Toyota Development Driver, Corey Heim, earned his career-best finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Saturday at Iowa Speedway, coming home third with the Sam Hunt Racing No. 26 Yahoo GR Supra. The Georgia native, who had the fastest car in practice on Friday, started in 22nd position due to a rained-out qualifying session, but showed the pace of his GR Supra immediately by passing 10 cars in just two laps. Heim hung around the top-10 and top-five most of the race and came home third after a few, hectic late-race restarts.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith was the dominant car during the first two stages of the race, winning both and leading 125 laps. Today marked the second time Smith swept the first two stages of a race this season, as he did in Las Vegas. However, restarts in the final stage did not go his way, but he was able to power his Mobil 1 GR Supra to an eighth-place finish. His teammate, Sheldon Creed, also kept his GR Supra in contention throughout the race, earning his sixth top-five of the season.
John Hunter Nemechek also had a strong GR Supra Saturday, leading 31 laps in the final stage as he was closing in on his second win of 2024. Chaos from a late-race restart hampered that fortune and Nemechek ended up contacting the wall and finishing 27th.
The Xfinity Series is back in action next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Sci Aps 200 on Saturday, June 22.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Iowa Speedway
Race 15 of 33 – 218.75 miles, 250 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Sam Mayer*
2nd, Riley Herbst*
3rd, COREY HEIM
4th, Sammy Smith*
5th, SHELDON CREED
8th, CHANDLER SMITH
18th, BRETT MOFFITT
27th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
COREY HEIM: No. 26 Yahoo Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Can you describe your race today, starting 22nd and finishing third?
“Yeah, thought we had a great car all day. We certainly struggled with tires early. Really didn’t think that was going to be an issue, but it proved to be kind of how the whole race went. Certainly, didn’t expect that. Thought we were the best car yesterday and we were up there today. Had a couple things fall our way there at the end to get in the top five and come home with a great P3 for this small team. Super thankful for Sam Hunt Racing, Yahoo, Toyota Racing and everyone from that side of things. Great effort and going to move forward and try to win one of these things one day.”
What was the racing like out there compared to what you see in the Truck Series?
“It’s just so slick. Yeah, everyone anticipated this place to have a lot of grip and to race close without any issue, but, it did have a lot of grip but was super edgy and easy to slip a tire. Really surprised the leaders didn’t run into each other at the end. That was kind of what I was waiting on. I could’ve, in hindsight, been more aggressive to push the issue, but thought they were going to take care of that themselves. Sure enough, that didn’t happen.”
SHELDON CREED: No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Top-five run, how was your race?
“I mean overall, pretty decent. Ran towards the front most of the day. Biggest thing is I just really struggled on the short runs. Extremely loose and it was hard for me to keep track position there early, and then I’d be one of the fastest cars in 15 laps or so. That made it tough with all those cautions there at the end. I thought if I could’ve cleared the 20 (John Hunter Nemechek), if he wouldn’t have throttled up outside of me there and maybe let me go, maybe a different outcome. But overall, a good day for us.”
CHANDLER SMITH: No. 81 Mobil 1 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
Where do you feel the race slipped away after two strong stages?
“I mean, every restart, we weren’t great to be honest with you. Was wicked free from when they dropped the green flag, all the way to a good 15 laps into a run. The track would kind of glaze over and I think it got a little bit better there at the end of the race, but it would almost glaze over and become super, super slick. That’s why everyone was running the top — top as that was the only place there was grip. It took about 20 laps for it to finally start winding back out. I don’t know. That one stinks really bad as we had a really fast No. 81 Mobil 1 GR Supra for sure. It was lights out fast. That really, really stinks. But, I feel like I have a good idea of what needed to be better there to just go back through — partially, it was my fault when I restarted fourth when I put the 11 (Josh Williams) and whoever else three wide and got freight trained. That’s on me but had so many times there on restarts when we should’ve just gone forward with how dominant our car was, but it was just way, way, way too free.”
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