By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

BROOKLYN, MI (June 6. 2026) – Reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Corey Heim held off a dramatic checkered flag charge – in lapped traffic – from his TRICON Garage teammate Kaden Honeycutt to claim his first career win at the iconic Michigan International Speedway in Saturday’s DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 powered by Precision Vehicle Logistics.

It’s Heim’s 26th career victory, but first ever on the two-mile Michigan high banks giving him series wins now on 22 different tracks – second best all-time only NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. has won at 31 venues. It’s Heim’s third win in only five truck starts this season and comes a week after announcing he will join the championship-leading 23XI Racing organization in the NASCAR Cup Series for 2027.

Heim’s No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota passed the day’s most dominant truck driven by NASCAR Cup Series regular Carson Hocevar with 15 laps remaining and crossed the line only .065-second ahead of Honeycutt’s No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota – the truck Heim drove to the championship last season.

He immediately thanked Honeycutt for the push forward in the final laps – his only laps out front all day – acknowledging the help put just enough distance on Hocevar, who led a race best 65 of the 126 laps.

“We discussed it pre-race that we were going to race it out in the end and that’s what we did,” the 23-year-old Georgia native Heim said. “He tried to get to my right rear there which would have probably won the race and I had to protect it.

“Props to Kaden there and to [fellow Toyota driver] Christopher Bell, I don’t know where he ended up but he was strong all day. The last couple laps there at the end, were pretty awesome.

“That was a lot of fun, I had a blast,” he added.

The 21-year-old Honeycutt certainly kept Heim honest in the closing run to the checkered, hoping to earn his second career win – matching his work at Watkins Glen, N.Y. in May.

“Good race there at the end, us five up there and I’m sure it was a good race for the fans so that was good,” Honeycutt said. “It was unfortunate I didn’t get the win there. Just feel like I’ve lost too many of them on my part so I think that’s what bothers me the most.”

Although boosted by a strong showing all day at his “home track,” the Michigan-native Carson Hocevar was clearly disappointed with his finish, explaining his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet truck had been overheating all day. He was hoping to win for the hometown crowd and especially for his mother, who is celebrating her birthday this weekend.

“Everyone did a good job,” he said, adding, “Just sucks we didn’t close it out there. Felt like I could have done a better job but don’t know what I could have done differently. Would like to see what I would have had full power.

“A lot of reasons to win here at Michigan.”

Front Row Motorsports teammates Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs rounded out the top-five – an especially valiant effort from Riggs, who went a lap down early after a pit stop issue. A winner in the previous two races, Riggs’ comeback to fifth place keeps him atop the championship standings by 26 over Honeycutt.

Bell finished sixth in the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Toyota after sweeping both stage wins and leading 37 laps – one of six race leaders on the afternoon. Fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr was seventh, followed by Connor Mosack, Jake Garcia and Tyler Ankrum.

Fan favorite Cleetus McFarland rallied from a late race spin that brought out one of seven yellow flags – and finished 25th on the lead lap in only his second series start.

After six consecutive races, the trucks go into an off-week and will return to action June 19 in the inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race at San Diego on the Naval Base Coronado (7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

LEBANON, TN – Call it victorious whiplash.

Race polesitter Denny Hamlin took the lead at the drop of the green flag – was penalized and re-set to last in the 38-car field for jumping that start – then rallied his way forward again in the ensuing 300 laps to be in front for the checkered flag of Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

After a back-and-forth among teammates on a final restart with four laps remaining – featuring a three-wide last-lap challenge for the win among three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas – Hamlin delivered the manufacturer its first victory at the 1.33-mile Nashville concrete oval, his No. 11 Toyota finishing a slight .115-second ahead of teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.

“The 20 [Bell] and 19 [Briscoe] were battling so hard on that first corner it just let me get to the inside of the 20 at the first corner after the restart and from there, side-by-side with the 20,’’ Hamlin, 45, said describing the dramatic final laps that resulted in his 62nd career win.

“He [Bell] drove in so deep on that last lap into [turn] one that it just allowed me to barely clear off of [turn] two.

“What an unbelievable day starting first, going to last and then back to first.’’

For Bell, the close finish marked his second runner-up showing in as many weeks – simultaneously frustrating and encouraging. As with Hamlin, he recovered from an early race challenge – a pit stop miscue dropping his No 20 JGR Toyota from running among the top five to 30th place for a restart just before the finish of Stage 1.

“It was great racing, I hope the fans enjoyed that,’’ Bell said. “Just disappointed in myself, disappointed for my team. We brought a great race car and I didn’t get the job done.’’

The finish was certainly indicative of the close racing, important strategy calls and just flat-out team speed ultimately necessary to finally settle a race that featured a race record 31 lead changes among a record 15 drivers.

The race was delayed almost two hours because of weather, but when the action resumed, there was plenty of drama and intrigue.

The sold-out Nashville crowd issued a silent salute on lap eight to the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, 41, a beloved four-time Nashville winner (twice each in the CRAFTSMAN Trucks and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series), who passed away last week of sepsis.

In the laps thereafter, the intense action quickly settled in. Hamlin’s 57 laps out front were a race high, but nine different drivers led double digit laps. And 11 caution flags affected strategy throughout the night.

Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr finished fourth in the No. 47 Chevrolet, followed by a career-best fifth-place effort by Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen. The popular New Zealand road course ace turned in one of his best flag-to-flag oval performances running among the top 10 all night. His 12 laps led in the No. 97 Trackhouse Chevrolet were most for him on an oval track.

Reigning championship leader, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott were scored sixth and seventh but were collected in an accident just after taking the checkered flag in a hard push by the field to the finish.

Last year’s race winner, Ryan Blaney was eighth followed by Zane Smith, whose No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford was leading until 12 laps to go. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar was 10th. Hendrick’s Kyle Larson – the reigning series champion – led 56 laps (only one lap less than Hamlin) but finished 23rd.

The race featured two first-time stage winners on the season – Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger (Stage 1) and last week’s Charlotte race winner, Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suárez (Stage 2).

With his sixth-place finish Reddick remains atop the standings, 97 points ahead of Hamlin and 174 points up on Blaney in third place.

The series moves a few hours north to Michigan Speedway for next Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Denny Hamlin is the defending race winner.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

LEBANON, TN (May 30th, 2026) – After a multiple brilliant and exhilarating door-to-door battles – veteran against rookie – in the closing portion of the race, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier prevailed to hoist his series best fourth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race trophy of the season.

The 2024 series champion had to hold off talented 18-year-old rookie Brent Crews, who called the close-quarter racing in Saturday night’s Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at Nashville Superspeedway, “the most fun I’ve had without winning.’’

Allgaier’s win in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – ultimately by 1.4-second over Crews – was his third at the 1.33-mile Nashville concrete oval and the 32nd overall win of his championship career. And it took hard, clean side-by-side racing lap-after-lap for Allgaier to eventually get by Crews’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Motorsports Toyota for good with 20 laps remaining and hold on to victory.

The veteran Allgaier celebrated by climbing out of his Chevy’s roof hatch then bowing to the Nashville crowd – an ode to the trademark winning celebration of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who passed away last Thursday after being ill with pneumonia and sepsis.

“First of all, it’s been a rough couple of weeks, and lots of prayers to [Busch’s wife] Samantha and Kyle and [their children] Brexton and Lennix – it’s been an emotional couple weeks,’’ said Allgaier.

“This team, right here, they are incredible. To win in Nashville, you fans. .. this place is electric. I love coming to Nashville.

“I told them before the race, that we were going to go to victory lane,’’ said a grinning Allgaier, who turns 40 years old next week and is capping his winning race weekend by running a triathlon in downtown Nashville Sunday.

“What a race,’’ he added with a grin.

The near-miss marks the North Carolinian Crews’ second runner-up this season. He led the race twice for a total of 45 laps – the most he’s ever led in a single race.

“Man, the positive was, I thought we were going to win that race,’’ Crews’ said when asked about the takeaway from the race. “I’m happy for our guys.

“Had to start 33rd and worked our way up to the lead and led a lot of laps and got to race one of the best guys in our series of all-time for the win in the last few laps,’’ he said. “Couldn’t ask for much more, other than to beat him.’’

Crews’ teammate William Sawalich finished third to claim his third-consecutive top five. Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer finished fourth – his fifth straight top 10 at Nashville with another JGR driver, Brandon Jones rounding out the top five.

Corey Day, Carson Kvapil, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith rounded out the top 10. Smith, of note, is competing in the Nashville triathlon with his JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier.

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love finished 16th after leading the most laps (87) – a later race pit stop miscue putting the reigning series champion a lap down at one point, before he rallied back. He lost some ground in the title run and now sits 179 points behind the 2024 series champion Allgaier in the championship.

“Definitely really frustrating,’’ a disappointed Love said after the race. “Our Camaro was really fast and I know we had a misstep on pit road but we’ve got the best pit crew in the garage right now, it’s not even close.

“The only thing I can control is the way I prepare and keep showing up even when it hurts and I know right now, my path isn’t necessarily coming with a lot of wins and that can be frustrating but it’s the past now, so all I can do is keep showing up and preparing. It’s going to turn around. It has to. There’s no other possible way it’s not going to and having faith in that will get me through all this.’’

YouTube personality Cleetus McFarland finished 36th in his second NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start – rallying from a series of late race pit stop miscues and penalties to take the checkered flag in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

After a streak of 16 consecutive races, the series has its first off-week next weekend before returning to competition June 13 in the Miller Tech Battery 250 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (4 p.m., The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Connor Zilisch is the defending race winner.