was not to be as a caution fell once again.
This time, it was a battle inside the top-10 between Brent Crews and Ben Rhodes that went awry when Rhodes completely wiped out the speedy teenager, bringing about the first instance of overtime in a Truck Series race in almost a full calendar year.
On the restart, Heim chose the top with Smith on the bottom. Smith’s Ford bounced off the bump on the exit of turn 4, rattling his F-150 and giving his teammate Riggs another shot at victory.
The pain of losing one week before was surely pulsing through Layne Riggs over the final two laps, and he wasn’t about to let another potential race win slip through his grasp.
Coming to the white flag, Heim missed the bottom line in turns 3 & 4 on his aged rubber, opening the door for Riggs on the inside as the field hit the frontstretch.
Riggs licked the stamp and sent his truck into the first corner harder than he had all day. Only one problem: Heim was still well alongside his rival.
The 34 and 11 trucks made contact that sent Heim spinning around, and a delayed response from race control to throw a caution gave Chandler Smith just enough time to sprint ahead of his teammate and claim his seventh career Craftsman Truck Series victory.
Layne Riggs came home second while Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Hemric, Enfinger, Ty Majeski, Ruggiero, Kaden Honeycutt, Busch, and Sammy Smith made up the top-10 finishers. For full results, click here.
Chandler Smith’s victory showed a level of determination and aggression rarely seen from the young Georgian, but it was soon overshadowed by post-race conversations and controversy.
Corey Heim marched down pit road with an armada of reporters and photographers flanking him. The 22-year-old racer led a race-high 162 of 255 laps and wanted to make his feelings known to the driver of the No. 34 truck.
Some harsh words were shared from Heim to Riggs, which you can observe in the video below from racing journalist Toby Christie.
In Riggs’ post-confrontation interview with Fox Sports, Riggs discarded the contact as hard racing and refused to take accountability for ruining Heim’s and Rajah Caruth’s performances with his reckless driving.
It’s unclear if this controversy gets put to bed after this incident or if fans are in for a prolonged battle between Heim and Riggs, but one thing is certain: points leader Corey Heim is running out of patience with his Truck Series competitors and their lack of composure in high-leverage situations.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series return to the capital of stock car racing next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 23 on Fox Sports 1, starting at 8pm Eastern Time.
(Top Photo Credit: NASCAR Digital Media)
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