Heim Declared Daytona Truck Series Winner After Kligerman DQ

Parker Kligerman, driver of the #75 Spiked Coolers Chevrolet takes the checkered flag under caution in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fresh from Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Kligerman would later be disqualified following post-race technical inspection, handing the win to Corey Heim. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

About an hour after trailing Parker Kligerman under the checkered and yellow flags in Friday night’s Fresh from Florida 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Corey Heim got the news. NASCAR had declared him the winner after Kligerman’s No. 75 Chevrolet Silverado had been disqualified for failing post-race inspection, specifically the ride heights on both sides of the rear of the truck measuring too low.

It’s not the way the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra wanted to win the race, but he’ll take it nonetheless.

“Yeah, it’s my first time having this kind of scenario happen either way,” said Heim. “Certainly glad to be on the right side of it. Sucks for Parker and those guys. They seemed like they obviously put themselves in position at the right time to win the race, but obviously there’s another level to it after the race.

“It’s certainly not as thrilling as winning the race on the racetrack,” Heim continued, “but I don’t know. I’ve been on the wrong side of it several times in my late model career. It’s cool to get a big one like that. Would be cooler, like I said, if it was on track.

“It’s cool, especially at Daytona. Just would have been cooler if I crossed the line first and whatnot, but we’ll take them any way we can get them.”

Heim’s TRICON Garage teammate Gio Ruggiero was credited with second place in his first truck series start.

“It feels good. Was looking for more there. But it’s Daytona and everybody is trying to win. I had a blast tonight. These TRICON Garage Tundras are so fast. The whole team performed really well. Everything is pretty new for me doing live pit stops and all.

“This is my first time on a superspeedway in anything, so it was a lot of stuff for me to take in tonight. Drafting in the pack, side drafting and leading the pack as well so I definitely learned a lot for Atlanta.”

Unlike Ruggiero, reigning series champion Ty Majeski has superspeedway experience, but hasn’t always felt comfortable on them - until Friday night.

“We made a lot of leaps today as a team. This has been a type of racing that has been outside of my comfort zone, so it was good to put some good stages together. We went from the back to the front multiple times, so something that we’ve not been able to do in the past. I’m excited about that and I had fun out there for the first time in a speedway race. It’s a good way to start defending the championship and a good start to our 2025 season.”

The Wisconsin-native finished 3rd in the revised order in his ThorSport Racing Ford F-150.