Heim
Corey Heim will lead the field to the green flag on Saturday. (Jeff Curry/Getty Images)

Heim Claims Pole In Rain-Shortened Mid-Ohio Qualifying

Corey Heim won the pole Friday in qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Heim earned the pole after NASCAR was forced to cancel the final round of qualifying due to heavy rain that produced near constant incidents and mistakes around the road course.

The Kyle Busch Motorsports driver claimed the pole with a speed of 69.181 mph. It is his second-career pole in 11 starts.

Heim will be joined on the front row by Matt DiBenedetto (68.869 mph).

The top five is completed by Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton. Justin Marks, the founder and co-owner of Trackhouse racing, will start eighth in his first NASCAR start since 2018.

On the opening lap of qualifying for the first group, more than five trucks went off track or spun.

Chandler Smith alone went off track or spun at least three times on his first lap.

Smith would later bring out the red flag with less than four minutes left in the first round for his group when he spun off track and became stuck in the sand off Turn 1.

The off-track excursions continued in Group B, as drivers like Derek Kraus, Austin Wayne Self, Tyler Ankrum, Jack Wood and Colby Howard all got in on the fun.

The most serious incident was when Kris Wright spun in the final turn and backed into the pit wall, smashing in his right-rear fender.

Sports car racer and FS1 analyst Andy Lally labelled the mayhem as an “overestimation of grip.”

Click here for the starting lineup.