Corey Heim disqualified from South Boston Twin 75s sweep for illegal rear-end

Three days after enjoying the biggest night of his young career, Corey Heim has been disqualified from Saturday night’s Twin-75s at South Boston Speedway in Virginia.

Making his Late Model Stock debut, Heim swept both ends of a doubleheader, outdueling the likes of Peyton Sellers and Philip Morris. However, visual irregularities in the rear-end of his No. 78 prevented the results from being declared official until Tuesday.

Specifically, the car was initially deemed to have too much camber and toe in the rear. The allowed tolerance is believed to be 1/8 of an inch, with the Heim car checking in at 3/4 of an inch via a measuring tape.

However, Pulliam refuted that in a Facebook post on Tuesday:

“I first off apologize to Corey Heim. The next thing I would like to say is that I don’t agree with the call as I feel like the way the rule is written this rear end is not illegal. It is what it is and we will move on. This rear end passed on camber unlike told in the stories. The toe also checked dead straight. We are basically being thrown out for rear skew. In the rule book it states no camber or toe. Skew is not toe. If you turn your front tires to the right and check your toe it’s still toe. I don’t agree at all with the decision but for all the many many teams out here running skew I would suggest you take it out as apparently the grey areas of the rule book doesn’t exist anymore. I was only doing my job to the best of my ability maxing out what we felt like was legal. Guess this will change a lot of things moving forward as I feel like they have opened up a can of worms. I thank everyone for there support and we will be back stronger than ever. I have no hard feelings towards NASCAR or the track but I respectfully disagree with the decision.”

It was revealed overnight on Saturday that car owner Lee Pulliam and South Boston Speedway officials jointly-decided to send the rear-end of the car to the NASCAR R&D center for further inspection, but the components never made it to the Concord, North Carolina facility.

NASCAR officials needed at least two weeks to even get it on a jig. But the track conferred with NASCAR and based on the information provided, the Sanctioning Body agreed there was enough evidence to disqualify Heim.

The means Ryan Repko, who crossed the line second in both races, is now officially credited with two victories from Saturday night.

Pulliam says he does not agree with the decision but offered an apology to his 16-year-old driver.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation and I deeply apologize to Corey,” Pulliam told Short Track Scene on Tuesday. “I don’t agree with the decision, but it is what it is

and we will move forward and continue winning races.

“The way the rule was written, it was legal in my eyes and the eyes of many others. Of course, everyone has their own interpretation of rules and the head tech official felt like it didn’t comply. This will only make us work harder to make sure we are even more dominant next time on track.

“There will be another day and another battle.”

Meanwhile, this isn’t the way Repko wanted to win, even if he feels the outcome was justifiable.

“Obviously I want to beat them on the track, but wrong is wrong,” Repko said. “The rear-end gave him an unfair advantage and NASCAR made the right call. I’m glad to get the monkey off our back after the up and down season we had, and hopefully we can get a few more before the end of the year.”

Official Race 1 results

1. Ryan Repko
2. Peyton Sellers
3. Tyler Hughes
4. Thomas Scott
5. Bruce Anderson
6. Mike Looney
7. Mike Jones
8. Austin Thaxton
9. Sam Mayer
10. Camden Gullie
11. Dusty Ellington
12. Eric Winslow
13. Raymond Pittman III
14. Charles Barnes
15. Phillip Morris
16. Danny Willis Jr
17. Mike Darne
18. Quincy Adkins
19. Nathan Crews
20. Bruce Mayo
21. Colin Garrett
22. Corey Heim (DQ)

Official Race 2 results