Getty Corey Heim (left) & Scott Zipadelli (right) celebrate a win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Scott Zipadelli made a big offseason move by leaving Hattori Racing Enterprises and joining Tricon Garage. This move has paid dividends throughout the Craftsman Truck Series season.
Zipadelli made the comments during the final stage of the Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He told FOX Sports that he moved to Tricon Garage because he needed a reset after so many years at one organization. He then expressed gratitude about being paired with race-winner Corey Heim.
Corey Heim wins at Mid-Ohio!
The pairing has led to multiple celebrations and the points lead. Heim has two wins on the season after moving to a full-time schedule. They first took the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota Tundra to Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway and then they returned at Mid-Ohio. Heim has also maintained the points lead over reigning champion Zane Smith.
Zipadelli Seeks His Second Championship
GettyCorey Heim & his crew celebrate a win at Martinsville Speedway.
Zipadelli has been a mainstay in both the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series. He has served as a crew chief for 468 total national series races, and he has guided several drivers to 20 total wins.
The veteran crew chief spent 2017 through 2022 working with a variety of drivers at Hattori Racing Enterprises. He first guided Ryan Truex in 2017 and then he joined forces with Brett Moffitt for 2018. Zipadelli spent 2019-2021 with Austin Hill and then he worked with Tyler Ankrum in 2022 before ultimately departing the team.
Zipadelli celebrated 14 total times during his tenure at HRE. Six of these wins were during the 2018 season when Moffitt made the playoffs and reached the championship four. He won the final two races of the season and captured the title over Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, and Johnny Sauter.
Fast-forward to the 2023 season and Zipadelli is in a spot where he could potentially guide another driver to the championship four. Heim has been the most consistent driver in the field thus far, to the point that he maintained his points lead after missing one race due to an illness.
The Upcoming Schedule Favors Heim & Zipadelli
GettyCorey Heim makes a pit stop at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The goal is to win the regular-season championship, earn the bonus points, and then steadily move through the Rounds of 10 and Eight before reaching the championship four. Winning will aid in this pursuit, and the schedule favors this outcome.
The final two races of the regular season will take place at Pocono Raceway and Richmond Raceway. Heim doesn’t have a win at either track, but he finished fourth at Pocono and fifth at Richmond during the 2022 season.
Heim will kick off the playoffs at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where he finished fifth in 2022. He will then compete at the Milwaukee Mile for the first time in the Truck Series before returning to Kansas, the track where he finished second during the spring 2023 race.
The Round of Eight includes three tracks where Heim competed during the 2022 season. He finished 10th at Bristol Motor Speedway, 26th at Talladega Superspeedway, and fifth at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The championship race then takes place at Phoenix Raceway where Heim has one start and a seventh-place finish.
Maintaining consistency and working through the playoff rounds will not be a simple task for Heim and Zipadelli. However, the No. 11 team has provided no indication that it will slow down at all in the coming weeks.