In the opening race of the round of 8 of the 2025 NASCAR Truck Series season playoffs, Tricon Garage's Corey Heim did what basically everybody he expected he would do: win and clinch a Championship 4 spot for the third time in as many years.
Heim won the round of 8 opener at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, giving him a whopping 10 wins this year, and punched his ticket to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway by doing so.
The rest of the playoff picture, however, was literally as tight as anybody could have asked for. The other seven title contenders left the Roval separated by five points total.
McAnally–Hilgemann Racing teammates Tyler Anrkum and Daniel Hemric led the way with 3,051 points, while Halmar Friesen Racing's Kaden Honeycutt and CR7 Motorsports' Grant Enfinger brought up the rear with 3,046.
In other words, things were sure to get shaken up in the following weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway, and that is exactly what happened in a race won by non-playoff rookie driver Gio Ruggiero of Tricon Garage.
Daniel Hemric plummets out of NASCAR Truck Series playoff picture
Interestingly enough, despite the razor-thin margins between literally all seven remaining championship contenders not named Heim, two of the other three drivers above the Championship 4 cut line entering Talladega did manage to stay there.
Spire Motorsports' Rajah Caruth, who was fourth in points, moved up to second, and Ankrum merely moved to third from his second place tie.
However, Hemric dropped way down the order, to the point where the 2021 Xfinity Series champion might well need to win this weekend at Martinsville Speedway to have a chance to add a Truck Series championship to his resume the following weekend at Phoenix.
Hemric was taken out in an early crash, and he fell from a second place tie in points to seventh, placing him ahead of only Enfinger. He is 32 points below the Championship 4 cut line. Honeycutt, who had been tied for last, now occupies the fourth and final spot above the cutoff. Enfinger is eight points behind Hemric and 40 behind Honeycutt.
Honeycutt has just a five-point lead over reigning champion Ty Majeski of ThorSport Racing. Front Row Motorsports' Layne Riggs, who has been one of the very few drivers to challenge Heim throughout the season, is six points behind Honeycutt.
Things are far from settled heading into Martinsville, of course. Nobody is more than 14 points above the cut line (aside from the locked-in Heim, of course). Caruth is 14 points above Majeski, while Ankrum, even in third ahead of Honeycutt, is only eight points to the good.
Friday night's Slim Jim 200 is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. If you have yet to start a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss any of the remaining NASCAR Truck Series playoff action on the 2025 schedule!