Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Corey Heim

  • Nick Sanchez wins 700th Truck Series event at Charlotte; snags first Triple Truck Challenge bonus

    Nick Sanchez wins 700th Truck Series event at Charlotte; snags first Triple Truck Challenge bonus

    On a night where the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division achieved a milestone feat in series’ history, Nick Sanchez has 50,000 reasons to celebrate after storming to a late victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 24.

    The 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion from Miami, Florida, led the final nine of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he started 16th and spent the first half of the event mired outside the top 10 and trying to manage his way to the front. Initially poised for a top-10 run when the event was placed in a late caution period with 15 laps remaining, Sanchez was one of multiple competitors who opted to pit for fresh tires. Then after restarting in the fourth lane with nine laps remaining, Sanchez quickly bolted his way to the front as he overtook Christian Eckes for the lead through the frontstretch. From there, he fended off a late charge from Corey Heim to score his second Truck Series career victory in the series’ 700th event in history and cash in the first of three $50,000 bonuses as part of this year’s Triple Truck Challenge.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Tanner Gray notched his first Truck Series pole position of the 2024 season and the second of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.241 mph in 30.296 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Corey Heim, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 177.795 mph in 30.372 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Lawless Alan, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Christian Eckes and Tyler Ankrum dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Tanner Gray gained the early advantage from the inside lane as he muscled his No. 15 Dead on Tools Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead from teammate Corey Heim through Turns 1 and 2. As the field behind jostled for early spots, Gray proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of a side-by-side battle between Heim and Ty Majeski while Rajah Caruth, rookie Layne Riggs, Jack Wood and Chase Purdy followed suit.

    Three laps later, Heim zipped his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro past teammate Tanner Gray to assume the lead from the backstretch through Turns 3 and 4. Heim would proceed to lead by nearly three-tenths of a second over Gray as Majeski, Caruth and Riggs followed suit in the top five through the first five scheduled laps. Behind, Wood retained sixth ahead of Purdy as Connor Mosack, Kaden Honeycutt and Ben Rhodes trailed in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim was leading by nine-tenths of a second over teammate Tanner Gray followed by Majeski, Caruth and Riggs while Honeycutt, Purdy, Mosack, Wood and Rhodes continued to race in the top 10. Behind, Dean Thompson occupied 11th place ahead of Taylor Gray, Bayley Currey, Stewart Friesen and Ty Dillon while Matt Crafton, Grant Enfinger, Matt Mills, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top 20. Notably, Brett Moffitt was in 22nd, Tyler Ankrum was mired in 25th ahead of Connor Jones and Jeffrey Earnhardt was down in 34th.   

    Ten laps later, Heim extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammate Tanner Gray as Majeski, Caruth and Honeycutt were in the top five. Behind, Riggs dropped to sixth while Purdy, Rhodes, Thompson and Mosack were in the top 10.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim, winner of last weekend’s Truck Series event at North Wilkesboro Speedway, captured his fifth stage victory of the 2024 season. Honeycutt, who overtook Tanner Gray for the runner-up spot three laps earlier, settled in second ahead of Gray, Caruth and Majeski while Riggs, Purdy, Thompson, Rhodes and Mosack were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Heim pitted for a first round of service. Following the pit stops, Tanner Gray reassumed the lead after exiting first ahead of Heim while Honeycutt, Purdy, Majeski, Caruth, Riggs, Taylor Gray, Thompson and Mosack followed suit. During the pit stop sequence, Caruth was forced into the grass amid a side-by-side contact with Majeski, who was trying to avoid Riggs as Riggs was exiting his pit stall. In addition, Stewart Friesen returned to pit road for his first service of the night after missing his pit stall during the first sequence with the field. Soon after, Caruth also pitted again to address a tire rub from the damage with Majeski’s contact.

    The second stage period started on Lap 37 as teammates Tanner Gray and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Gray and Heim battled dead even in front of two stacked lanes while Honeycutt, who restarted in the second lane, made a move to the outside lane in an attempted three-wide battle towards the front. With the field behind also fanning out to nearly three lanes through the backstretch, Tanner Gray barely managed to muscle ahead of Heim to retain the lead while returning back to the frontstretch. Behind, a series of battles ensued as Purdy and Majeski battled for third place, Thompson battled Honeycutt for fifth place, Riggs and Mosack battled for fifth place and Taylor Gray battled Jack Wood for 10th place.

    On Lap 40, Heim, who kept teammate Tanner Gray within close distance over the previous four laps, drew his Toyota alongside Gray’s through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch. Heim would then muscle ahead of Gray from the inside lane and through Turns 1 and 2 as he reassumed the lead.

    At the Lap 45 mark, Heim was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Tanner Gray followed by Purdy, Majeski and Thompson while Riggs, Honeycutt, Mosack, Taylor Gray and Wood were in the top 10. Behind, Nick Sanchez trailed in 11th ahead of Daniel Dye, Dillon, Rhodes and Grant Enfinger while Caruth, Matt Mills, Eckes, Moffitt and Crafton were in the top 20.

    By Lap 50, Heim slightly extended his advantage as he was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Gray followed by Purdy, Thompson and Majeski while Honeycutt, Riggs, Mosack, Gray and Sanchez trailed in the top 10.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Heim swept both stage periods of the night while also claiming his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Tanner Gray settled in second ahead of Purdy, Honeycutt and Thompson while Majeski, Riggs, Mosack, Sanchez and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10.

    During the stage break, the field led by Heim returned to pit road for another round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead after exiting first ahead of Tanner Gray, Majeski, Mosack and Purdy as Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Riggs, Thompson and Honeycutt followed suit in top 10. Amid the pit stops, however, Honeycutt was penalized for dragging his gas can out of his pit stall.

    Towards the halfway mark of the event, the final stage commenced as teammates Heim and Tanner Gray occupied the front row once again. As Heim retained the lead, the caution quickly returned for a multi-truck wreck that erupted just past the backstretch when contact from Moffitt got Ankrum loose as he spun his No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST below the apron in Turn 3 before his truck went right back towards the outside wall and was T-boned on the right side by Thad Moffitt as Keith McGee and Jeffrey Earnhardt were also involved while trying to avoid the wreckage.

    During the following restart with 58 laps remaining. Heim gained the advantage from the inside lane and muscled ahead to retain the lead while Connor Mosack challenged Tanner Gray for the runner-up spot. As Gray and Mosack continued to battle for second in front of Taylor Gray, Majeski and Purdy, Heim led the field back to the frontstretch.

    Four laps later, however, the caution returned after Matt Crafton lost a tire and slapped his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 hard against the outside wall in Turn 3. During the caution period, the following names that included Purdy, Mason Massey, Stefan Parsons, Friesen, Connor Jones, Boyd, Eckes and Currey remained on the track while the rest led by Heim pitted. During the pit stops, Heim’s dominant run hit a braking zone after a slow pit stop due to a broken jack while his No. 11 team was trying to change the right-side tires plummeted to 28th place.

    As the event restarted with 47 laps remaining, Purdy muscled ahead with a slight advantage over Eckes before Eckes made his move beneath Purdy and assumed the lead in his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST exiting the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4. As Eckes led Purdy, Stefan Parsons was in third place as he was racing in front of Connor Jones, Stewart Friesen and Ben Rhodes while Grant Enfinger was in seventh. With more battles ensuing within the field, Eckes, who was dealing with voltage issues earlier in the race, retained the lead with 45 laps remaining.

    With 40 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by nearly a second over Purdy as they were being followed by Parsons, Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt and Sanchez. Meanwhile, Heim, who restarted 27th following his pit stop miscue, had muscled his way all the way up to eighth place while Jones and Moffitt trailed in the top 10 ahead of Majeski, Caruth, Enfinger, Dillon and Mosack.

    Ten laps later, Eckes retained the lead by nearly seven-tenths of a second over Purdy while Parsons, Honeycutt and Friesen were scored in the top five. Behind, Heim was in sixth place and trailing the lead by more than three seconds while Sanchez, Rhodes, Moffitt and Majeski were in the top 10. By then, Tanner Gray was mired in 12th behind Caruth, Thompson was back in 16th behind Dillon and Mosack was battling Matt Mills for 17th along with Taylor Gray and Dye.

    Another three laps later, the battle for the lead ignited as Purdy made a move beneath Eckes for the lead in Turn 1. Despite assuming the top spot, however, Purdy went wide, which allowed Eckes to pull a crossover move entering the backstretch as both he and Purdy battled dead even for the lead through Turns 3 and 4. Then as Eckes slid in front of Purdy entering the frontstretch, Purdy pulled a crossover move on Eckes through the frontstretch as they dueled for the lead again. Purdy then slid up the track in Turn 1 for a second time, which allowed Eckes to muscle ahead and maintain a reasonable advantage over a hard-charging Purdy. Amid the battle between Eckes and Purdy, third-place Honeycutt started to close in in his No. 45 R.C.D. Shoe Company Chevrolet Silverado RST while Heim was in fifth place and trailing the lead by more than two seconds.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Eckes, who was beginning to be mired in lapped traffic, retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Purdy while Honeycutt made it a three-truck battle for the lead as he trailed by half a second. Behind, Heim trailed by more than three seconds in fourth place while Parsons was in fifth.

    Four laps later, Purdy scrubbed the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, which stalled his late momentum and his challenge on Eckes for the lead. Despite scraping the wall, Purdy remained on the track, but he would lose the runner-up spot to Honeycutt as Eckes continued to lead. A lap later, however, Purdy’s strong run went sour after he scrubbed the outside wall for a second time through Turns 1 and 2, which was enough for the event to be placed in a late caution period as Purdy, who lost a tire in the process, nursed his damaged No. 77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST back to pit road. The caution also erased Eckes’ six-second advantage over Honeycutt as Heim was up to third place.

    During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Honeycutt and Heim pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Honeycutt and Heim both lost a bevy of spots after both endured slow pit services. For Honeycut, a broken air gun resulted in his tire changer having issues changing the right-rear tire. For Heim, the issue stemmed from his rear tire changer struggling to get the lug nuts tightened on the left-rear tire as Heim started to spin his tires, which left his No. 11 team uncertain if the lug nuts on the truck were tightened as Heim lined up in 11th place.

    Down to the final nine laps, the event restarted under green as Eckes and Parsons occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Eckes rocketed away with the lead followed by Caruth and Sanchez while Parsons was struggling to launch. Then through the frontstretch to complete the following lap, Sanchez, who pitted during the latest caution period and passed Caruth for the runner-up spot, overtook Eckes for the lead as Heim, who was charging to the front for a second time since the restart, bolted past Eckes through Turns 3 and 4 to move into third place. Heim would then overtake Friesen for the runner-up spot during the following lap as he set his sights on Sanchez for the lead and potential victory.

    With five laps remaining, Sanchez maintained the lead by nearly three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Heim while Friesen trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. As the field behind jostled for late spots, pole-sitter Tanner Gray spun sideways towards the apron in Turns 1 and 2, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Heim was trying to gain a run on Sanchez for the lead.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sanchez, who had managed to keep his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST in front of Heim’s Toyota, remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Heim. Through Turns 1 and 2, Heim ran his truck close towards the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 in an effort to gain a run, but Sanchez maintained his advantage through the backstretch. With Heim unable to mount a final lap rally for two final turns, Sanchez was able to cycle back to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag to win by half a second over Heim.

    With the victory, Sanchez, who notched his first career win at Daytona International Speedway in February, became the 82nd competitor overall to achieve multiple victories in the Truck Series and the 13th to win a Truck event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    With Sanchez winning the series’ 700th event in recorded history, the Miami native joins an exclusive club of competitors to win during a milestone event for the series. Ron Hornaday Jr., a four-time champion of the series, won the 100th recorded Truck Series event in history at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, in 1999 before winning the 300th series event at Dover Motor Speedway eight years later. Ted Musgrave, the 2005 champion, won the series’ 200th race at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2003, Clint Bowyer won the series’ 400th event at Kansas Speedway in 2011 and Austin Dillon won the series’ 500th event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2015. Recently, Kyle Busch won the series’ 600th event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2020.

    As an added bonus, Sanchez, who recorded the 284th Truck victory for the Chevrolet nameplate and the second overall for Rev Racing, claimed the first of three Triple Truck Challenge bonuses and a $50,000 check.  

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “It’s awesome,” Sanchez said on FS1. “What can I say more about this team? We started off bad. We knew it. [We] Did not let it affect us. We went to work. We put ourselves in position when it mattered most. It’s great to get [win] number two. [I’ll] Probably put the [$50,000 bonus] in the savings. I totally forgot about that, so yeah, added bonus. Sweet.”

    Sanchez’s Charlotte victory was the most meaningful for Chris Showalter, the truck chief for both Sanchez and Rev Racing as he has been working through all 700 recorded events in the Truck Series since the first event at Phoenix Raceway in February 1995.

    “[This race] just probably popped to number one [favorite],” Showalter, who fought tears of joy, said. “It’s a long battle. This is about people and I love this group of people. I’ll do anything for this group of people.”

    Heim, who led a race-high 72 laps and swept both stages, settled in second place for his seventh top-three result of the 2024 season as he fell short of winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway for a second consecutive season.

    “Obviously, an eventful day for us,” Heim said. “[I] Just felt like it got away from us on separate occasions there. We had control of the race and as soon as you don’t, you’re just victim to the leader and they can control the air. Nick [Sanchez] did a great job at just blocking my air the best he could. I felt like we had the best truck by a long shot. When you’re behind the leader, you can’t do much, but I feel like we were able to get through traffic so well. Glad I could make it entertaining at least, but it doesn’t really matter for us. We finished second.”

    Shortly after, however, Heim was disqualified from the runner-up result due to his truck having three lug nuts not safely secured following his recent pit service. As a result, Stewart Friesen, who missed his pit stall and was running in the middle of the pack earlier in the day, was promoted to second place as Grant Enfinger, Matt Mills and Ben Rhodes ended up in the top five.

    Finishing in the top 10 were Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Connor Mosack, Dean Thompson and Christian Eckes. Notably, Chase Purdy ended up 13th behind Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth fell back to 16th behind Brett Moffitt, pole-sitter Tanner Gray ended up 17th, Ty Majeski slid to 23rd and Stefan Parsons ended up 25th.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 31 laps.

    Following the 11th event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes leads the regular-season standings by 30 points over Corey Heim, 50 over Nick Sanchez, 64 over Ty Majeski and 99 over Taylor Gray.

    Results.

    1. Nick Sanchez, nine laps led

    2. Stewart Friesen

    3. Grant Enfinger

    4. Matt Mills

    5. Ben Rhodes

    6. Jake Garcia

    7. Kaden Honeycutt

    8. Connor Mosack

    9. Dean Thompson

    10. Christian Eckes, 37 laps led

    11. Connor Jones

    12. Taylor Gray

    13. Chase Purdy, five laps led

    14. Bret Holmes

    15. Brett Moffitt

    16. Rajah Caruth

    17. Tanner Gray, 11 laps led

    18. Mason Massey

    19. Daniel Dye

    20. Spencer Boyd

    21. Jack Wood

    22. Timmy Hill

    23. Ty Majeski

    24. Ty Dillon

    25. Stefan Parsons

    26. Bayley Currey

    27. Mason Maggio

    28. Layne Riggs, one lap down

    29. Memphis Villarreal, three laps down

    30. Lawless Alan – OUT, Brakes

    31. Matt Crafton, 15 laps down

    32. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident

    33. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    34. Keigh McGee – OUT, Accident

    35. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    36. Corey Heim – Disqualified 72 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the series’ annual visit to Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, for the Toyota 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 1, and air at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Corey Heim scores dominant Truck victory at North Wilkesboro

    Corey Heim scores dominant Truck victory at North Wilkesboro

    For the second time of the 2024 season, Corey Heim made it known to the NASCAR community that it is Heim Time after notching a dominant NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the rain-delayed Wright Brand 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday, May 19. 

    The 21-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led twice for a race-high 66 of 250-scheduled laps in an event. He started 12th but quickly marched his way to the front as he spent the first stage period running inside the top five. Heim was scored in third place when the event was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday morning due to an ongoing increase of precipitation that flooded the circuit.

    He spent the second stage period and a majority of the final stage period running towards the front until he muscled away from Jake Garcia to assume the lead during a late restart period with 65 laps remaining. After retaining the lead through another late-race restart period with 32 laps remaining, Heim pulled away from Grant Enfinger, rookie Layne Riggs and teammate/newcomer Brenden “Butterbean” Queen by as much as three seconds to score his third Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and his first at North Wilkesboro.

    The starting lineup for the event was determined through a metric system after the event’s on-track qualifying session scheduled to occur on Saturday morning was canceled due to precipitation. Through the metric, Christian Eckes, the current series’ regular-season leader in the standings, was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Nick Sanchez. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started on Saturday, May 18, Eckes muscled his No. 19 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead with the lead from the inside lane through the first two turns. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap while Ross Chastain overtook Sanchez to move into the runner-up spot. Tanner Gray would follow suit in his bid for third place along with Ty Dillon. As more battles within the field ensued, Eckes stretched his lead to more than a second by the fifth lap mark while Sammy Smith was penalized for a start violation, where he pulled his Spire Motorsports entry out of line. 

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes continued to extend his early advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Chastain followed by Tanner Gray, Dillon and Grant Enfinger while Corey Heim, Sanchez, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10 ahead of Jake Garcia, Daniel Dye, Chase Purdy, Lawless Alan and Bayley Currey. Behind, Tyler Ankrum, rookie Layne Riggs, Matt Mills, Brenden Queen and Rajah Caruth followed suit in the top 20 ahead of Stewart Friesen, Jack Wood, Mason Massey, Bret Holmes and Dean Thompson while Matt Crafton was mired in 27th.   

    Ten laps later, Eckes stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Chastain while Tanner Gray, Dillon and Heim trailed by within three seconds in the top five on the track. Behind, Enfinger was trying to fend off Sanchez and Rhodes in sixth place while Majeski and Taylor Gray trailed in the top 10. 

    Another 10 laps later, Eckes continued to lead by more than two seconds over Chastain while teammates Tanner Gray and Heim battled for third place, though both started to close in on Chastain for the runner-up spot, as Dillon trailed by three seconds in fifth place. Eckes’ would have his advantage slightly decrease to one-and-a-half seconds over Chastain by the Lap 40 mark while Heim closed in while running in third place. 

    Just past the Lap 50 mark, Eckes retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Chastain while third-place Heim kept pace with the leaders as he trailed by a second. Behind, Tanner Gray trailed in fourth place by two seconds while Majeski was up to fifth ahead of Rhodes, Dillon, Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Jake Garcia. Meanwhile, Enfinger had fallen to 16th as he trailed Daniel Dye, Ankrum, Purdy, Riggs and Brenden Queen on the track. 

    A few laps past the Lap 55 mark, the event’s first caution period flew due to precipitation being reported in the venue. During the caution period and with a flurry of pit strategies ensuing, a majority of the field led by Eckes pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Riggs was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while Friesen and Bayley Currey were both penalized for speeding on pit road. 

    With three laps remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Majeski muscled his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 ahead of teammate Rhodes and managed to transition from the outside to the inside lane through the first two turns as he retained the lead through the backstretch. As Majeski slowly started to pull away, Rajah Caruth battled Rhodes for the runner-up spot while Heim was trying to overtake both teammate Taylor Gray and Dillon for positions on the track. 

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Majeski claimed his third Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Rhodes, racing with a damaged right-front fender after making contact with Bret Holmes earlier, settled in second while Caruth, Taylor Gray, Heim, Dillon, Eckes, Tanner Gray, Jack Wood and Ankrum were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, some including Rhodes, Taylor Gray, Dillon and Wood pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Spencer Boyd lost a jack on the track after dragging it out of his pit stall and onto the track. 

    Then on Lap 81, the field, led by Majeski was directed to pit road and the event was placed in a red flag period due to a lightning hold with lightning being reported near the circuit. With more lightning holds occurring along with a rapid increase of precipitation over the next several hours, NASCAR elected to postpone the remainder of the event to Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET on FS1. At the time of the red flag period, Majeski was scored the leader ahead of Caruth, Heim, Eckes and Tanner Gray while Ankrum, Chastain, Connor Jones, Sanchez and Jake Garcia were scored in the top 10. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 86 on Sunday morning, Caruth muscled away from Majeski and the field from the outside lane to inherit the lead through the first two turns. As Caruth led the race, Ankrum challenged Majeski for the runner-up spot as Heim and Connor Jones joined the battle. Caruth would retain the lead past the Lap 90 mark while Majeski was trying to narrow the gap. 

    Two laps later, however, the caution returned after Caruth, who was being pressured by Majeski for the lead through the first two turns, slid sideways and barely clipped Majeski before he spun his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST from the middle to the bottom apron of Turn 2 without getting hit by incoming traffic. During the caution period, some including Ankrum, Garcia, Friesen, Caruth and Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Majeski and Heim remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Friesen was penalized for speeding on pit road. 

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 98, Majeski muscled away from Heim to retain the lead. Majeski, who would then fend off an early challenge from Heim for the lead, would proceed to lead at the Lap 100 mark while Heim, Eckes, Jones and Sanchez trailed in the top five. Majeski would stabilize his advantage to nearly half a second over Heim just past the Lap 110 mark as Eckes, Jones and Sanchez continued to trail in the top five.  

    Following another caution period on Lap 116 due to Lawless Alan spinning in Turn 2, multiple competitors led by Majeski pitted while some led by Ankrum, who pitted during the initial caution period, remained on the track. During the next restart on Lap 123, Ankrum fended off Garcia and Jack Wood to retain the lead while Sanchez was penalized for changing lanes too soon. As the field behind jostled for spots, Ankrum would lead the halfway mark of the event on Lap 125 while Garcia, Friesen, Wood and Riggs trailed in the top five. 

    Then on Lap 137, the caution flew after Bret Holmes spun and wrecked in Turn 2. Holmes’ incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 140 to conclude under caution as Ankrum captured his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Garcia followed suit in second along with Friesen, Wood, and Riggs while Rhodes, Eckes, Heim, Daniel Dye and Grant Enfinger were scored in the top 10. 

    During the stage break, some including Matt Crafton, Dillon, Mason Massey, Matt Mills and Timmy Hill pitted while the rest led by Ankrum remained on the track. 

    With 104 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Ankrum and Garcia occupied the front row. At the start, Garcia muscled his No. 13 Quanta Services Ford F-150 way past Ankrum’s No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST and moved into the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Riggs then overtook Ankrum for the runner-up spot as Garcia retained the lead during the following lap.  

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Garcia was leading by two-tenths of a second over Riggs followed by Ankrum, Rhodes and Heim while Friesen, Enfinger, Wood, Eckes and Dye trailed in the top 10. In addition, Dean Thompson occupied 11th place ahead of Sammy Smith, Caruth, Stefan Parsons and Tanner Gray while Taylor Gray, Brenden Queen, Dillon, Jones and Chastain followed suit in the top 20. 

    Ten laps later, Garcia continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Riggs while Ankrum, Heim and Rhodes trailed in the top five. Garcia would proceed to lead by three-tenths of a second over Riggs with 80 laps remaining as Ankrum, Heim and Rhodes continued to trail in the top five. Another six laps later, the caution flew after Jones wrecked his No. 66 Farm Paint/ThorSport Racing entry in Turn 4. During the caution period, some including Wood, Caruth, Dillon, Parsons, Tanner Gray and Jones pitted while the rest led by Garcia remained on the track. 

    With the event restarting under green with 66 laps remaining, Heim challenged Garcia for the lead and overtook him for the top spot during the following lap. With clean air to his advantage, Heim stretched his lead to more than a second over Garcia with 60 laps remaining while Riggs, Eckes and Brenden Queen trailed in the top five within three seconds. 

    With 50 laps remaining, Heim extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Garcia as Riggs, Eckes and Queen trailed in the top five. Ankrum, Enfinger, Sammy Smith, Rhodes and Dye would trail in the top 10 as Heim stretched his lead to another second to three over Garcia with 40 laps remaining. 

    A few laps later, the caution returned after Dean Thompson, who was running 12th, spun and barely avoided hitting the outside wall in Turn 2 as he was also dodged by Chastain. 

    Down to the final 32 laps of the event, the event restarted under green as Heim muscled his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro away from Garcia and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. Riggs would move into the runner-up spot over Garcia as both Enfinger and Eckes trailed in the top five ahead of Queen and Sammy Smith while Heim led by a second with 25 laps remaining.  

    With less than 15 laps remaining, Heim stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Riggs as Enfinger, Queen and Sammy Smith were scored in the top five ahead of Eckes, Sanchez, Ankrum, Dye and Garcia. Heim’s advantage grew to nearly three seconds over Riggs with 10 laps remaining while third-place Enfinger trailed by three seconds. 

    Down to the final five laps, Heim continued to lead by more than three seconds over a three-truck battle for the runner-up spot involving Riggs, Enfinger and Queen while fifth-place Sammy Smith, who rallied from his opening lap penalty on Saturday, trailed by less than four seconds. Amid lapped traffic, Enfinger would overtake Riggs’ No. 38 Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150 for the runner-up spot while Queen tried to follow suit over Riggs. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Enfinger’s No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST. Despite having a flurry of lapped traffic in front of him, Heim utilized his large advantage to cruise around the North Wilkesboro circuit smoothly for a final time as he cycled back to the frontstretch to claim his third checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season. 

    With the victory, Heim, who became the first three-time winner of this season, notched his seventh career win in the Craftsman Truck Series and his second in the previous three races after winning at Kansas Speedway earlier in May. Heim also joined an exclusive club of Truck Series competitors to win at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a list that includes Kyle Larson, Mark Martin and Mike Bliss as he delivered the third victory of the season for both TRICON Garage and Toyota.

    NORTH WILKESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 19: Corey Heim, driver of the #11 Safelite Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Wright Brand 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 19, 2024 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images).

    “That was crazy,” Heim said on FS1. “A crazy weekend with the weather and what not, but I knew since practice we had the speed. [I] Can’t say enough about these TRICON Garage guys. What a truck, what a weekend. I knew we had potential from practice and we put it all together and executed great today.” 

    Both Enfinger and Riggs rallied from slow starts to this season by notching their first top-five runs in second and third, respectively. 

    “Overall, [today provided] the best execution of the season,” Enfinger said. “This is the third time, second in a row, we brought a really good, fast Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet. We haven’t been performing to our ability or our standards earlier on in the year. I feel like last week at Darlington was the turning point in our season and I’m standing by that. Very, very proud of this truck, proud of our pit crew all year long. Finally, we have a little bit of results to show for it.” 

    “We really needed this,” Riggs said. “We finally finished where we deserve to finish today. It was a great day for us and hopefully, we can just keep building this momentum.” 

    Meanwhile, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, a CARS Tour late model stock car standout from Chesapeake, Virginia, who notched four victories and settled in the runner-up spot in the 2023 standings, capitalized from being the fastest during Friday’s practice session by finishing in fourth place in his Truck Series debut while piloting the No. 1 Best Repair Company Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage. The solid top-five result also occurred after Queen rallied from an early pit road speeding penalty as he received a standing ovation from the North Wilkesboro crowd.  

    “Man, [this opportunity]’s what I’ve worked for my whole life and never knew if I’d get this opportunity,” Queen said. “I’m just blessed, man, and I just hope I can turn this into some more opportunities. I love racing my late model, but this is my dream to get to the next level. Those guys at the shop [TRICON Garage], they put the hours in and that’s why this truck’s fast. I’m the lucky guy that gets to hold the wheel…I’d love to be full-time [NASCAR racing] next year.” 

    Sammy Smith settled in fifth place while Eckes, Sanchez, Ankrum, Daniel Dye and Friesen finished in the top 10. Notably, Ty Majeski ended up 11th ahead of Jack Wood, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth and Ross Chastain. In addition, Jake Garcia drifted back to 21st ahead of Ben Rhodes while Matt Crafton settled in 20th.

    There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 58 laps. In addition, 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the 10th event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes leads the regular-season standings by four points over Corey Heim, 64 over Ty Majeski, 66 over Nick Sanchez and 98 over Taylor Gray. 

    Results:

    1. Corey Heim, 66 laps led 

    2. Grant Enfinger 

    3. Layne Riggs 

    4. Brenden Queen 

    5. Sammy Smith 

    6. Christian Eckes, 62 laps led 

    7. Nick Sanchez 

    8. Tyler Ankrum, 26 laps led, Stage 2 winner 

    9. Daniel Dye 

    10. Stewart Friesen 

    11. Ty Majeski, 50 laps led, Stage 1 winner 

    12. Jack Wood 

    13. Taylor Gray 

    14. Rajah Caruth, six laps led 

    15. Ross Chastain 

    16. Tanner Gray 

    17. Stefan Parsons 

    18. Matt Mills 

    19. Bayley Currey 

    20. Matt Crafton 

    21. Jake Garcia, 40 laps led 

    22. Ben Rhodes 

    23. Mason Massey 

    24. Chase Purdy 

    25. Ty Dillon 

    26. Timmy Hill 

    27. Dean Thompson, one lap down 

    28. Dawson Sutton, two laps down 

    29. Bret Holmes, three laps down 

    30. Lawless Alan, four laps down 

    31. Thad Moffitt, five laps down 

    32. Spencer Boyd, five laps down 

    33. Josh Reaume, five laps down 

    34. Clayton Green, five laps down 

    35. Connor Jones – OUT, Accident 

    36. Trey Hutchens – OUT, Transmission 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, May 24, and air at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • Corey Heim records dominant Truck victory at Kansas

    Corey Heim records dominant Truck victory at Kansas

    Corey Heim settled his score with Kansas Speedway by notching a dominant NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the Heart Of America 200 in the Heartland state on Saturday, May 4, after fending off Cup Series rookie Zane Smith for the top prize. 

    The 21-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led four times for a race-high 79 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he started in 13th place but quickly carved his way to the front as he led for the first time on Lap 12. Following an early battle with Zane Smith, Heim would proceed to win the first stage period before he would battle Christian Eckes and Smith for the lead during the second stage period. After regaining the lead from Nick Sanchez on the track with 65 laps remaining, Heim would have to re-cycle back into the lead with 32 laps remaining during a late cycle of green flag pit stops.

    Amid a late charge from Smith, Heim managed to maintain his ground and racing line along with navigating through lapped traffic to remain ahead of Smith and prevail for his second Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and his first at Kansas.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Chase Purdy notched his third Truck career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 175.735 mph in 30.728 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 175.713 mph in 30.732 seconds. 

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Jake Garcia, Mason Massey and Timmy Hill dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. Nick Sanchez also started at the rear of the field due to his Rev Racing entry failing the inspection process three times which prevented him from posting a qualifying lap. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chase Purdy muscled his No. 77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead from the field through the first two turns with the lead as teammate Connor Mosack and Ty Dillon took Ty Majeski three wide to assume second and third place on the track. With the field fanned out as far as four wide exiting the backstretch and back towards the frontstretch, Purdy proceeded to lead the first lap while teammate Mosack, who won the ARCA Menards Series event at Kansas earlier in the day, followed suit in second place. 

    A lap later, the event’s first caution flew when Majeski, who started on the front row but was losing a bevy of spots through the frontstretch, scraped the outside wall in Turn 1 after cutting a left-front tire. The incident pinned Majeski two laps behind the leaders as his pit crew attempted to keep Majeski’s No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 raceable. 

    As the event restarted under green on the sixth lap, Purdy retained the lead ahead of Zane Smith, Christian Eckes, Mosack and Ben Rhodes while the rest of the field behind started to fan out through the first two turns and through the backstretch. Purdy would lead the proceeding lap until Smith made a move beneath Purdy through Turns 3 and 4 to assume the lead. With Smith leading the race, Purdy was pressured by a hard-charging Corey Heim, who would claim the runner-up spot by the ninth lap, as Eckes tried to follow suit.  

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zane Smith was leading by a tenth of a second ahead of a hard-charging Heim followed by Purdy, Eckes and Rhodes while Daniel Dye, Ty Dillon, Mosack, Kaden Honeycutt and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. Behind, Rajah Caruth was in 11th ahead of Stewart Friesen, Brett Moffitt, Tyler Ankrum and Matt Crafton while Bayley Currey, Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Dean Thompson and Matt Mills were running in the top 20. 

    Two laps later, Heim ignited a side-by-side challenge against Smith for the lead, where Heim led the Lap 12 mark through the frontstretch before Smith led the following lap as both remained dead even for the lead. As Stewart Friesen pitted his No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro under green after getting into the wall a few laps earlier, Heim managed to muscle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead and clear Smith’s No. 91 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet Silverado RST to assume the lead with both lanes to his control by Lap 14. 

    At the Lap 20 mark, Heim was leading by half a second over Smith as Purdy, Eckes and Rhodes continued to follow suit in the top five. Behind, Honeycutt was up to sixth place ahead of Ty Dillon and Daniel Dye while Mosack and Taylor Gray were racing in the top 10. 

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim notched his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Zane Smith settled in second followed by Eckes, Purdy and Kaden Honeycutt while Rhodes, Mosack, Tyler Ankrum, Ty Dillon and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10. By then, Majeski, who lost several laps since the restart following his opening lap incident, took his truck to the garage as he retired in 33rd place, dead last. 

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for service for the first time in the event. Following the pit stops, Eckes emerged as the new leader after exiting pit road first followed by Honeycutt, Smith and Heim. Amid the pit stops, Dean Thompson, Daniel Dye and rookie Thad Moffitt were penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Jake Garcia was penalized for a pit box interference while Cam Waters, who was making his second Truck career start, was also penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.  

    During the pit stops, Lawless Alan overshot his pit box and hit his front tire changer Brandon Henry. As a result, Henry, who survived the incident, was taken to the infield care center while a new tire changer took over to complete the pit service. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Eckes and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes rocketed his No. 19 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead with the lead from the inside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. Amid the battles, Smith claimed the runner-up spot from Honeycutt while Nick Sanchez, who carved his way towards the front from the rear of the field and restarted in the top 10, was losing a bevy of spots as he was being pinned in the middle of a bevy of three-wide battles. Smith would then waste little time overtaking teammate Eckes to reassume the lead on Lap 39, but Eckes would pressure Smith on the track during the proceeding laps as he tried to reclaim the lead. 

    Through the Lap 45 mark, Smith retained the lead by a tenth of a second over teammate Eckes, who continued to intimidate his McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate for the top spot, while Heim, Honeycutt and Purdy followed suit in the top five. Behind, Nick Sanchez was up to sixth place as Moffitt, Mosack, Rhodes and Dillon were running in the top 10 ahead of Caruth, Tanner Gray, Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray and Ankrum. 

    Five laps later, Smith continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Heim as third-place/teammate Eckes trailed by a second. By then, Honeycutt and Purdy continued to run in the top five as Moffitt overtook Sanchez for sixth place. In addition, Caruth was up to 10th place as he trailed teammate Mosack and Rhodes on the track while Dillon dropped to 13th. Amid the on-track battles, Smith stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Heim by the Lap 55 mark. 

    When the second stage period ended on Lap 60, Smith cruised to his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim followed suit in second along with Eckes, Honeycutt and Purdy while Moffitt, Sanchez, Caruth, Mosack and Rhodes were scored in the top 10. By then, 27 of 33 starters were scored on the lead lap. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Smith returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Eckes reassumed the lead after exiting pit road first for the second time of the event followed by Heim, Honeycutt, Sanchez, Moffitt and Mosack while Smith exited out of pit road in eighth place. Amid the pit stops, Ankrum was assessed a safety violation penalty that sent him to the rear of the field from a top-15 running spot. 

    With 67 laps remaining, which marked the halfway mark of the event, the final stage commenced as Eckes and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes received a push from Sanchez on the inside lane to storm ahead with the lead through the first two turns as the field fanned out. Amid the field fanning out during the following lap, Sanchez cycled his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead before Heim used a crossover move on Sanchez through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. Honeycutt would muscle his No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST into the runner-up spot while Sanchez tried to fend off Eckes and Smith for third place. 

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Heim was leading by two-tenths of a second over Honeycutt followed by Smith, Eckes and Moffitt as Tanner Gray, Currey, Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Matt Crafton trailed in the top 10 ahead of Purdy, Rhodes, Dye, Mosack, Jake Garcia, Caruth, Thompson, Dillon, Bret Holmes and Enfinger. Meanwhile, rookie Layne Riggs was mired in 23rd ahead of Ankrum and Cam Waters. 

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Heim retained the lead by over two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Honeycutt as Smith, Eckes and Moffitt continued to run in the top five. Behind, brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray were running sixth and eighth while Currey was placed in the middle of the Gray brothers as Sanchez and Crafton continued to trail in the top 10. 

    Ten laps later, Heim extended his advantage to a second over Honeycutt, who closed in on Heim for the lead earlier before losing ground, as Smith, Eckes and Moffitt continued to trail in the top five. 

    Shortly after, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Heim led Smith and a bevy of competitors to pit road for service before Honeycutt led another group of leaders, including Eckes and Moffitt, to pit road with 39 laps remaining. By then, Rajah Caruth pitted under green two laps earlier as more pitted during the proceeding laps while Daniel Dye, who has yet to pit, was leading. Mason Massey, who also has yet to pit, would then assume the lead with 34 laps remaining as Dye pitted under green. Amid the pit stops, Purdy lost multiple laps due to a loose wheel during his green flag pit service. 

    Then with 32 laps remaining, Heim cycled back into the lead after Massey pitted under green. Smith would cycle into second place followed by Eckes and Honeycutt as Heim was scored the leader by three seconds with 30 laps remaining. 

    With 25 laps remaining, Heim retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Smith while Eckes, Honeycutt and Moffitt were racing in the top five. Behind, Tanner Gray, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Timmy Hill and Currey were in the top 10. Hill would then pit during the following lap before Taylor Gray slapped the outside wall in Turn 2 after sustaining a flat right-front tire to his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Amid Gray’s incident, where he pitted, the race remained under green flag conditions as Heim stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Smith with 20 laps remaining. 

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Heim continued to lead by two seconds over Smith while Eckes trailed in third place. As Honeycutt and Moffitt trailed in the top five, the following names that included Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Currey, Thompson and Crafton were racing in the top 10 as Dye, Enfinger, Caruth, Bret Holmes and Dillon followed suit in the top 15. 

    Five laps later, Heim’s advantage decreased to just over a second over Smith, who was trying to narrow the deficit between himself and the leader, while third-place Eckes trailed by four seconds. Honeycutt and Moffitt continued to run in the top five and sixth-place Sanchez trailed the lead by 16 seconds while Heim stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Smith with five laps remaining. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by a second over a hard-charging Smith. As Smith tried to narrow the gap while Heim was mired in lapped traffic through the backstretch, the latter was able to stabilize his advantage to perfection and cruise his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro back to the frontstretch victorious for his second checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season. 

    With the victory, Heim notched his seventh career win in the Craftsman Truck Series, his first since winning at Circuit of the Americas this past March and his first at Kansas after finishing within the top four during both Truck Kansas events in 2023. Heim also joins Eckes as the only two series regulars to achieve multiple victories thus far into the 2024 Truck Series season while also delivering the second victory of the season for both TRICON Garage and the Toyota nameplate.

    Heim’s Kansas victory also extends his strong start to the 2024 season as he has finished in the top 10 through the first eight events on the schedule while he also continues his pursuit for his first Truck Series championship. The Georgia native will also be making his second Cup Series career start as a relief competitor for Legacy Motor Club and the injured Erik Jones on Sunday. 

    “[I] Can’t say enough about these guys at TRICON Garage,” Heim said on FS1. “Top to bottom, we executed so well today. Pit crew, everyone back at the shop at TRICON Garage. What a truck. Definitely struggled with being free for most of the race, so I can’t say it was easy, but even with the balance I had, this truck has so much more potential to get better. [I] Really wanted this one today and drove my butt off for it.” 

    “[I] Just keep getting better, keeping that gap ahead of the second place guy’s the main thing,” Heim added. “I feel like we were so due on this place and I really wanted this one today, so I knew we were gonna be capable of winning today. It’s about putting some more consistency together for the rest of the year and going after that championship.” 

    Smith, a Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year candidate who led three times for 29 laps, settled in second place in his fourth and final Truck Series start of the 2024 season, all while piloting the No. 91 entry for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. Amid his strong run, Smith expressed his disappointment in losing a bevy of spots from the lead on pit road prior to the final stage period.

    “I was surprised with how much we caught [Heim] there at the very end,” Smith said. “[You] Can’t lose eight spots on pit road. I let that [race] got away there.” 

    Teammate Christian Eckes, who led 11 laps, came home in third place followed by Kaden Honeycutt, who notched his first top-five career result after finishing fourth, while Brett Moffitt finished in fifth place in his first of select starts driving for TRICON Garage. 

    “It definitely sucks to come that close and not finish the job, but still a great run,” Honeycutt said. “You got to crawl before you walk, so this is the start of something of our part-time schedule.” 

    “It was a good night,” Moffitt added. “[I] learned a lot and we’ll move onto the next one and hopefully, be a little bit better.”  

    Nick Sanchez rallied from starting at the rear of the field to finish sixth while Tanner Gray, Dean Thompson, Daniel Dye and Matt Crafton finished in the top 10. 

    Notably, Rajah Caruth finished 13th, Rhodes ended up 16th behind Ty Dillon, Ankrum ended up 20th, Taylor Gray was mired in 27th, and pole winner Chase Purdy concluded his event in 28th place. In addition, rookie Layne Riggs and Cam Waters, both of whom made contact on the frontstretch prior to the event’s conclusion and had a heated post-race discussion on pit road, finished 18th and 19th, respectively.   

    There were 13 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 16 laps. In addition, 14 of 33 starters finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the eighth event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, which marks the halfway mark of this year’s regular-season stretch, Corey Heim leads the regular-season standings by seven points over Christian Eckes, 49 over Nick Sanchez, 65 over Ty Majeski and 80 over Tyler Ankrum. 

    Results. 

    1. Corey Heim, 79 laps led, Stage 1 winner 

    2. Zane Smith, 29 laps led, Stage 2 winner 

    3. Christian Eckes, 11 laps led 

    4. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led 

    5. Brett Moffitt 

    6. Nick Sanchez, one lap led 

    7. Tanner Gray 

    8. Dean Thompson 

    9. Daniel Dye, four laps led 

    10. Matt Crafton 

    11. Bayley Currey 

    12. Grant Enfinger 

    13. Rajah Caruth 

    14. Bret Holmes 

    15. Ty Dillon, one lap down 

    16. Ben Rhodes, one lap down 

    17. Jake Garcia, one lap down 

    18. Layne Riggs, one lap down 

    19. Cam Waters, one lap down 

    20. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down 

    21. Mason Massey, one lap down, two laps led 

    22. Timmy Hill, two laps down 

    23. Matt Mills, two laps down 

    24. Thad Moffitt, two laps down 

    25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down 

    26. Lawless Alan, two laps down 

    27. Taylor Gray, three laps down 

    28. Chase Purdy, three laps down, seven laps led 

    29. Mason Maggio, three laps down 

    30. Connor Mosack, three laps down 

    31. Spencer Boyd, five laps down 

    32. Jennifer Jo Cobb, six laps down 

    33. Ty Majeski – OUT, DVP 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Buckle Up South Carolina 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, May 10, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • Hamlin fends off Larson for third Cup victory of 2024 at Dover

    Hamlin fends off Larson for third Cup victory of 2024 at Dover

    Denny Hamlin earned a monstrous NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Würth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 28, after fending off Kyle Larson during a 62-lap dash to the finish while dominating the final stage period. 

    The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, led twice for a race-high 136 of 400-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and ran up front throughout the event.

    Hamlin accumulated a handful of stage points during the first two stage periods before leading for the first time before the start of the third stage after squeezing his way past Larson and Alex Bowman on pit road during the second stage break period and pit cycle. 

    Despite being beaten off of pit road by Larson during a cycle of green flag pit stops with nearly 80 laps remaining, Hamlin quickly reassumed the lead from Larson during a late-race restart period with 72 laps remaining before he had to fend off Larson again during another restart period with 62 laps remaining.

    Despite having an advantage that stretched as high as one second evaporate in the closing laps while mired within a bevy of lapped traffic, which enabled Larson to gain ground, Hamlin managed to fend off Larson’s late-race charge during the final 62-lap run to claim his third Cup Series victory of the 2024 season as he won by two-tenths of a second over Larson.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, April 27, Kyle Busch secured his first Cup pole position of the 2024 season and the 34th of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 162.191 mph in 22.196 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ryan Blaney, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 161.951 mph in 22.229 seconds. 

    Before the event, Christopher Bell and Zane Smith dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Kaz Grala also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car due to wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Busch launched his No. 8 FICO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead from the outside lane as he led the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out and battled for early spots, Busch led the first lap ahead of Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick while Denny Hamlin and William Byron battled for fourth place in front of Noah Gragson. 

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Busch was leading by half a second over Blaney as Reddick, Byron and Hamlin followed suit in the top five while Gragson, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe and Alex Bowman battled in the top 10. Amid the early on-track battles, Busch retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Blaney by the Lap 10 mark. 

    At the Lap 25 mark, Busch continued to lead Blaney by three-tenths of a second, with Reddick, Byron and Hamlin battling behind in the top five. Gragson, McDowell, Allmendinger, Briscoe and Bowman continued to run in the top 10 as Busch stabilized his lead to nearly three-tenths of a second over Blaney by the Lap 30 mark. 

    On Lap 34, Blaney made his move beneath Busch through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead in his No. 12 Würth Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Nearing the Lap 40 mark, however, the event’s first caution period flew after Todd Gilliland slid up the track beneath Austin Dillon through Turns 3 and 4 before spinning his No. 38 A&W Ford Mustang Dark Horse towards the frontstretch’s inside wall.  

    During the event’s first caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Byron, Hamlin, Reddick, Busch, McDowell, Gragson, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.. Amid the pit stops, Reddick made contact with newcomer Corey Heim while trying to exit his pit box and Bell had to reverse his No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Camry XSE to have a wheel tightened. In addition, Michael McDowell was penalized for speeding. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 47, Blaney muscled ahead from the inside lane as he retained the lead through the first two turns. Meanwhile, Byron was being challenged by Reddick for the runner-up spot. Through Turns 3 and 4, Hamlin went up the track through Turns 3 and 4, which cost him a handful of spots and dropped him to seventh by the Lap 50 mark, where he was racing behind Kyle Busch, Briscoe, Gragson and Martin Truex Jr. By then, Blaney was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over Byron. 

    At the Lap 70 mark, Blaney extended his advantage to nearly a second over Byron while Reddick, Busch and Truex were scored in the top five ahead of Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Stenhouse and Gragson. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece, who had smoke brewing inside of his No. 41 Morton Buildings Ford Mustang Dark Horse and who pitted early, took his car to the garage and eventually became the first retiree of the event. 

    Nine laps later, Byron implemented a crossover move on Blaney through the backstretch to muscle his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ahead as he assumed the lead for the first time of the day. Behind, Reddick retained third place ahead of a hard-charging Truex while Busch was in fifth ahead of Larson and Hamlin. 

    By Lap 100, Byron was leading by a second over Reddick, who claimed the runner-up spot from Blaney a few laps earlier, while Truex battled Blaney for third place. Behind, Busch retained fifth ahead of Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Elliott and Stenhouse while Allmendinger, Gragson, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher trailed in the top 15. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was back in 16th as Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric, rookie Josh Berry and Christopher Bell occupied the top 20. 

    Fourteen laps later and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Truex, who zipped past Reddick’s No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE a lap earlier, muscled his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE into the lead as Byron was having issues trying to navigate past the lapped competitor of Daniel Suarez. Truex would proceed to drive away from Byron as Reddick attempted to battle Byron for the runner-up spot. 

    Then with three laps remaining in the first stage period, the caution flew after Brad Keselowski, who was battling Gragson in the top 15, spun from the middle to the apron of the track in Turn 2 as he emerged with a flat right-rear tire to his No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Keselowski’s incident was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 120 to conclude under caution as Truex claimed his second Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Byron settled in second followed by Reddick, Blaney and Larson while Hamlin, Busch, Bowman, Elliott and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Truex pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Truex retained the lead after exiting pit road first just ahead of Byron as Blaney, Reddick, Hamlin, Larson, Busch, Bowman, Elliott and Allmendinger exited suit in the top 10. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 129 as Truex and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Truex and Byron battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns before Truex muscled ahead from the outside lane through the backstretch. As Truex led the field back to the frontstretch during the proceeding lap, Byron, Reddick and Blaney followed suit from second to fourth, respectively, while Hamlin and Larson battled dead even for fifth place in front of Bowman, Busch and Elliott. 

    Just past the Lap 140 mark, Truex was leading by six-tenths of a second over Byron while Reddick, Blaney and Larson were racing in the top five ahead of Hamlin, Bowman, Busch, Elliott and AJ Allmendinger. Stenhouse, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric and Ty Gibbs followed suit in the top 15 as Truex extended his advantage to a second over Byron by the Lap 150 mark. 

    Through the first 165 scheduled laps, Truex continued to lead by more than a second over Byron followed by Reddick, Blaney and Larson, all of whom continued to race in the top five, as Hamlin, Bowman, Busch, Elliott and Allmendinger also continued to run in the top 10. Behind, Stenhouse, Wallace, Busch, Gibbs and Cindric were scored in the top 15 ahead of Berry, Chastain, Gragson, Bell and Logano while Carson Hocevar, Daniel Hemric, Briscoe, John Hunter Nemechek and Corey LaJoie were mired in the top 25. Meanwhile, Corey Heim, who was making his Cup Series debut while substituting for the injured Erik Jones in the No. 43 Dollar Tree/Petty 75th Toyota Camry XSE, was in 26th ahead of Daniel Suarez, McDowell, Justin Haley and Keselowski. 

    Fifteen laps later, Truex extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Byron while Larson was up to third place as Reddick and Blaney followed suit in the top five. Behind, Bowman, Hamlin, Busch, Elliott and Stenhouse continued to run in the top 10 while Wallace moved up to 11th as he was ahead of Buescher, Gibbs, Berry and Chastain. 

    Another three laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Bell, Allmendinger and Cindric pitted before Byron and Larson pitted during the following lap. The leader Truex would pit under green on Lap 184 along with Bowman, Hamlin, Elliott and Reddick while more names including Blaney and Busch pitted by Lap 186. With more of the leaders making pit stops, Corey LaJoie, who has yet to pit, was leading in his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Larson, who managed to exit pit road ahead of Truex, was running in third place. LaJoie would continue to lead the race and remain on the track by the Lap 190 mark as Larson trailed LaJoie by 19 seconds. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 200, LaJoie, who continued to run on the track on old tires and fuel, was leading by more than 13 seconds over Larson while Truex, Reddick and Bowman occupied the top five ahead of Hamlin, Busch, Elliott, Blaney and Stenhouse. Meanwhile, Wallace, Gibbs, Buescher and Allmendinger rounded out the top 14 competitors who were scored on the lead lap while Bell was the first competitor scored a lap down in 15th place. 

    Eighteen laps later, Larson tracked and overtook LaJoie, who had led 33 laps, to assume the race lead. With LaJoie pitting under green just past the Lap 220 mark, teammate Bowman moved his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the runner-up spot while Hamlin, Truex, Busch, Elliott, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace were running in the top 10.  

    By Lap 235, Larson retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Bowman while Hamlin trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Truex trailed the lead by a second in fourth place followed by Elliott, who trailed the lead by two seconds, as Busch, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace continued to race in the top 10 ahead of Gibbs, Allmendinger, Bell, Buescher and Berry. Meanwhile, Keselowski, who scraped the outside wall 15 laps earlier, was mired in 34th place and scored multiple laps down after pitting to address a flat tire to his entry.  

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 250, Larson, who was mired in lapped traffic, captured his sixth Cup stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Bowman settled in second followed by Hamlin, Truex and Elliott while Busch, Reddick, Blaney, Stenhouse and Wallace were scored in the top 10. By then, 21 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap while Daniel Hemric managed to fend off Corey Heim to be the first competitor scored a lap down and the recipient of the free pass. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Larson returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hamlin, who was in a tight three-wide squeeze against Bowman and Larson to exit pit road first, managed to fend off both to exit first as Larson and Bowman followed suit in second and third, respectively. Busch and Truex exited in the top five as Elliott, Blaney, Reddick, Wallace and Gibbs all exited pit road in top-10 spots. 

    With 142 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Hamlin and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Hamlin rocketed his No. 11 Mavis, Brakes, Tires Toyota Camry XSE ahead from the outside lane as he led the field through the first two turns and the backstretch while Larson retained second ahead of teammate Bowman and Busch. Truex was mired back in fifth ahead of Blaney, Elliott, Gibbs, Reddick, Stenhouse, Wallace, Bell and Berry, as Hamlin retained the lead with 140 laps remaining. 

    With 130 laps remaining, Hamlin extended his advantage to three seconds over Larson as Bowman, Busch and Truex trailed in the top five by five seconds. Hamlin would stabilize his advantage to three seconds over Larson with 120 laps remaining before the advantage slightly decreased to two seconds with 110 laps remaining. Behind, Bowman, Busch and Truex continued to run in the top five. 

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Hamlin was leading by two seconds over Larson followed by Busch, Truex and Bowman while Blaney, Elliott, Gibbs, Reddick and Wallace were running in the top 10. Behind, Stenhouse, Berry, Allmendinger, Chastain and Bell were in the top 15 ahead of Buescher, Briscoe, Byron, Gragson and Logano while Cindric, Hemric, LaJoie, Corey Heim and Nemechek were trailing in the top 25. 

    Then with nearly 80 laps remaining, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Truex pitted before a bevy of names led by the leader Hamlin peeled off the track to pit a lap after. Then as the cycle of green flag pit stops continued, the caution flew with 79 laps remaining after Stenhouse, who was running in the top 10 earlier and trying to merge back onto the track following his green flag pit stop, made contact with Berry that sent Stenhouse’s No. 47 Hungry Jack Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 spinning towards the inside wall in Turn 2.

    At the moment of caution, Hemric, who had yet to pit, was leading while Larson, Hamlin, Busch and Truex followed suit in the top five. During the caution period, however, Hemric pitted along with Bowman and Busch, which enabled Larson to cycle back as the leader. 

    During the following restart period with 72 laps remaining, Larson and Hamlin battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Hamlin started to muscle ahead through the backstretch. The caution, however, quickly returned after rookie Zane Smith made contact with Bubba Wallace through the first two turns.

    It resulted in Wallace spinning his No. 23 Xfinity/U.S. Air Force Toyota Camry XSE towards the bottom of the backstretch as he was then hit on the right side by Byron, who had collided into Bell as Bell hit the inside wall head-on before Wallace and resulted with all three eliminated from contention with wrecked cars. The incident marked Bell’s second wreck of the weekend after he crashed during Saturday’s qualifying session.

    As the event restarted under green with 62 laps remaining, Hamlin fended off Larson and teammate Truex to retain the lead through the first two turns. Hamlin proceded to lead the following lap ahead of Larson and Truex while Gragson and Elliott battled for fourth place in front of Busch, Blaney and Hemric, with Bowman and Chastain racing in the top 10.  

    With 50 laps remaining, Hamlin extended his advantage to more than a second over Larson as Truex, Gragson and Elliott were scored in the top five ahead of Busch, Blaney, Hemric, Bowman and Chastain. Behind, Gibbs, Reddick, Berry, Allmendinger and Cindric occupied the top 15 as Cindric, Logano, Buescher, Briscoe and Nemechek were in the top 20. 

    Fifteen laps later, Hamlin stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Larson while Truex, Gragson and Busch trailed under five seconds in the top five. Behind, sixth-place Elliott trailed by more than five seconds as Blaney, Hemric, Bowman and Chastain continued to run in the top 10. 

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Hamlin, who was mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson, who was slowing clipping away Hamlin’s advantage in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, as third-place Truex trailed by two seconds. Behind, Gragson and Kyle Busch continued to run in the top five ahead of Elliott, Blaney, Hemric, Bowman and Chastain while Gibbs, Reddick, Berry, Allmendinger and Cindric were in the top 15. 

    Five laps later, Hamlin’s advantage decreased to within four-tenths and half a second as Larson continued to gain ground on him for the top spot. Larson would trail the leader Hamlin by two-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining as both were mired within lapped traffic and with Larson trying to steer across different sections of the circuit to gain more ground on Hamlin. 

    Down to the final five laps of the event and with the leaders mired in more lapped traffic, Hamlin was leading by a tenth of a second over Larson. Despite Larson making continuous efforts around the turns and the straightaways to narrow the gap between himself and Hamlin, Hamlin managed to maintain both his ground and lane as he also started to blend within Larson’s advantageous line to move in front of Larson, stall his momentum with the dirty air retain the top spot. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin remained as the leader by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson. Despite Larson’s final lap effort to go up the track to gain a draft for two final corners, Hamlin managed to keep himself in front of Larson for a final circuit and navigated back to the frontstretch victorious for his third checkered flag of the 2024 Cup Series season. 

    With the victory, Hamlin scored career win No. 54 in NASCAR’s premier series, which placed him in a tie with Lee Petty for 12th place on the all-time Cup Series wins list. Hamlin also racked up his second victory at Dover along with the fourth of the season and the fifth for Toyota through the first 11 events on the 2024 Cup schedule. The 2024 season marks Hamlin’s eighth season of notching at least three victories in a Cup Series season. 

    “Just a great team,” Hamlin said on FS1. “This whole Mavis, Tires, Brakes team just did a great job. All the guys on the wall right here, they’re the ones that make it happen. Thank you to them. [Crew chief] Chris Gabehart, [spotter Chris] Lambert, the whole team, for just giving me a great car. Man, I love winning. Kyle [Larson] did a great job executing on that green flag pit cycle. We were able to get the lead there on that restart, which allowed us, with the caution, to control the restarts. That was the key moment for us. Man, it certainly feels good winning here at Dover.” 

    Larson, who led 39 laps compared to Hamlin’s race-high 136 and won the second stage period, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season. The result, however, was enough for the 2021 Cup Series champion to maintain the lead in the regular-season standings. 

    “I could pace [the car] and get closer to [Hamlin] at the end of the runs, but it’s just so easy to air block,” Larson said. “Not that he was doing anything dirty or anything like that. It’s just so easy as the leader, especially at a place like this, to shut off the air on the guys behind you. I knew when I got within three car lengths, he was gonna start moving around. I just couldn’t really do anything. I was trying all sorts of different angles and speeds, all that, and nothing could generate enough speed to get close enough to do anything. That was a bummer.” 

    Martin Truex Jr., who led 69 laps and won the first stage period, settled in third place for his third top-five result of the season while pole-sitter Kyle Busch, who led 34 laps, and Chase Elliott finished in the top five. 

    Noah Gragson, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Daniel Hemric and Ty Gibbs ended up in the top 10 in the final running order. 

    Notably, Tyler Reddick, winner of last weekend’s Cup event at Talladega Superspeedway, ended up 11th ahead of Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Josh Berry and Austin Cindric. In addition, Joey Logano ended up 16th ahead of Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez, Corey LaJoie came home 21st despite leading 33 laps, Corey Heim settled in 22nd place in his Cup Series debut while substituting for the injured Erik Jones and Jimmie Johnson ended up 28th behind Austin Dillon in his third Cup start of the 2024 season.  

    There were 12 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 42 laps. In addition, 17 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the 11th event of the 2024 Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the regular-season standings by 15 points over Martin Truex Jr., 33 over Chase Elliott, 49 over Denny Hamlin, 56 over Tyler Reddick, 62 over William Byron and 68 over Ryan Blaney. 

    Results. 

    1. Denny Hamlin, 136 laps led 

    2. Kyle Larson, 39 laps led, Stage 2 winner 

    3. Martin Truex Jr., 69 laps led, Stage 1 winner 

    4. Kyle Busch, 34 laps led 

    5. Chase Elliott 

    6. Noah Gragson 

    7. Ryan Blaney, 47 laps led 

    8. Alex Bowman 

    9. Daniel Hemric, five laps led 

    10. Ty Gibbs 

    11. Tyler Reddick 

    12. Ross Chastain 

    13. AJ Allmendinger 

    14. Josh Berry 

    15. Austin Cindric 

    16. Joey Logano 

    17. Chris Buescher 

    18. Daniel Suarez, one lap down 

    19. Chase Briscoe, one lap down 

    20. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down 

    21. Corey LaJoie, two laps down, 33 laps led 

    22. Carson Hocevar, three laps down 

    23. Justin Haley, three laps down 

    24. Zane Smith, three laps down 

    25. Corey Heim, three laps down 

    26. Harrison Burton, three laps down 

    27. Austin Dillon, four laps down 

    28. Jimmie Johnson, five laps down 

    29. Kaz Grala, six laps down 

    30. Brad Keselowski, 17 laps down 

    31. Todd Gilliland, 21 laps down 

    32. Bubba Wallace – OUT, Accident, one lap led 

    33. William Byron – OUT, Accident, 36 laps led 

    34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident 

    35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident 

    36. Michael McDowell – OUT, Hub 

    37. Ryan Preece – OUT, Safety 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, May 5, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • Kyle Busch fends off Heim for record-tying sixth Truck victory at Texas

    Kyle Busch fends off Heim for record-tying sixth Truck victory at Texas

    With a bevy of young guns squaring off and pounding against him through a series of late-race restarts, Kyle Busch had enough horsepower to fend off all of the youngsters’ challengers, including protege Corey Heim on the final lap, to score a big NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, April 12. 

    The two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led a race-high 112 of 167 scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and swept both stage periods. After cycling his way back into the lead during an extensive caution period starting with 37 laps remaining that interrupted a late green-flag pit stop sequence and prior to a restart period with 26 laps remaining, Busch would then be challenged by a bevy of young challengers that included Heim, Nick Sanchez and Christian Eckes during two late-race restarts. Despite losing the lead to Eckes during the final restart with 10 laps remaining, Busch would reassume the top spot two laps later and then fend off a late charge from Heim to clinch his second Truck victory of the 2024 season and his record-tying sixth at Texas.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Nick Sanchez notched his first Truck pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 184.811 mph in 29.219 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Christian Eckes, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 184.363 mph in 29.290 seconds. 

    Prior to the event, Tyler Ankrum and Tanner Gray dropped to the rear of the field in backup trucks after both wrecked their respective primary trucks separately during the event’s practice session earlier in the day. Rajah Caruth, Bret Holmes and Memphis Villarreal also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Nick Sanchez and Christian Eckes battled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Sanchez managed to muscle his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4, where he would lead the first lap. 

    Just past the first lap, the event’s first caution flew after rookie Thad Moffitt, who was running outside of the top 20, went up the track through Turns 1 and 2. Despite avoiding the outside wall, Moffitt then tried to steer his truck to the left to regain his momentum, where he just missed hitting Kris Wright before he collided with Tyler Ankrum. Memphis Villarreal was also involved as Moffitt’s damaged truck spun back across the track in the backstretch, thus knocking Ankrum, Moffitt and Villarreal out of the competition. 

    As the event restarted under green on the eighth lap, Sanchez and Eckes battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns as the field fanned out entering the backstretch. Through the following two turns and back to the frontstretch, Sanchez again muscled ahead to retain the lead from Eckes while Stewart Friesen and Kyle Busch battled for third in front of Daniel Dye, Grant Enfinger and rookie Layne Riggs. 

    Three laps later, the caution returned after Rajah Caruth, who barely dodged the event’s multi-truck incident on the first lap, spun his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST through Turn 2, but he was able to keep his truck from hitting the outside wall as he proceeded without any damage. During the caution period, a handful of competitors including Caruth and Bayley Currey pitted while the rest led by Sanchez remained on the track. 

    During the following restart on Lap 16, Eckes received a strong push from Busch on the outside lane to assume the lead just past the frontstretch and he would retain the top spot through the backstretch and during the proceeding lap while Busch proceeded to battle Sanchez for the runner-up spot. With Sanchez and Busch battling for the runner-up spot in front of Friesen and Zane Smith, Eckes retained the lead in his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST just past the Lap 20 mark. 

    Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading over Sanchez followed by Busch, Zane Smith and Daniel Dyle while Friesen, Layne Riggs, Enfinger, Corey Heim and Taylor Gray were running in the top 10. Behind, Dean Thompson occupied 11th place in front of Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Johnny Sauter and Ty Majeski while Jake Garcia, Stefan Parsons, Ben Rhodes, Connor Jones and Lawless Alan were racing in the top 20 ahead of Bret Holmes, Matt Mills, Bayley Currey, Ty Dillon and Tanner Gray. 

    Ten laps later, Eckes retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Busch while third-place Sanchez trailed by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Zane Smith and Dye were running fourth and fifth, respectively, while Friesen trailed in sixth by five seconds along with Riggs, Enfinger, Heim and Taylor Gray. 

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 40, Kyle Busch, who assumed the lead from Eckes two laps earlier, proceeded to capture his fourth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes settled in second ahead of Sanchez, Zane Smith and Friesen while Dye, Riggs, Enfinger, Heim and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the entire field led by Busch pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Busch retained the lead after he exited first followed by Eckes, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Heim and Matt Mills. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 46 as Busch and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Busch, who restarted on the inside lane, retained the lead while Heim overtook Eckes to claim the runner-up spot amid a brief three-wide battle that also involved Sanchez. As a series of battles within the field ensued, where even four-wide action occurred, Heim started to challenge Busch for the lead, where he would draw his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro dead even against Busch’s No. 7 Realtree Chevrolet Silverado RST nearing the Lap 50 mark, before Busch retained the top spot ahead of Heim as Sanchez tried to join the battle. 

    At the Lap 55 mark, Busch was leading by six-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Sanchez, Eckes and Taylor Gray while Zane Smith, Dye, Enfinger, Riggs and Matt Crafton followed suit in the top 10. Busch would proceed to extend his advantage to more than a second over Heim and by more than two seconds over Sanchez by Lap 60 while Eckes and Taylor Gray continued to run in the top five. 

    By Lap 70, Busch continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Heim while third-place Sanchez also trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Eckes continued to run in fourth place as he trailed the lead by three seconds while Taylor Gray occupied fifth place as he trailed the lead in his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro by nearly five seconds. As Zane Smith, Riggs, Dye, Enfinger and Sauter occupied the top-10 spots on the track, Busch would stabilize his advantage to two seconds by Lap 75 while Sanchez and Eckes overtook Heim for second and third. 

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 80, Busch captured his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the night and the fifth of his part-time campaign after stabilizing his lead to more than two seconds. Sanchez and Eckes followed suit in second and third, respectively, along with Heim and Taylor Gray while Riggs, Zane Smith, Dye, Enfinger and Sauter were scored in the top 10. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Busch returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Busch retained the lead after exiting pit road first while Taylor Gray, Eckes, Sanchez and Heim followed suit in the top five. 

    With 81 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Busch and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Busch and Gray battled dead even for the lead in front of Eckes and Sanchez before Busch muscled ahead from the inside lane through the first two lanes. With Busch leading, Eckes would follow suit in second place before Heim would assume the spot shortly after. Eckes would then return the favor with 80 laps remaining as he would reclaim the runner-up spot while Sanchez was in fourth ahead of Taylor Gray, who dropped to fifth in front of Enfinger, Riggs and Ty Majeski. 

    With 75 laps remaining, Busch was leading ahead of a tight battle for the runner-up spot between Heim and Eckes while Taylor Gray followed suit in fourth place ahead of Sanchez, Enfinger, Riggs, Zane Smith, Dye and Majeski. Busch would extend his advantage to nearly a second over both Heim and Eckes with less than 70 laps remaining while Sanchez and Taylor Gray trailed by a second in the top five. 

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Busch, who was mired in lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Eckes while Sanchez, Heim and Taylor Gray trailed by within four seconds in the top five on the track. A lap later, Johnny Sauter pitted his Niece Motorsports entry under green. Chase Purdy would pit his Spire Motorsports entry a few laps later along with Daniel Dye before Sanchez pitted with 46 laps remaining along with Grant Enfinger.  

    Starting with 45 laps remaining, more names that included Heim, Majeski, Taylor Gray, Bayley Currey and Dean Thompson pitted under green while Busch, who was among multiple names who have yet to pit, continued to lead ahead of Eckes. Then with 40 laps remaining, Busch surrendered the lead to pit under green. By then, more names that included Crafton, Stefan Parsons, Ben Rhodes and Friesen pitted before Eckes, who assumed the lead, pitted a lap later.  

    With 37 laps remaining, the caution flew after Layne Riggs, who pitted on Lap 110 under green due to a right-rear tire issue and was off the lead lap category, spun and slapped his No. 38 Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150 against the outside wall in Turn 2. By then, Zane Smith, who pulled off the track to pit road for service, opted to drive his No. 91 SpeedyCash.com entry through pit road, past his pit stall and back onto the track without pitting as he retained the lead ahead of Busch, Heim, Taylor Gray, Eckes, Sanchez and Lawless Alan, all of whom were scored on the lead lap.  

    During the caution period, Zane Smith surrendered the lead to pit while the rest of the field led by Busch remained on the track as Busch cycled back into the lead. In addition, the following drivers including Enfinger, Majeski, Friesen, Daniel Dye, Sauter, Dean Thompson, Crafton and Stefan Parsons took the wave around to cycle back onto the lead lap, thus placing 16 competitors on the lead lap. 

    Following an extensive caution period, the race restarted under green with 26 laps remaining as Busch and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Busch and Heim battled for the lead ahead of Eckes and Taylor Gray before Busch muscled ahead with the lead on the inside lane. Behind, Taylor Gray assumed the runner-up spot as he was battling Eckes to retain the spot while Heim was trying to fend off Sanchez and Zane Smith for fourth place. As Riggs endured another on-track incident while running in the rear of the field, the event remained under green flag conditions.  

    Shortly after, the caution returned with 22 laps remaining after Kris Wright, who was piloting TRICON Garage’s No. 1 entry and mired a lap down, made contact with Mason Massey before he spun sideways in between Turns 1 and 2, where he would get hit by Stewart Friesen’s No. 52 Chili’s entry that caused Wright to collide back against the outside wall while Friesen spun sideways. 

    Down to the final 17 laps of the event, the field restarted under green, where a three-wide action for the lead ensued between Eckes, Busch and Heim before Eckes and Busch both muscled ahead and battle for the lead themselves while Heim dropped to fourth behind teammate Taylor Gray. Amid the tight battles towards the front, the caution, however, quickly returned when Dean Thompson, who was running 12th, got loose and tapped Enfinger entering Turn 3, thus sending both spinning through the turn as Enfinger backed his truck against the wall and Matt Crafton hit Thompson while trying to avoid the incident while Sauter got loose as he just avoided the incident. At the moment of caution, Eckes was scored the leader ahead of Busch. 

    During the following restart with 10 laps remaining, Eckes muscled away from the field with the lead as Busch, who struggled to launch on the outside lane, was left to battle Heim for the runner-up spot through the first two turns. Busch would fend off Heim for the runner-up spot through the backstretch before he ignited his battle with Eckes for the lead during the following two laps. Busch would then overtake Eckes for the lead through the frontstretch with eight laps remaining while Heim, who drafted Busch into the lead, followed suit. Eckes would then go wide entering the backstretch, which allowed Sanchez to assume third place. 

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Busch was leading by three-tenths of a second over Heim, who kept Busch within his sights, while third-place Sanchez trailed the lead by half a second. As Eckes and Daniel Dye trailed in the top five, Heim started to close in on Busch for the lead. Despite narrowing the gap to within a tenth of a second on Heim’s side, Busch, who was trying to navigate his way around different lanes around the Texas circuit while trying to break Heim’s draft and pull away, retained the lead over Heim. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Busch remained as the leader by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Heim. Following the first two turns, Heim then closed in on Busch’s rear bumper with momentum and made a brief move on the inside lane before Busch blocked and stalled his momentum. While Heim kept Busch close within his sights and within a tenth of a second, he could not generate another charge to Busch as Busch was able to cycle back to the frontstretch and beat Heim to claim the checkered flag by a tenth of a second. 

    With the victory, Busch notched his 66th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series, his sixth in the Lone Star state, which ties him with Todd Bodine for the most series victories at Texas, and his second of the 2024 season, with his first occurring at Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February. He also recorded his second series victory driving for Spire Motorsports and his fourth with veteran crew chief Brian Pattie. 

    Tonight’s victory at Texas makes Busch two-for-four in this year’s Truck Series season, where he previously finished 15th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and second at Bristol Motor Speedway in March to coincide with his Atlanta victory. He is scheduled to make his fifth and final Truck start of the 2024 season at Darlington Raceway on May 10. 

    “Great team, everybody here at Spire [Motorsports],” Busch said on FS1. “[I] Appreciate [crew chief] Brian Pattie and everybody that was able to work so hard to prepare us a really fast Realtree Silverado. There’s cooler [wins], but [the competition] definitely kept me honest, I’ll give them that. Corey [Heim] kept us honest right there. He started to find that top [lane] over there and to get some momentum over there. I tried it with three [laps] to go. I chattered really bad, so my front just wasn’t working over there. I needed more laps on my tires to be able to get up there to make that work, but he made it. [He] Got to my rear bumper getting into [Turn] 3 and I just kind of was like, ‘I don’t know which way to go.’ So I ran the middle [lane] and darted bottom and then, he slipped up top. So, I guess we had enough of a gap after that.” 

    Heim, who won at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in late March, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time and for his fifth top-three result through seven events on the 2024 schedule. The result also marks his second time finishing in second place on the track behind his former team owner, Kyle Busch.

    “I did all I could there, trying to take [Busch] through in the last restart and got the caution, unfortunately, and then just trying to build a run on him,” Heim said. “He’s just too good. He does a really good job. Really happy with our run tonight. To finish second is a good day for us and we’ll build on it and get better.” 

    Sanchez, the pole winner, came home in third place while Eckes and Zane Smith finished in the top five. Daniel Dye, Taylor Gray, Tanner Gray, Stefan Parsons and Ty Majeski ended up in the top 10 on the track. 

    There were seven lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 40 laps. In addition, 17 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the seventh event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes continues to lead the regular-season standings by two points over Corey Heim, 12 over Ty Majeski, 27 over Nick Sanchez and 38 over Taylor Gray. 

    Results. 

    1. Kyle Busch, 112 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner 

    2. Corey Heim 

    3. Nick Sanchez, 16 laps led 

    4. Christian Eckes, 31 laps led 

    5. Zane Smith, eight laps led 

    6. Daniel Dye 

    7. Taylor Gray 

    8. Tanner Gray 

    9. Stefan Parsons 

    10. Ty Majeski 

    11. Lawless Alan 

    12. Rajah Caruth 

    13. Stewart Friesen 

    14. Bayley Currey 

    15. Matt Crafton 

    16. Dean Thompson 

    17. Johnny Sauter 

    18. Connor Jones, one lap down 

    19. Jake Garcia, one lap down 

    20. Mason Massey, one lap down 

    21. Timmy Hill, one lap down 

    22. Bret Holmes, one lap down 

    23. Ty Dillon, one lap down 

    24. Ben Rhodes, two laps down 

    25. Chase Purdy, two laps down 

    26. Matt Mills, two laps down 

    27. Spencer Boyd, five laps down 

    28. Keith McGee, eight laps down 

    29. Grant Enfinger – OUT, Accident 

    30. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident 

    31. Layne Riggs – OUT, Accident 

    32. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident 

    33. Memphis Villarreal – OUT, Accident 

    34. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The event is scheduled for May 4 and airs at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • Chandler Smith prevails for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Richmond

    Chandler Smith prevails for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Richmond

    Chandler Smith’s strong start to the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season continued into Easter weekend with a late victory in the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, March 30. 

    The 21-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led twice for 76 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and finished in the top 10 during both stage periods before he made his first appearance as the race leader with 87 laps remaining after he navigated his way past teammate Aric Almirola.

    Despite restarting in 15th place after pitting during the final restart period with 68 laps remaining, Smith was able to quickly carve his way back to the front and he reassumed the top spot with 60 laps remaining. From there, he maintained a reasonable gap between himself and Almirola while leading the rest of the way en route to his second Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and his second in a row at Richmond.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Parker Retzlaff notched the first pole position for himself and Jordan Anderson Racing after he posted a pole-winning lap at 120.428 mph in 22.420 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Brandon Jones, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 119.915 mph in 22.516 seconds. 

    Prior to the event, Joey Gase dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Retzlaff rocketed ahead with the lead followed by Cole Custer, who drew alongside Retzlaff for a full lap, starting in Turn 1, and nearly took the lead from the inside lane. Retzlaff was able to use the outside lane to muscle ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he led the first lap while the field behind jostled for early spots.  

    Through the second to fifth lap mark, the field began to fan out as Retzlaff maintained a reasonable lead over both Custer and Justin Allgaier while Brandon Jones settled in fourth ahead of Chandler Smith and Corey Heim. Retzlaff would retain the lead by the Lap 10 mark by three-tenths of a second over Allgaier as Custer fell to third ahead of Chandler Smith and Jones. 

    Just shy of the Lap 20 mark, the event’s first caution period flew after Ryan Vargas came to a stop on the frontstretch as his car went up in smoke, starting in Turn 4. During the event’s first caution period, some including Garrett Smithley, Patrick Emerling, Blaine Perkins and Joey Gase pitted while the rest led by Retzlaff remained on the track. 

    When the event restarted on Lap 27, Retzlaff fended off both Custer and Allgaier as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. Through the backstretch, however, Custer and Retzlaff made contact, which got Retzlaff loose as Allgaier made his move on the outside lane and assumed the lead. Allgaier would retain the lead by the Lap 35 mark as Corey Heim moved into the runner-up spot while Custer, Aric Almirola, Retzlaff and Brandon Jones were running in the top six.  

    By Lap 43, the event’s second caution period flew after Jones, who was running in the top six, slipped sideways entering the first two turns after his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro went up in smoke, where he then made contact with the outside wall as Ryan Sieg spun after running over Jones’ spilled fluid. The incident occurred just after Allgaier overtook Heim for the lead. During the caution period, some including AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Clements, Shane van Gisbergen and Brennan Poole pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. 

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 56, Allgaier and Heim battled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as Aric Almirola trailed closely in third. Allgaier would then muscle ahead of Heim by the Lap 60 mark while Almirola moved into the runner-up spot. As the battles within the field ensued between those running on fresh tires versus those on old tires, Almirola assumed the lead over Allgaier by Lap 64.  

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 75, Almirola captured his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Poole settled in second ahead of Heim, Allgaier and Herbst while Mayer, Chandler Smith, Custer, Gray and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola pitted. Following the pit stops, Almirola retained the lead after he exited pit road first followed by Allgaier, Riley Herbst, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer and Brennan Poole. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 84 as Almirola and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola rocketed ahead with the lead from the inside lane while Allgaier, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Hill battled within the top five. Almirola would stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Herbst by the Lap 90 mark as Chandler Smith, Allgaier and Hill remained in the top five ahead of Parker Kligerman, Mayer, Cole Custer, newcomer Taylor Gray and Sam Mayer. 

    On Lap 95, the caution returned after Logan Bearden hit Garrett Smithley before he spun in Turn 4. During the caution period, some including Hailie Deegan, Dawson Cram and Ryan Sieg pitted while the rest led by Almirola remained on the track. 

    With the event restarting on Lap 101, Almirola fended off a brief challenge by teammate Chandler Smith past the frontstretch and through the first two turns while the field fanned out. As Kligerman scrapped the outside wall after making contact with Custer through the first two turns, Almirola retained the lead ahead of teammate Chandler Smith. Almirola would continue to lead by nearly a second by the Lap 110 mark as Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Herbst trailed in the top four followed by a side-by-side battle between Hill and Mayer. Amid the battles towards the front, Sheldon Creed was black-flagged for having smoke billow out of his car due to a right-rear brake issue. 

    At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Almirola was scored the leader by more than a second over teammate Chandler Smith followed by Allgaier, Herbst and Hill while Mayer, Gray, Sammy Smith, Retzlaff and Love were running in the top 10 ahead of Heim, Custer, Kyle Weatherman, Josh Williams and Allmendinger. Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen was in 16th while Kligerman, Bubba Pollard, DiBenedetto and Jeb Burton occupied the top 20 spots on the track. 

    Fifteen laps later, Almirola extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammate Chandler Smith while third-place Mayer also trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, newcomer Taylor Gray trailed by more than five seconds in fourth place while Allgaier occupied fifth in front of Hill, Heim, Herbst, Retzlaff and Custer. 

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 150, Almirola captured his second consecutive Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Mayer settled in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Gray and Heim while Allgaier, Hill, Retzlaff, Custer and Logan Bearden were scored in the top 10. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Mayer, Gray and Hill while Chandler Smith dropped and exited pit road in fifth place ahead of Allgaier and Custer. 

    With 91 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Almirola and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola retained the lead over Mayer, whose left-front fender was smoking due to making contact with Heim during the second stage’s break period. With Mayer remaining on the track for the following lap, he would be overtaken by Chandler Smith while Hill, Allgaier and Custer were running in the top six. Chandler Smith would then proceed to overtake teammate Almirola for the lead with 87 laps remaining. 

    With 78 laps remaining, the caution flew after Joey Gase, who was running towards the rear of the field, was punted by Dawson Cram entering the first turn, which sent Gase spinning and colliding into the outside wall, which terminated his run. Amid the incident, however, Gase expressed his displeasure to Cram by ripping out the rear bumper out of his wrecked car and tossing it at Cram during the caution period. 

    During the caution period, some led by teammates Chandler Smith and Almirola pitted while others led by Allgaier remained on the track. 

    With the event restarting under green with 67 laps remaining, Allgaier and Custer battled for the lead in front of Retzlaff and Herbst while Chandler Smith was trying to carve his way back to the front on fresh tires. Seven laps later, Smith reassumed the top spot after navigating his way past Allgaier and Custer. 

    With 45 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by nearly two seconds over teammate Almirola while Jesse Love, Heim and Allgaier were racing in the top five ahead of Hill, Gray, Herbst, Kligerman and Custer. 

    Fifteen laps later, Chandler Smith retained the lead by more than a second over teammate Almirola while Heim, Love and Gray were racing in the top five. Smith would extend his advantage by more than two seconds over Almirola with 20 laps remaining. 

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Chandler Smith continued to lead by more than three seconds over teammate Almirola while Heim, Gray and Love were running in the top five. Meanwhile, Bubba Pollard was up to sixth place while Hill, Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Allgaier were running in the top 10 as Chandler Smith stabilized his advantage by three seconds with five laps remaining. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Chandler Smith remained as the leader by four seconds over teammate Almirola. As teammate Gray overtook Heim for third place, Smith was on cruise control for a final circuit as he cycled his No. 81 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra back to the frontstretch for a final time and to claim his second checkered flag of the 2024 Xfinity season. 

    With the victory, Chandler Smith, who has finished in the top eight through the first six events on the 2024 schedule, notched his third Xfinity Series career win in his 42nd series start and his first since winning at Phoenix Raceway in early March. He also notched his second consecutive series victory at Richmond Raceway and he joined Austin Hill as the only competitors to repeat as race winners during the 2024 Xfinity season. 

    “Never give up, never give up,” Smith said on FS1. “This car was not good, Stage 1 wasn’t good, wasn’t good in Stage 2, but we were able to do some strategy there with our Mobil 1 GR Supra and this thing was as fast as Xfinity Internet when it counted. I’m back here winning races here on a consistent basis. I think we took over the points lead again too, so I’m just blessed. I’m beyond blessed.” 

    As Chandler Smith celebrated on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, teammate Aric Almirola, who led a race-high 95 laps compared to Smith’s 76, settled in the runner-up spot in his third Xfinity start of the 2024 season. 

    “We just got a little bit too loose,” Almirola said. “The run before that in Stage 2, when I took off my car was really, really good. At the end, it just felt a little tight and that last run for whatever reason, different set of tires or what, I let Chandler go, and when I started to just creep back to him, I didn’t have anything to go with. I was too loose in and I couldn’t get throttle down on exit. [I] Hate that to win both stages and feel like we had the dominant car and then to let it slip away there at the end, is disappointing. Still a fun week, this weekend, coming back to Richmond 18 years after making my first start for Coach [Gibbs]. I really wanted to put this [No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota Supra] into Victory Lane today, but it’s gonna have to wait.” 

    Newcomer Taylor Gray capped off a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3 finish by achieving a third-place finish in his series debut while Corey Heim and Jesse Love finished in the top five. Newcomer Bubba Pollard also delivered with a sixth-place finish in his Xfinity debut while Kilgerman, Hill, Sammy Smith and Custer finished in the top 10 on the track. 

    With today’s Xfinity event at Richmond serving as a qualifying event for the first Dash 4 Cash round of the 2024 season, race winner Chandler Smith along with Aric Almirola, Jesse Love and Parker Kligerman have qualified for the first Dash 4 Cash round that will occur next Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. 

    There were 14 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 51 laps. In addition, nine of 38 starters finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the sixth event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Chandler Smith leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over Austin Hill, 41 over Cole Custer, 67 over Jesse Love, 71 over Riley Herbst and 80 over AJ Allmendinger. 

    Results. 

    1. Chandler Smith, 76 laps led 

    2. Aric Almirola, 95 labps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner 

    3. Taylor Gray 

    4. Corey Heim, 15 laps led 

    5. Jesse Love 

    6. Bubba Pollard 

    7. Parker Kligerman 

    8. Austin Hill 

    9. Sammy Smith 

    10. Cole Custer one lap down, seven laps led 

    11. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, 28 laps led 

    12. Josh Williams, one lap down 

    13. Riley Herbst, one lap down 

    14. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down 

    15. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down 

    16. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down, 27 laps led 

    17. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down 

    18. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down 

    19. Josh Bilicki, one lap down 

    20. Leland Honeyman, one lap down 

    21. Garrett Smithley, one lap down 

    22. Logan Bearden, one lap down 

    23. Kyle Sieg, one lap down 

    24. Jeremy Clements, one lap down  

    25. Dawson Cram, two laps down 

    26. Jeb Burton, two laps down 

    27. Ryan Ellis, two laps down 

    28. Brennan Poole, two laps down 

    29. Anthony Alfredo, two laps down 

    30. Sam Mayer, four laps down 

    31. Hailie Deegan, nine laps down 

    32. Ryan Sieg, 30 laps down 

    33. Blaine Perkins, 69 laps down 

    34. Joey Gase – OUT, Accident 

    35. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Brakes 

    36. Patrick Emerling – OUT, Brakes 

    37. Brandon Jones – OUT, Engine 

    38. Ryan Vargas – OUT, Engine 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the DUDE Wipes 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 6, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • Heim wins the XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas

    Heim wins the XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas

    Corey Heim has enough fuel to capture his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) win of the season on Saturday in the XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).  Heim and the Tricon Garage No. 11 Toyota led a race-high of 31 laps for his win at the 3.41-mile road course and the sixth of his NCTS career.

    “On the last lap of the last restart, I stuttered a little bit on the right-handers because the fuel pick up is on the other side. The whole fuel load would go to the other side. I thought I was going to be out by the time I came around, but luckily I had a couple of left-handers at the end of the course, and I had fuel, but regardless of that, I’m super thankful for everyone at TRICON Garage, Toyota Racing.” Heim said. 

    “I worked my butt off for this one. With the one (road course) race a year for the Truck Series, I felt like it was just so important for me to prove my road course ability. I knew I needed to capitalize on today, and I did. After it was done with all of the late cautions, I was glad it was over, and it was time to celebrate. It definitely means a lot,” Heim added.

    Teammate Taylor Gray recovered from an early penalty and stretched his fuel mileage to finish second in the Tricon’s No. 17 Toyota.  The second-place finish ties his career-best with a runner-up finish and also gives TRICON Garage their first 1-2 finish.

    “I can’t thank everyone at TRICON Garage enough for bringing me a really good JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. I thought I ruined our race at the beginning of the race by getting that penalty, but just can’t thank all of our guys enough. We put ourselves in position and Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) did a great job with the strategy, just couldn’t attack on those last couple of laps. Something to figure out on how to give him a little bit of a tougher race at the end, but those guys executed all day long, and we have to keep executing ourselves,” said Gray.

    Ty Majeski finished third. Polesitter and rookie Connor Zilisch recovered from a lap down and finished fourth after overshooting the first turn on the first lap, and NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain rounded out the top five.

    The rear-end housing broke off the No. 04 Roper Racing Chevrolet driven by Marco Andretti, bringing out the red flag and extending the race by four laps.

    Heim leads the series standings by 10 points over Majeski, Tyler Ankrum is third, Gray fourth, and Rajah Caruth rounds out the top-5 in the standings after five races.

    The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the Long John Silver’s 200 on April 5th for the sixth race of the season at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – XPEL 225
    Circuit of The Americas
    Austin, Texas
    Saturday, March 23, 2024
    (Pos, Driver, Make, Laps)

    1. Corey Heim, Toyota, 46.
    2. Taylor Gray, Toyota, 46.
    3. Ty Majeski, Ford, 46.
    4. Connor Zilisch, Chevrolet, 46.
    5. Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 46.
    6. Jack Hawksworth, Toyota, 46.
    7. Ben Rhodes, Ford, 46.
    8. Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 46.
    9. Dean Thompson, Toyota, 46.
    10. Tanner Gray, Toyota, 46.
    11. Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 46.
    12. Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 46.
    13. Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 46.
    14. Jake Garcia, Ford, 46.
    15. Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 46.
    16. Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 46.
    17. Timmy Hill, Toyota, 46.
    18. Nick Sanchez, Chevrolet, 46.
    19. Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 46.
    20. Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 46.
    21. Carter Fartuch, Ford, 46.
    22. Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 46.
    23. Matt Crafton, Ford, 46.
    24. Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 46.
    25. Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 46.
    26. Dale Quarterley, Toyota, 45.
    27. Layne Riggs #, Ford, 43.
    28. Daniel Dye, Chevrolet, 42.
    29. Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 42.
    30. Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 42.
    31. Marco Andretti, Chevrolet, Suspension, 40.
    32. Thad Moffitt #, Chevrolet, 39.
    33. Lawless Alan, Ford, Rear Gear, 34.
    34. Vicente Salas, Chevrolet, Transmission, 33.
    35. Mason Massey, Chevrolet, Brakes, 32.
  • Rajah Caruth earns first Truck Series career victory from pole position at Las Vegas

    Rajah Caruth earns first Truck Series career victory from pole position at Las Vegas

    In a race weekend that commenced on a high note by achieving his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career pole position, Rajah Caruth concluded the weekend by achieving another first: his first Truck Series career victory as he raced his way to victory in the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 1. 

    The 21-year-old Caruth from Washington D.C. led twice for 38 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he commenced on a high note by achieving his first career pole position and leading the field to the green flag. Despite losing the lead early, Caruth, who led for the first time on Lap 34 after exiting pit road with the lead, kept in touch with the front-runners throughout the entire event as he achieved top-three results during both stage periods. Then amid a cycle of green flag pit stops with 34 laps remaining, Caruth, who outlasted a late battle against Taylor Gray, cycled into the lead with 21 laps remaining and managed to withstand lapped traffic and a late charge from points leader Tyler Ankrum to claim his first career victory in his 30th series’ start.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Rajah Caruth notched his first Truck Series career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 177.043 mph in 30.501 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Christian Eckes, who clocked in the second-fast qualifying lap at 177.038 mph in 30.502 seconds. 

    Prior to the event, rookie Layne Riggs dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his Front Row Motorsports entry. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Caruth and Eckes dueled for the lead entering the first two turns and through the backstretch in front of two stacked lanes until Eckes muscled ahead on the inside lane and led the first lap ahead of Caruth. As the field fanned out to three lanes, Eckes maintained the lead over Kyle Busch, who overtook teammate Caruth for the runner-up spot as Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum followed suit in the top five.

    On the third lap, the event’s first caution flew when Bayley Currey slipped underneath Chase Purdy while battling for a top-12 spot amid a three-wide battle that also involved Matt Crafton as Currey backed his No. 41 Niece Motorsports entry into the backstretch’s outside wall before he slid back down across the track and towards the inside wall with significant rear end damage. 

    When the race restarted under green on the seventh lap, Eckes briefly fended off Busch for the lead entering the first turn until Busch used the outside lane along with a push from teammate Caruth to assume the lead through the backstretch, with Eckes slipping back to second as he was being challenged by Majeski. Amid the early battles ensuing behind, Busch maintained the lead ahead of Majeski, Eckes and Caruth while Stewart Friesen and Tyler Ankrum battled for fifth in front of Grant Enfinger.

    Through the Lap 10 mark, Busch was leading by more than two-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Caruth, Friesen and Eckes while Ankrum, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Nick Sanchez and Christopher Bell were running in the top 10. Behind, Corey Heim was in 11th ahead of Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Ben Rhodes and Dean Thompson while Taylor Gray, Jake Garcia, Daniel Dye, Ty Dillon and Bret Holmes occupied the top 20 on the track. 

    Four laps later, Majeski engaged in a side-by-side battle with Busch for the lead through the frontstretch as Caruth joined the battle. After dueling against Busch through the backstretch, Majeski muscled ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he was out in front through the frontstretch before Busch reassumed the top spot through the first two turns just past the Lap 15.  Amid another side-by-side battle with Majeski, Busch muscled back ahead just past the Lap 16 mark as teammate Caruth started to battle Majeski for the runner-up spot. Majeski, however, would reassume the lead on Lap 19. He would be followed by Caruth while Busch, who started to battle tight conditions, was battling Friesen for third place. 

    At the Lap 25 mark, Majeski was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Caruth while Friesen, Ankrum and Bell were in the top five. Meanwhile, Busch had fallen to seventh behind Heim while Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Zane Smith were running in the top 10. In addition, Eckes, who led early, was mired back in 13th behind Crafton and Sanchez while Rhodes was mired 15th in between Dean Thompson and Tanner Gray. 

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Majeski captured his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Caruth settled in second followed by Friesen, Ankrum and Heim while Bell, Taylor Gray, Busch, Enfinger and Crafton were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski steered to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Caruth emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Busch, Heim, Majeski, Enfinger and Crafton. Amid the pit stops, Bell was penalized for equipment interference while rookie Thad Moffitt was also penalized for his pit crew being over the wall too soon. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 36 as teammates Caruth and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Caruth received a push from Majeski to retain the lead from the inside lane while Busch battled and prevailed over a brief battle with Majeski for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. During the following lap, however, Busch drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Caruth for the lead. With Heim and Majeski following suit in close-quarters racing, Caruth would muscle back ahead of Busch by Lap 40. He would retain the lead by a narrow margin during the proceeding laps while Busch, Heim and Majeski ran second through fourth, respectively, as they were separated within half a second.

    By Lap 45, Caruth was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Majeski while teammate Busch trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Heim and Taylor Gray were in the top five while Sanchez, Crafton, Enfinger, Ankrum and Zane Smith occupied the top 10 in front of Friesen, Eckes, Thompson, Tanner Gray and Dye. 

    Five laps later, Caruth continued to lead by less than two-tenths of a second over Majeski. Majeski, however, would navigate his way back into the lead over Caruth entering the frontstretch during the following lap. Heim would then battle Caruth for the runner-up spot while Busch, Taylor Gray and Sanchez trailed in the top six. Meanwhile, Bell was up in 16th place following his early pit road penalty. 

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Majeski captured his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim prevailed in a late battle against Caruth for the runner-up spot followed by Taylor Gray and Busch while Sanchez, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Friesen and Crafton were scored in the top 10. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Busch emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Taylor Gray, Majeski, Heim, Sanchez, Enfinger, Crafton and Caruth followed suit. 

    With 68 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Taylor Gray and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Busch fended off Gray to emerge with the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Busch would lead ahead of Gray and Majeski for nearly a lap just before the caution returned after Thompson, who was running 11th, smacked the outside wall entering the frontstretch.  

    When the race restarted with 62 laps remaining, Busch maintained a narrow advantage over both Majeski and Taylor Gray through the first two turns before he was overtaken by Majeski, who was being drafted by Sanchez as Enfinger fanned out and made a three-wide move in an attempt to gain ground on Busch towards the front, though Busch maintained third place in front of Enfinger, Heim and Caruth. With the field still fanning out and jostling for late spots, Majeski retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Sanchez followed by Heim while Caruth, Taylor Gray and Busch followed closely in the top six with 60 to go. 

    A few laps later, Sanchez battled and overtook Majeski for the lead through the frontstretch. With Sanchez out in front, Caruth would challenge Majeski for the runner-up spot followed by Heim and Taylor Gray while Busch and Ankrum battled for sixth place. Heim would then take the lead from Sanchez with 53 laps remaining while Majeski, Caruth and Taylor Gray fiercely battled for third place. As Ankrum and Busch joined the tight battle towards the front, Heim would retain the lead by two-tenths of a second over Majeski with 50 laps remaining before the latter assumed the top spot a lap later. 

    With 40 laps remaining, Heim, who reassumed the lead five laps earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while Majeski, Caruth and Ankrum trailed in the top five ahead of Sanchez, Busch, Bell, Rhodes and Eckes. Meanwhile, Friesen, who hit the backstretch wall and pitted under green with a flat right-front tire, was mired back in 27th and two laps down, while Crafton, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Riggs and Zane Smith were running in the top 15. 

    Six laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Daniel Dye pitted followed by Eckes, Enfinger, Caruth, Busch and Majeski before the leader Heim pitted with 30 laps remaining. Ankrum would also pit while Taylor Gray would pit during the proceeding lap. As the green flag pit stops continued, Majeski and Sanchez were assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road while Busch would be penalized for a safety violation. With more names that included Tanner Gray, Jake Garcia, Bret Holmes, Bell and Purdy also pitting under green, Gray would be penalized for a commitment line violation. By then, Mason Massey, who has yet to pit, was leading while Taylor Gray and Caruth battled for the runner-up spot. 

    Then with 21 laps remaining, Massey, who led the previous six laps, pitted under green. This moved Caruth into the lead as he was ahead by nearly a second over Taylor Gray while Heim, Ankrum and Bell were scored in the top five ahead of Eckes, Crafton, Dye, Enfinger and Rhodes. 

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Caruth extended his advantage to more than a second over Taylor Gray while third-place Ankrum trailed in third place by two seconds ahead of Heim and Bell. A lap later, however, Ankrum would overtake Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot and set his sights on Caruth while Gray proceeded to fend off Heim for third place. 

    Five laps later and with the leader navigating through lapped traffic, Caruth continued to lead by more than a second over a hard-charging Ankrum while Heim, Taylor Gray and Bell were running in the top five ahead of Eckes, Crafton, Enfinger, Zane Smith and Rhodes were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Majeski was back in 11th ahead of Garcia, Holmes, Connor Jones and Busch while Sanchez was back in 17th ahead of Purdy. 

    With five laps remaining, Caruth stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Ankrum and by more than two seconds over third-place Heim while Taylor Gray and Heim remained in the top five. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Caruth remained as the leader by more than a second over Ankrum. With Ankrum trying to mount a final lap charge, Caruth was able to stabilize his steady advantage and navigate his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST around the Vegas circuit smoothly for a final time as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag in the series by eight-tenths of a second over Ankrum. 

    With the victory, Caruth, whose first career victory came in his 30th series start, became the 124th competitor to achieve a victory in the Truck Series and the second first-time winner of the season after Nick Sanchez achieved his first career victory at Daytona International Speedway two weeks earlier. He also became the third African-American competitor to win across NASCAR’s top three national touring series and the second to do so in the Truck Series since Bubba Wallace made the first accomplishment in October 2013 while also delivering the fourth career victory for Spire Motorsports. Caruth also delivered the first victory for crew chief Chad Walter.

    “It’s surreal,” Caruth said on FS1. “Thank you so much to HendrickCars.com, Mr. [Hendrick] for putting me in this [Spire Motorsports truck] all year along with the men and women at Spire. They’ve had a lot of work this winter and the decal shop’s been working very hard too. Glad to get the win for Team Chevy. Can’t thank my family enough. So many people have helped me get to this point. I can’t believe it. I just stayed cool. We lost track position a little portion of the race. We just stayed in the game and it was just one step. One punch, one round at a time. My [pit] guys had me a great stop and we just executed. There’s more [wins] to come, for sure.”

    Tyler Ankrum, the series’ points leader, settled in the runner-up spot while Corey Heim, Taylor Gray and Christopher Bell finished in the top five. Christian Eckes rallied to finish sixth while Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski ended up in the top 10.

    Notably, Kyle Busch ended up in 15th place ahead of Chase Purdy while Nick Sanchez finished 17th.

    There were 19 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 19 laps. In total, all but one of 32 starters finished the event while 13 finished on the lead lap.

    Following the third event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Tyler Ankrum continues to lead the regular-season standings by five points over Ty Majeski, seven over Corey Heim and 10 over Rajah Caruth.

    Results. 

    1. Rajah Caruth, 38 laps led

    2. Tyler Ankrum 

    3. Corey Heim, 18 laps led

    4. Taylor Gray, four laps led

    5. Christopher Bell, two laps led

    6. Christian Eckes, seven laps led

    7. Matt Crafton 

    8. Zane Smith 

    9. Grant Enfinger 

    10. Ty Majeski, 40 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner 

    11. Jake Garcia 

    12. Bret Holmes 

    13. Ben Rhodes 

    14. Connor Jones, one lap down

    15. Kyle Busch, one lap down, 13 laps led

    16. Chase Purdy, one lap down, one lap led

    17. Nick Sanchez, one lap down, five laps led 

    18. Stewart Friesen, one lap down 

    19. Connor Mosack, one lap down 

    20. Tanner Gray, one lap down 

    21. Mason Massey, one lap down, six laps led

    22. Layne Riggs, one lap down 

    23. Lawless Alan, one lap down 

    24. Daniel Dye, two laps down 

    25. Thad Moffitt, two laps down 

    26. Ty Dillon, two laps down 

    27. Keith McGee, three laps down 

    28. Bayley Currey, five laps down 

    29. Spencer Boyd, six laps down 

    30. Dean Thompson, nine laps down 

    31. Matt Mills, nine laps down 

    32. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur on March 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • NASCAR 2024: Las Vegas Entry List Preview for triple-header feature

    NASCAR 2024: Las Vegas Entry List Preview for triple-header feature

    With the first two events of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule highlighted with two dramatic finishes on two restrictor-plate circuits in the rearview mirror, the teams and competitors venture off for a two-race West Coast swing between the states of Nevada and Arizona to commence the month of March.

    It all begins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, a city spotlighted with recent major sporting events and triumphs, from both the Vegas Golden Knights and the Las Vegas Aces achieving recent championships in the NHL and WNBA, respectively, to Formula 1 hosting its inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix through the Vegas Strip last November and Super Bowl LVIII occurring in the city’s Allegiant Stadium between the San Francisco 49ers and the eventual champions Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago.

    This upcoming weekend is set to mark the first of two scheduled visits this season in Sin City for both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity divisions while the Craftsman Truck Series division will make its lone, annual visit to Vegas’s 1.5-mile speedway venue before entering a one-week break period.

    The main attraction for this weekend’s triple-header feature is the Cup Series’ Pennzoil 400 which will occur this upcoming Sunday, March 3, and cap off the triple-header feature.

    With 37 participants entered for Sunday’s main event, which will ensure all entered competitors make the main event, the competitor who headlines the entry list is Daniel Suarez, who is coming off a dramatic three-wide photo finish against Cup Series champions Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he nipped Blaney at the finish line by 0.003 seconds, that snapped Suarez’s one-year winless drought and register his second Cup career victory. Despite registering only two top-10 results in 13 Cup career starts at Vegas, the Monterrey, Mexico, native strives to extend his early momentum that could land him and Trackhouse Racing in Victory Lane for a second consecutive weekend.

    William Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 champion, and teammate Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, also headline the entry list as both Hendrick Motorsports’ competitors each won a Cup Vegas event a year ago (Byron in March and Larson in October). With HMS’ competitors winning four of the last six Cup events at Vegas, all four Hendrick competitors, including Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, strive to extend the team’s strong early start into their 40th anniversary of NASCAR competition.

    Currently, Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion and a native of Las Vegas, leads this year’s Cup Series regular-season standings following his third-place run at Atlanta. Busch, who achieved his first and only Cup victory to date at Vegas in 2009, strives to strike gold in front of his home crowd come Sunday’s main event while his competition that includes Byron, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Elliott, Suarez, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Larson and Corey LaJoie strive to spoil Busch’s homecoming.

    A notable newcomer to this weekend’s Cup entry list is Derek Kraus, who will make his first select Cup Series starts this season in Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. The 22-year-old Kraus from Stratford, Connecticut, graduates to a part-time Cup Series campaign for the first time after spending this past season as a part-time Xfinity Series competitor for Kaulig Racing while also serving as a simulator competitor for both Kaulig and Legacy Motor Club. He is also the 2019 ARCA Menards Series West champion who competed in three full-time Craftsman Truck Series seasons (2020-22).

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Another newcomer featured for Sunday’s event is JJ Yeley, who will return to pilot the No 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing for his first official Cup start of the 2024 season two weeks after he fell short of qualifying for this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500.

    2024 Pennzoil 400 Entry List

    A day before the Cup Series action, the Xfinity Series will host The LiUNA! which will feature 38 participants contesting from 38 starting spots.

    The competitor who headlines the entry list is Austin Hill, who is two-for-two in this year’s Xfinity schedule following recent superspeedway victories at Daytona and Atlanta. With the Winston, Georgia, native having won the spring Xfinity Vegas event a year ago, Hill will attempt to become the first competitor to commence a new season of Xfinity Series competition by winning the first three events on a schedule.

    Another competitor who headlines the list is Riley Herbst, a 25-year-old Las Vegas native who scored his first Xfinity career victory at his home track last October and is currently ranked in third place in this year’s Xfinity regular-season standings as he strives for back-to-back victories at home.

    Both Hill and Herbst are not the only Xfinity regulars off to a strong start to the 2024 season. Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith and Parker Retzlaff, all of whom have finished in the top five in the first two events of this season, strive to extend their early momentum and potentially land their first victory of the season. In addition, rookie Jesse Love, who is also last year’s ARCA Menards Series champion from Menlo Park, California, strives for redemption after leading a race-high 157 laps a week ago at Atlanta, only to run out of fuel during an overtime shootout and settling in 12th place in the final running order. The list also includes AJ Allmendinger, who won at Vegas in 2021, and rookie Shane van Gisbergen, who recorded his first top-three result by finishing third last weekend at Atlanta as he will make his first career start at Vegas.

    Notably, Aric Almirola will make his first Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season as part of a part-time campaign with Joe Gibbs Racing. He was initially scheduled to share the No. 20 JGR Toyota Supra entry with John Hunter Nemechek throughout this season. Instead, Almirola will pilot the No. 19 Supra this weekend, an entry that had been piloted by Ryan Truex for the first two events on the 2024 calendar, while Nemechek returns to pilot the No. 20 entry for his third of 10 scheduled starts.

    Photo by Tim Jarrold for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Corey Heim, a full-time Truck Series competitor for TRICON Garage and a Toyota Racing Development competitor, will also be featured in Saturday’s Xfinity event as he will make his first of select Xfinity starts in the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing.

    Currently, the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet Camaro entry is entered for Saturday’s event, though a driver has yet to be named. In addition, the No. 36 DGM Racing Chevrolet entry, which initially entered without a listed driver, is listed to be withdrawn from the event.

    2024 The LiUNA! Entry List

    This weekend’s triple-header feature at Las Vegas will commence with the Truck Series’ Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 which will occur this upcoming Friday, March 1, and feature 32 competitors entered for the event.

    Ironically, the competitor who headlines the entry list is Kyle Busch, who is set to make his second of five-scheduled series starts in the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports at his home track to go alongside his full-time Cup Series role with Richard Childress Racing. Busch motored his way to his first Truck victory of the 2024 season with Spire Motorsports at Atlanta last weekend and has won four of the last six spring Truck events at Vegas.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    Busch is not the only Cup Series competitor entered for this weekend’s Truck Series event at Las Vegas as he will compete alongside former Truck champions Christopher Bell and Zane Smith. Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion and a 2024 Cup Series rookie, will pilot the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST for his first of four-scheduled starts in the series while Bell, the 2017 series champion, will pilot the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage.

    Another notable spot in this weekend’s Truck entry list is Connor Mosack, who will make his first of select series starts in the No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Niece Motorsports. The 25-year-old Mosack from Charlotte, North Carolina, spent this past season competing in 24 Xfinity events between Sam Hunt Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. He also achieved his first ARCA Menards Series career victory at Kansas Speedway last September and is currently competing in the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series for Silver Hare Racing.

    Currently, Tyler Ankrum, who has achieved two top-11 runs in his first two Truck events driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over Ty Majeski, who finished in the runner-up spot behind Busch last weekend at Atlanta, and by 12 over Nick Sanchez, who scored his first career victory at Daytona. Corey Heim, Rajah Caruth, Bret Holmes, Matt Crafton, Taylor Gray, Christian Eckes and Daniel Dye trail in the top 10 in the standings, respectively.

    2024 Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 Entry List

    Following this upcoming weekend’s triple-header weekend at Vegas, the Cup and Xfinity Series teams and competitors will travel southeast to Avondale, Arizona, to compete at Phoenix Raceway alongside the ARCA Menards Series West for their season-opening event between March 8-10, which will conclude the two-week West Coast swing. Meanwhile, the Truck Series will enter its first off-weekend break period before returning to action at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, on March 16.

    The Craftsman Truck Series’ Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is set to air on Friday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Xfinity Series’ The LiUNA! will follow suit and air on Saturday, March 2, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series’ Pennzoil 400 will conclude this weekend’s triple-header feature by occurring on Sunday, March 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Kyle Busch scores first Truck victory with Spire Motorsports at Atlanta

    Kyle Busch scores first Truck victory with Spire Motorsports at Atlanta

    For the first time in nearly 15 years, Kyle Busch motored his way to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in equipment not related to him and used the draft to capture a dramatic victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 24.

    The two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, led four times for 33 of 135 scheduled laps in an event where he started seventh and made his presence at the front known in the early stages. After finishing in the top 10 after the first stage’s conclusion, Busch, who would capture the second stage victory, overtook Grant Enfinger for the lead with seven laps remaining. He also had to fend off late charges from Ty Majeski, Corey Heim and Taylor Gray to achieve his first victory as a Spire Motorsports competitor and his 65th Truck Series career victory.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Feb. 23, Daniel Dye notched his first career pole position after a lap at 174.246 mph in 31.817 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Tyler Ankrum, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 173.467 mph in 31.960 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Ankrum gained an early advantage on the inside lane as he muscled into the lead followed by Ty Majeski and teammate Christian Eckes while Dye fell back to fourth in front of teammate Jack Wood, all while Connor Jones scraped the outside wall and fell off the pace while the event remained under green flag conditions. With Kyle Busch joining the battle, Majeski would lead the first lap by a hair over Ankrum before the latter jumped ahead to lead the next lap. Not long after, Busch and Ankrum would take turns swapping the lead amid a side-by-side battle in front of the pack fanned out to two tight-packed lanes.

    Just past the Lap 10 mark, Eckes moved into the lead over Busch as Ankrum, Majeski and Dye were in the top five. Behind, rookie Layne Riggs, Jake Garcia, Chase Purdy, Jack Wood and Bayley Currey were in the top 10 ahead of Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth, Nick Sanchez, Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton while Tanner Gray, Corey Heim, Dean Thompson, Colby Howard and Taylor Gray occupied the top 20.

    On Lap 15, the event’s first caution flag flew after Keith McGee, who was lapped by the field, spun in Turn 3. During the caution period, some including Sanchez, Heim, Thompson, Friesen, Ty Dillon and Connor Jones pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 21, Eckes and Majeski dueled for the lead, with the latter leading the next two laps before Eckes reassumed the top spot.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Eckes captured his first stage victory of the 2024 Truck Series season. Teammate Ankrum settled in second followed by Riggs, Enfinger and Majeski while Rhodes, Garcia, Busch, Wood and Dye settled in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Eckes pitted while the rest led by Ankrum remained on the track. During the pit stops, Eckes, who had radioed issues involving his brakes earlier, zipped by his pit stall while having issues to brake his entry. He would pit again to have the braking issues addressed, which took him out of contention for the race victory.

    The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Ankrum led the field back to the green. Ankrum would maintain the top spot for the next six laps before Busch carved his way back to the front.

    Nearing the Lap 50 mark, the caution flew after Thad Moffitt tried to move in front of Garcia when he got turned across the outside wall on the backstretch, which Moffitt then veered back to the left and into the side of Garcia as Riggs sustained damage to his entry after he was hit by Garcia while Moffitt spun, all occurring in Turn 3.

    With the event restarting with six laps remaining in the second stage period, Busch maintained the lead over Ankrum and the field. He would maintain the lead for the next four laps just as the caution returned when Jack Wood spun across the frontstretch’s grass and damaged his front nose. Wood’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 60 to conclude under caution as Busch captured the stage victory followed by Ankrum, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Heim, Sanchez, Majeski, Caruth, Taylor Gray and Bayley Currey.

    During the stage break, a majority of the field led by Busch pitted while the rest led by Mills remained on the track.

    With 69 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Thompson and Matt Mills occupied the front row. At the start, Mills and Thompson dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch until Thompson muscled away from the field on the inside lane through the backstretch, which Mills then reclaimed the lead as the field navigated back to the frontstretch. During the following lap, Rhodes, who made contact with the outside wall, made a pit stop under green flag to address a flat right-front tire as Mills maintained the lead ahead of Thompson while Purdy was trying to gain an advantage from the inside lane followed by Ankrum.

    A few laps later and as the field fanned out to three lanes, Ankrum navigated his way back into the lead, where he would then be challenged by Enfinger for the top spot amid the draft. Meanwhile, Mills and Thompson remained in the top five along with Taylor Gray while Heim was trying to fight his way into the top five along with Purdy.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Friesen pitted under green after scraping the outside wall on the backstretch. Caruth, who was running within the top 10, would fall off the pace due to a flat tire on his truck, but the caution would fly with 57 laps remaining due to debris reported on the frontstretch. During the pit stops, the entire field led by Ankrum pitted. Amid the pit services, Sanchez, Caruth and Timmy Hill were penalized for speeding on pit road while Matt Mills was also penalized for running over equipment. In addition, Enfinger had to reverse his truck on pit road to get it full of fuel.

    With the event restarting with 50 laps remaining, Ankrum received a push from Heim to muscle ahead with the lead on the outside lane followed by Kyle Busch, Currey and the field. Ankrum would retain the lead amid the draft and in front of two packed lanes during the proceeding laps while Heim settled in second followed by Busch, Currey and Taylor Gray. Shortly after, Mills fell off the pace after cutting a right-front tire from scraping the wall earlier and he pitted under green. The caution, however, returned with 42 laps remaining due to debris being reported in Turn 4. By then, Currey pitted to address his roof hatch being displaced.

    During the following restart with 36 laps remaining, Ankrum and Thompson battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Majeski shoved Thompson into the lead from the inside lane while Ankrum briefly lost his momentum and drafting boost from Heim on the outside lane. Then just as Majeski attempted to make a move on Thompson, the caution returned due to debris being reported on the frontstretch.

    With the event restarting with 31 laps remaining under green, Thompson was shoved out of the draft by Majeski on the outside lane. This resulted in Thompson backsliding as Ankrum moved back into the lead followed by Busch while Majeski was left battling Enfinger, Sanchez and Heim for third place amid two tight-packed lanes.

    Not long after, a tight battle for the lead ignited between Ankrum and Enfinger, with Busch settling behind Ankrum while Enfinger had Sanchez drafting him on the inside lane. Following their brief duel, Enfinger moved into the lead with 29 laps remaining. He would retain the lead with 25 laps remaining over Busch, Majeski, Heim, Taylor Gray and Sanchez while Ankrum, who transitioned to the inside lane, was backsliding towards the top-10 mark.

    With 20 laps remaining and with the majority of the field running in a long single-file line towards the outside wall, Enfinger was leading followed by Busch, Majeski, Heim and Taylor Gray while Sanchez, Honeycutt, Ankrum, Caruth and Daniel Dye were running in the top 10 ahead of Purdy, Thompson, Holmes, Dillon, Rhodes, Lawless Alan, Garcia, Crafton, Howard and Mason Massey, all of whom occupied the top 20.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Enfinger retained the lead followed by Busch, Majeski, Heim and Taylor Gray while Rhodes, who tried to make a move on the inside lane, was shuffled back to 11th place. Shortly after, Rhodes made contact with the outside wall entering Turn 3, which forced him to pit while the event remained under green flag conditions.

    Then three laps later and as the leader navigated through lapped traffic, Busch dived to the left and overtook Enfinger for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. He was followed by Majeski, Heim, Taylor Gray and the rest of the field while Enfinger was falling off the pace due to a flat tire on his truck, an issue that would result in Enfinger pitting under green, while Busch maintained the lead over a hard-charging Majeski.

    With five laps remaining, Busch was still leading ahead of a slight four-truck breakaway that included Maejski, Heim and Taylor Gray while Sanchez and Honeycutt led another drafting group of competitors trying to close in.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Busch remained as the leader ahead of Majeski, Heim and Gray while Sanchez was trying to close in from fifth place. With Majeski, Heim and Taylor Gray unable to gain any advantage for a final circuit, Busch was able to maintain the lead and cycle his way back to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag by a tenth of a second over Majeski.

    With the victory, Busch, who remains as the all-time wins leader in the Truck Series with 65 victories, achieved his seventh series victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and his first since 2021. The victory was also Busch’s first driving for Spire Motorsports, the team that purchased Kyle Busch Motorsports at the conclusion of the 2023 season, and the 19th season overall where Busch has achieved at least one victory in the Truck Series. In addition, Spire Motorsports achieved its third career victory in the Truck circuit.

    Busch is scheduled to return as the driver of the No. 7 entry for Spire Motorsports for the upcoming Truck Series events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, both in March, followed by Texas Motor Speedway in April and at Darlington Raceway in May.

    HAMPTON, GEORGIA – FEBRUARY 24: Kyle Busch, driver of the #7 Group 1001 Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 24, 2024 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images).

    “You’re relying on help, right?” Busch said on FS1. “You got to have guys behind you that are willing to work with you. Majeski was that guy today for me. There at the end, we had a bunch of Spire [Motorsports] teammates out there that were great to work with, too. Thanks to Chevrolet, appreciate Spire, Group1001, everybody that’s been a part of this organization from the very start to what we have today. It’s a lot of fun.”

    Majeski, who led three laps, settled in the runner-up spot followed by Heim, Taylor Gray and Sanchez while Honeycutt, Ankrum, Caruth, Daniel Dye and Thompson settled in the top 10 on the track.

    *Following the post-race inspection process, rookie Layne Riggs was disqualified due to his Front Row Motorsports entry not having windshield fasteners tightened for the entire event.

    There were 20 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 37 laps. In total, 20 of the 33 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the second event of the 2024 Truck Series season, Tyler Ankrum continues to lead the regular-season standings by 10 points over Ty Majeski, 12 over Nick Sanchez, 15 over Corey Heim and 24 over Rajah Caruth.

    Results.

    1. Kyle Busch, 33 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ty Majeski, three laps led

    3. Corey Heim

    4. Taylor Gray

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Kaden Honeycutt

    7. Tyler Ankrum, 46 laps led

    8. Rajah Caruth

    9. Daniel Dye

    10. Dean Thompson, four laps led

    11. Bret Holmes

    12. Lawless Alan

    13. Matt Crafton

    14. Ty Dillon

    15. Chase Purdy

    16. Jake Garcia

    17. Colby Howard

    18. Timmy Hill

    19. Tanner Gray

    20. Mason Massey

    21. Keith McGee, one lap down

    22. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    23. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

    24. Mason Maggio, two laps down

    25. Grant Enfinger, two laps down, 23 laps led

    26. Thad Moffitt, three laps down

    27. Matt Mills, three laps down, six laps led

    28. Ben Rhodes, five laps down

    29. Connor Jones, six laps down

    30. Bayley Currey – OUT, Damage

    31. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    32. Christian Eckes – OUT, Brakes, 20 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    33. Layne Riggs – Disqualified

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1.