DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 15: Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing National Debt Relief Toyota waves to the crowd prior to the running of the 68th NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 on February 15, 2026 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 15 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon2602151538500

Apr 4, 2026, 3:21 AM CUT

Denny Hamlin’s Part-Time Driver Snatches $100K With Wild Last-Lap Move

Denny Hamlin's 23XI Racing team's part-time driver has been grabbing a lot of headlines lately. Corey Heim once again stood out in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race with a dominant win at Rockingham. He led 178 out of the 200-lap race to secure his second straight win in the Truck Series campaign.

However, he did not have smooth sailing throughout the race. During the final five laps of the race, Heim reported issues with his tires. Kaden Honeycutt capitalised on this and managed to get to his outside with three laps to go.

After crossing the white flag, the two cars were side-by-side. However, Tanner Gray - Honeycutt's Toyota teammate, who was a lap down, was directly in Honeycutt’s path. This gave Denny Hamlin’s part-time driver a chance to cross the finish line ahead of Honeycutt.

"I was like 'oh boy, here we go, we're going to lose this one in the worst way possible.' But we hung in there," said Heim in a post-race interview. "Just had to use a couple of lapped car picks to defend. Respect to Kaden for racing clean. I did what I had to do there at the end.”

Prior to winning at Rockingham, Heim won the first Triple Truck Challenge at Darlington, bagging a $50,000 bonus. Winning at Rockingham, he netted another $100,000 and is set to compete for a massive $500,000 at Bristol.

Kaden Honeycutt shares his thoughts on being denied first win

Kaden Honeycutt was looking to get his first Truck Series race win at Rockingham. However, things took a turn when his teammate, Tanner Gray, unintentionally impeded him during the final lap.

Talking about the same during his post-race interview, he said, “I was hoping everyone would have moved when we started racing each other, but it is part of it – it is part of racing, and you have to navigate it. I tried to shove Tanner (Gray) as far as I can and hoped that he would have gone to the bottom or something like that, but I don’t really know what I could have done differently other than run me and him down in the marbles."

Honeycutt finished the race in second place with a 0.090 margin. While he will be disappointed with the narrow miss, the driver will be looking forward to the next race in Bristol, where he could not only secure that first win, but also steal Heim's chance of winning that $500,000 bounus.

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco