{"id":57167,"date":"2026-04-04T12:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T17:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=57167"},"modified":"2026-04-04T21:09:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:09:51","slug":"nascar-saturday-rockingham-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/04\/nascar-saturday-rockingham-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Rockingham Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Corey Heim a Truck Series championship contender? Not so much<\/b><\/p>\n

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. \u2014 Remarkably, even though Corey Heim has competed in just three of the five NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races so far this season, he is tied for the series lead after back-to-back victories at Darlington Raceway and Rockingham Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

ROCKINGHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – APRIL 03: Corey Heim, driver of the #1 Robinhood Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway on April 03, 2026 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Circumstances conspired to elevate Heim to the top of the standings. A \u201cperfect\u201d race at \u201cThe Rock,\u201d with 76 points scored, certainly helped.<\/p>\n

So did the disqualification of fourth-place finisher Chandler Smith for a ride-height infraction. Smith lost the 33 points that would have kept him 15 points ahead of Heim and Black\u2019s Tire 200 runner-up Kaden Honeycutt, Heim\u2019s TRICON Garage teammate.<\/p>\n

Heim is the reigning series champion, having won a season-record 12 of last year\u2019s 25 races. Competing in a limited number of events in all three of NASCAR\u2019s national series this year, Heim is not defending his Truck Series title.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, though, the subject came up after Friday\u2019s victory left Heim tied for the series lead. Heim would need a waiver from NASCAR to run for the title, and that would present difficulties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how all that works, honestly,\u201d Heim said after Friday\u2019s race. \u201cI\u2019d have to look into it. I figured we\u2019d have a good points day, sweeping all three stages and everything. That\u2019s pretty cool, but I\u2019d have to figure out how that works and all the specifications and all the requirements to qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be cool, but I have no plans on running the rest of the year, so we\u2019d have a lot of figuring out to do at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heim doesn\u2019t need to strain his brain. TRICON has not applied for a waiver, and NASCAR granting a waiver for races missed because of scheduling choices borders on a pipe dream.<\/p>\n

In addition, with the Chase championship format in place this year, a driver granted a waiver for a non-medical or family issue must start the Chase in last place, with 2,000 points. That\u2019s a huge obstacle to overcome.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it doesn\u2019t diminish Heim\u2019s ability to tie for the series lead after spotting the rest of the competition two races.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusical chairs\u201d approach to season has challenges for Carson Kvapil, Rajah Caruth<\/b><\/p>\n

Two JR Motorsports drivers competing for the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series championship are doing so in a variety of different rides.<\/p>\n

Carson Kvapil, currently fifth in the standings, has maintained that position behind the wheel of three different cars with three different crews\u2014the Nos. 1 and 9 Chevrolets with JRM and the No. 91 of Mario Gosselin, which he drove to a 19th-place finish at the Circuit of The Americas road course in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard,\u201d Kvapil said of shuttling between cars. \u201cTwo teams are hard, but when there\u2019s a third, and it\u2019s almost kind of outside the organization, I don\u2019t know what the word would be, but it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to get into the rhythm of week-to-week racing with the same guys, going to the same trailer and doing the same things\u2026 It definitely does make it difficult, but I would say the positive side is that you get to experience three different teams, three different crew chiefs and three different deals in one year\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once you\u2019re in the race car, it doesn\u2019t really matter what car you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first seven races of the season, Caruth has driven the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in four races and the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet in the other three. He is currently 10th in the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series standings and has posted a best finish of eighth in each car.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, it takes an adjustment from a goal-setting perspective, or I guess from an expectation perspective,\u201d Caruth said of the transition between the two cars. \u201cKnowing that when I\u2019m in that 32 that I\u2019m going for base hits and it\u2019s not best to put myself in a spot where I\u2019ll throw away a (good) finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m in that car, a top 10 or a top 15 is a very solid day\u2026 In the 88, the opportunities to win are there, and I need to take advantage of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brent Crews now legal for NASCAR, not for adult beverages<\/b><\/p>\n

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brent Crews celebrated his 18th birthday on March 30. That means he\u2019s now eligible to compete in NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series races on ovals longer than 1.25 miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and some of buddies went to a Mexican restaurant,\u201d Crews said. \u201cThe place was called Casa Azteca. All my friends went and my family. It was crazy. When it is your birthday, they have this big TV screen and it shows you and the whole group that you are with, and everyone was dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty cool. We all just hung out. It was a super chill birthday. It was great to have all of my family and my friends there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he enjoyed a margarita during the celebration, Crews demurred emphatically.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at 18,\u201d he said. \u201cMy parents would\u2026 I would not be at the race track this weekend, I promise you that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Corey Heim a Truck Series championship contender? Not so much ROCKINGHAM, N.C. \u2014 Remarkably, even though Corey Heim has competed in just three of the five NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races so far this season, he is tied for the series lead after back-to-back victories at Darlington Raceway and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":57154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,1147,1003],"class_list":["post-57167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-oreilly-auto-parts-series","tag-rockingham-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269717286-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1719","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eS3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57170,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57167\/revisions\/57170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}