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Dean Thompson joins Sam Hunt Racing for first full-time Xfinity campaign in 2025

Dean Thompson will team up with Sam Hunt Racing (SHR) and pilot the No. 26 Toyota Supra entry for a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign in 2025.

The news comes as the 23-year-old Thompson from Anaheim, California, is coming off his third full-time campaign in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division and his second at TRICON Garage, where he finished in 16th place in the 2024 driver’s standings on the strengths of six top-10 results, four laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.9.

“I’m very excited to join the Sam Hunt Racing group and continue to pursue my dreams in NASCAR,” Thompson said. “The team made me feel at home after the two races we shared last year. Everything clicked with us, and we are both in a spot where we could fulfill each other’s needs to help our growth as a race team and driver. I’m lucky to have this opportunity to take the next step, which most can only dream of reaching, and I’m grateful to share it with such an awesome group of people.”

Thompson, who grew up competing in quarter midgets and late models, claimed both the Irwindale Late Model Track Championship and the California State Title honors in 2020. the Californian also claimed the rookie-of-the-Year title in the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series, and competed for High Point Racing in the ARCA Menards Series West division in 2021. From 2021 to 2024, Thompson would record his first career pole at Pocono Raceway in 2023, two career-best runner-up results, five top-five results and 11 top-10 results through 12 ARCA Menards Series career starts.

In 2021, Thompson made his NASCAR Truck Series debut during the finale at Phoenix Raceway for Niece Motorsports, where he finished 21st. The following season, he campaigned with Niece on a full-time basis, where he recorded an average finishing result of 25.2 and finished in 23rd place in the final standings before he spent his next two seasons competing with TRICON Garage.

During the 2024 season, Thompson made his Xfinity Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway with Sam Hunt Racing in May, where he finished 34th. Five months later, he made his second series start at Talladega Superspeedway, where he notched a season-best 20th-place result.

Thompson’s promotion to the Xfinity circuit makes him SHR’s second full-time competitor since Kaz Grala in 2023. Since debuting during the 2019 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, SHR has featured a total of 24 competitors, including both Thompson and Grala, campaigning in at least one event with the organization. Through a combined 179 Xfinity starts, SHR has notched 11 top-five results, 26 top-10 results and 26 laps led as the organization strives to gain more consistency and be competitive on the track for the 2025 season.

“We’re all excited to bring Dean into the SHR family to develop in the Xfinity Series full-time in 2025,” Sam Hunt, owner of Sam Hunt Racing, said. “He is extremely tough, has a great personality, and works hard behind the scenes to make the most of his opportunities.

Dean understands the challenges that await any rookie and is completely committed to becoming a well-rounded, mature race car driver who can put himself in a position to succeed every single week.

“Our goals are aligned, and we are ready to get to work.”

With his plans for the 2025 season set, Dean Thompson’s first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 15 at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

January 7, 2025
Majeski rallies to win regular-season finale at Richmond for second consecutive Truck victory of 2024

Three weeks after breaking through with his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Ty Majeski capped off the regular-season stretch by doubling down with a second consecutive victory in recent weeks in the Clean Harbors 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, August 10.

The 29-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led three times for 70 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he started alongside pole-sitter Christian Eckes on the front row and rallied from having brief issues launching at the start to assume the lead for the first time on Lap 13. Then after opting to remain on track on old tires during the event’s first caution period on Lap 51, Majeski endured a handful of challenges that hindered his performance that began as he struggled to keep pace on his worn tires during the following restart on Lap 63 and lost a bevy of spots. Just as he pitted for fresh tires during the first stage break period, he was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

Restarting at the tail end of the field for the start of the second stage period, Majeski would spend a majority of the event methodically charging his way back to the front as the event endured a series of caution periods and pit strategies amongst the field. Having marched his way back into the top 10 within the closing stages, Majeski used fresh tires and capitalized on a late-race skirmish involving Grant Enfinger and William Sawalich to return atop the leaderboard during a late-race restart with 20 laps remaining. Amid an additional caution period and late-race restart with eight laps remaining, Majeski fended off Enfinger amid contact to remain out in front of the field and cruise to his second consecutive Truck Series victory of the 2024 season while also entering the Playoffs with early momentum.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Christian Eckes secured the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 118.655 mph in 22.755 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski as he clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 118.033 mph in 22.875 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Christian Eckes rocketed his No. 19 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead with the lead from the inside lane. In the process, Grant Enfinger followed suit in second while Ty Majeski, who struggled to launch from the outside lane, was trying to retain third place from William Sawalich. Amid the early jostles of spots around the track, where a three-wide action occurred between Sawalich, Layne Riggs and Taylor Gray for fourth place through the backstretch, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap from Enfinger as Majeski, Taylor Gray, Riggs and Sawalich followed suit in the top six.

During the second lap, Majeski, who regained pace amid his rocky start, navigated his way past Enfinger for the runner-up spot as Taylor Gray was trying to fend off Layne Riggs, William Sawalich, Nick Sanchez and Ben Rhodes for fourth place. While Gray continued to occupy his spot as both Majeski and Enfinger railed in second and third, respectively, Eckes retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second by the fifth lap mark.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading by three-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Riggs while Rhodes, Sawalich, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10 on the track. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt occupied 11th place ahead of teammate Bayley Currey, Tyler Ankrum, Jake Garcia and Stewart Friesen while Rajah Caruth, Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, newcomer Connor Hall and Connor Zilisch trailed in the top 20 ahead of Matt Mills, Timmy Hill, Dean Thompson, Lawless Alan, Tanner Gray and Chase Purdy.

A few laps later, Majeski dueled with Eckes in a side-by-side battle for the lead and the former would continue to battle Eckes before he pulled his No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 ahead from the outside lane on Lap 13. By Lap 17, Majeski stretched his advantage to a second over Eckes and he would stabilize his advantage to a second while third-place Enfinger trailed Eckes by four-tenths of a second. Behind, Taylor Gray and Riggs remained in the top five.

At the Lap 25 mark, Majeski retained the lead by more than a second over Eckes while Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Riggs continued to trail in the top five on the track. Rhodes, Heim, Sawalich, Dye and Sanchez followed suit in the top 10 as Honeycutt, Currey, Ankrum, Friesen and Crafton followed suit in the top 15.

Ten laps later, Majeski, who was starting to lap the competitors running towards the bottom of the leaderboard, stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Eckes as Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Riggs remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray, Rhodes and Dye, all three of whom were currently scored inside the top-10 cutline in their efforts to make the 2024 Playoffs, were running in the top nine on the track while Friesen and Crafton, both of whom came into Richmond trailing the cutline by 16 and 43 points, respectively, were mired within the top 15. In addition, Tanner Gray, who came into the event five points above the cutline with the final transfer spot, was scored nine points below the cutline as he was mired in 23rd place in front of teammate Dean Thompson.

By Lap 50, Majeski lost a second to his advantage, but he was still leading by more than two seconds over Eckes as top-five competitors Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Riggs trailed the lead by four seconds. Five laps later, Taylor Gray would overtake Eckes for the runner-up spot. By then, Taylor’s older brother, Tanner, was lapped by Majeski as he was mired in 22nd place.

Six laps later, the event’s first caution period flew when Matt Mills lost a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 4 outside wall from 15th place. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by runner-up Taylor Gray pitted for four fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by the leader Majeski and including Ankrum and Connor Zilisch remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 63, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch as Eckes used the outside lane and four fresh tires to blast by Ankrum through the first two turns before he then quickly dispatched Majeski for the lead through the backstretch. By the following lap and amid a series of on-track shuffles, Eckes was leading ahead of Taylor Gray and Enfinger while Majeski plummeted to seventh place on his old tires as Rhodes, Riggs and Dye all overtook him. Majeski would then drop to 18th place just past the Lap 65 mark as Ankrum and Zilisch also plummeted in the leaderboard on their old tires while Eckes retained the lead by less than half a second over Taylor Gray.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Eckes captured his eighth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Taylor Gray settled in second ahead of Enfinger, Rhodes and Riggs while Dye, Matt Crafton, Heim, Sanchez and Rajah Caruth were scored in the top 10.

Amid the battles towards the front, Tanner Gray, who restarted in 22nd place and was trying to emerge as the first competitor a lap down at the first stage’s conclusion, had dropped to 28th place and was the seventh competitor scored a lap down as 22nd-place competitor Bret Holmes received the free pass. As a result, he was left with a 22-point disadvantage to Dye in the battle for the cutline. Meanwhile, Eckes’ first stage victory was enough for him to clinch the regular-season championship while runner-up Taylor Gray garnered enough stage points to clinch his spot into the Playoffs based on points.

Under the first stage break, some led by Majeski and including Zilisch and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. During the pit stops, Majeski was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation and was sent to the rear of the field before the second stage’s start.

The second stage period started on Lap 79 as Eckes and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes muscled away from the field and the inside lane to retain the lead while Gray and Enfinger battled for the runner-up spot in front of Riggs, Rhodes, Dye and Heim. Amid a series of battles around the track, Heim overtook Dye for sixth place and Crafton trailed in eighth place. In the process, Eckes’ advantage stabilized to more than half a second over Enfinger while third-place Taylor Gray trailed by a second as he was ahead of Riggs and Rhodes. With Friesen mired in 13th place, Purdy and Tanner Gray were back in 26th and 27th, respectively.

By Lap 90, Eckes was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Enfinger as Taylor Gray, Riggs and Rhodes trailed by four seconds in the top five. Heim, Dye, Crafton, Ty Dillon and Sanchez would follow suit in the top 10 as Conner Jones, Zilisch, Ankrum, Caruth and Honeycutt were mired in the top 15. Meanwhile, Majeski was trying to rally his way into the top 20 amid his tire violation while Friesen and Tanner Gray were running 16th and 24th, respectively.

At the Lap 100 mark, Eckes’ advantage decreased to three-tenths of a second over Enfinger while Taylor Gray, Riggs and Rhodes continued to run in the top five ahead of Heim, Dye, Ty Dillon, Crafton and Conner Jones. Over the next five laps, Eckes, who was slowly catching lapped traffic, kept leading by above half a second over Enfinger as Taylor Gray kept the two leaders close within his front windshield.

Then on Lap 115, Enfinger overtook Eckes and moved his No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead through the frontstretch. Enfinger continued to lead by three-tenths of a second by the following lap as Taylor Gray, who tracked the two leaders, passed Eckes for the runner-up spot during the ensuing lap. As Enfinger retained the lead by three-tenths of a second towards the Lap 120 mark, Riggs and Rhodes followed suit in the top five while Ankrum was up to sixth place ahead of Heim, Dye, Ty Dillon and Zilisch.

At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Enfinger continued to lead by a narrow margin over Taylor Gray before Gray used a bold move beneath Enfinger, who was trapped behind Jake Garcia, entering Turn 1 to grab the lead. Gray stretched his advantage to half a second on the following lap as Eckes trailed by a second in third place while Riggs and Ankrum were in the top five.

Then on Lap 127, the caution flew when Matt Crafton, who was running in the top 15, spun in Turn 4 after he slipped underneath Kaden Honeycutt, where Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 spun from the middle to the bottom of the track and made light contact with the inside wall as Crafton continued. During the caution period, a majority of the lead lap field led by Taylor Gray pitted for service while the rest led by Ty Dillon, who pitted during the first stage’s break period, remained on the track. Friesen and Currey would also remain on the track while Enfinger beat Taylor Gray off of pit road first as he lined up in fourth place on the track.

The start of the following restart period on Lap 135 featured the field getting jumbled up and fanning out through the frontstretch as Friesen jumped ahead with a brief advantage over Dillon on the inside lane. With the field fanning out to four lanes, Enfinger used the four fresh tires to bolt his way to the front from the outside lane as he carved his way back into the lead just past the first two turns.

Eckes followed suit along with Dye, Riggs, Heim and others while Friesen, Dillon and Currey plummeted down the leaderboard on their old tires. Amid the scrambling for spots, Enfinger stretched his advantage to more than half a second with the second stage’s conclusion approaching.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 140, Enfinger, who clinched his spot into the Playoffs based on points, claimed his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes followed suit in second along with teammate Dye, Riggs and Heim while Rhodes, Caruth, Ankrum, Taylor Gray and Conner Jones were scored in the top 10. By then, Dye had a 28-point advantage over 23rd-place Tanner Gray for the final transfer spot into the Playoffs, though Gray was awarded the free pass for being the first competitor scored a lap down, while Friesen, Crafton, Riggs, Purdy, Dean Thompson and Jake Garcia all trailed the cutline by 39+ points.

During the stage break, some including Friesen, Currey, Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Nick Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Ty Dillon, Crafton and Stefan Parsons pitted while the rest led by Enfinger remained on the track.

With 101 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Enfinger and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Enfinger and Eckes dueled for the lead in front of Riggs while Heim made contact with Dye while trying to force his way beneath him and have a shot at a top five. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned for a multi-truck wreck that erupted between Turns 3 and 4 when Purdy bumped and sent Ty Dillon running into the rear of Dean Thompson, which resulted in Thompson spinning up the track and in front of oncoming traffic as Sawalich, Stefan Parsons, Keith McGee, rookie Thad Moffitt, Bayley Currey, Mason Massey and Crafton all sustained damage to their respective entries.

As the event restarted under green with 85 laps remaining, Enfinger rocketed away with the lead as the field fanned out approaching the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Enfinger led Rhodes, who navigated past Eckes for the spot, as Ankurm and Riggs battled for fourth place in front of Heim and Caruth. The caution, however, returned for the following lap after Lawless Alan spun in Turn 3 amid contact with Crafton and Bayley Currey.

Following an extensive caution period, the race restarted under green with 73 laps remaining. At the start, Enfinger and Rhodes dueled for the lead as Ankrum, Heim and Caruth all made three-wide moves of their own approaching the first turn. Enfinger would then clear Rhodes and muscle ahead to retain the lead as Eckes would navigate his way into the runner-up spot over Rhodes during the following lap. Amid the late-race battles, Enfinger retained the lead by half a second over Eckes, Rhodes, Riggs and Ankrum while Majeski was up to seventh place behind Heim. The caution, however, would return with 69 laps remaining due to Conner Jones falling off the pace and nearly coming to a stop just past the frontstretch as the Virginia native missed the pit road entrance. During the caution period, some including Heim, Caruth, Sawalich, Purdy, Sanchez and Tanner Gray pitted for fresh tires while the rest led by Enfinger remained on the track.

With the event restarting under green with 63 laps remaining, Enfinger fended off Rhodes to retain the lead from the outside lane as Heim used the four fresh tires to storm his way back to the front while running on the outside lane. With Tanner Gray also using his fresh tires to try to move up the leaderboard despite being mired in 16th place, Enfinger retained the lead by nearly a second over Rhodes with 60 laps remaining as Heim was making his way into the top five. Heim would then overtake Ankrum for fourth place and he would gain ground on Eckes while Majeski, Riggs, Friesen, Ty Dillon and Dye were mired in the top 10.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Enfinger was leading by less than two seconds over a hard-charging Heim while Rhodes, Eckes, Majeski, Ankrum, Riggs, Friesen, Dillon and Crafton were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Dye, who slipped to 12th place, was 12 points above the cutline with the final transfer spot over Tanner Gray, who was still mired in 16th place and trying to overtake Friesen for the spot. In the process, Taylor Gray was back in 17th place while Sanchez was mired in 22nd place behind Purdy, Garcia and Stefan Parsons.

Ten laps later, Enfinger stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over runner-up Heim while Majeski trailed the lead by four seconds as he navigated his way up to third place. With teammate Rhodes and Eckes trailing in the top five, Riggs was down in sixth place while Sawalich, Ankrum, Crafton and Caruth were in the top 10. By then, Dye was down in 13th place behind Dillon and Zilisch while Tanner Gray was in 15th place behind Friesen.

Another eight laps later, Heim drew his truck alongside Enfinger as both dueled for the lead before Enfinger muscled ahead to retain the lead and pull away from Heim by two-tenths of a second during the following lap. Heim would then challenge Enfinger a second time for the lead with 30 laps remaining before he prevailed and had the top spot to his control for the following lap. With Heim leading Enfinger, Majeski trailed in third place by two seconds while Riggs and Sawalich were in the top five.

Then following another caution with 26 laps remaining due to Kaden Honeycutt spinning in Turn 4 after he got hit by Stefan Parsons, the entire lead lap field led by Heim pitted for service, with most pitting for a final set of fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Sawalich exited pit road first with only two fresh tires while Enfinger, Heim, Majeski and Eckes, all of whom opted for four fresh tires, exited in the top five. Amid the pit stops, Dye, who pitted from the top 10, exited pit road outside the top 20, which left him with only a one-point advantage over Tanner Gray as Gray was scored in 12th place.

During the following restart with 20 laps remaining, Enfinger tried to bolt away from Sawalich as the field fanned out approaching the first turn. Sawalich, however, slipped up the track and made contact with Enfinger through the first two turns. This allowed Majeski to overtake both for the lead as Enfinger was left to battle Riggs for the runner-up spot in front of Eckes and Heim. As Sawalich began to drop in the leaderboard, Enfinger and Riggs continued to battle hard for the runner-up spot during the proceeding laps. Eckes would join the battle between Enfinger and Riggs while Heim was being overtaken by Ankrum, Taylor Gray, and Dillon. Behind, Dye was up to 11th place on fresh tires while Tanner Gray down to 21st place on older tires to Dye.

With 15 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Enfinger and Riggs. The following lap, however, the caution returned after Holmes hit and send Zilisch into the outside wall in Turn 2, with Zilisch backing his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST into the wall and retiring due to the damage. During caution, few including Tanner Gray, pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Enfinger jumped ahead from Majeski. Then while trying to clear and block Majeski, Majeski kept his foot in the gas and nearly turned Enfinger, which got Enfinger loose and stalled his momentum as Majeski, who then got hit and nearly turned by Enfinger entering Turn 3, powered back into the lead. The contact allowed Eckes to challenge Enfinger for the runner-up spot as Riggs and Taylor Gray tried to join the battle. Over the next two laps, a four-wide battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Enfinger, Eckes, Riggs and Taylor Gray, with neither giving an inch. Meanwhile, Majeski managed to pull away and he would retain the lead by half a second over Enfinger with five laps remaining as Eckes, Taylor Gray and Riggs remained in close pursuit within the top five.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained the leader by nine-tenths of a second over Eckes as Enfinger, Riggs and Taylor Gray trailed closely behind. Having no competition lurking close enough to his rear bumper, Majeski cycled his Ford around Richmond smoothly for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch victorious for his second checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

With the victory, Majeski notched his fifth career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division and his first at Richmond Raceway. The victory was also the second of the 2024 season for both ThorSport Racing and the Ford nameplate as Majeski, who qualified for his third consecutive Playoffs, will commence his pursuit for his first Truck Series championship over a seven-race Playoff stretch that begins at the Milwaukee Mile two weeks from now.

“[The win] feels good,” Majeski said on FS1. “We’ve had great ThorSport trucks here at Richmond the last two years. Found different ways to lose’em. We tried to do it again tonight. Another mistake, we really need to clean that stuff up before Playoff time, but so proud of these guys sticking behind me. [I] Wouldn’t be able to it without [owners] Duke and Ronda Thorson. They gave me a huge opportunity a few years ago and I’m having the time of my life racing for this team. Proud of these ThorSport Racing guys. We work so hard at the shop. We’re proud to do this from Sandusky, Ohio and we’re gonna try and bring another trophy back home.”

Behind Majeski, Christian Eckes, the 2024 Truck Series Regular Season Champion, settled in second place followed by Taylor Gray and Grant Enfinger, all of whom are among 10 competitors who have made the Playoffs. Meanwhile, rookie Layne Riggs finished in fifth place but was among several who did not make the Playoffs.

Tyler Ankrum and Ben Rhodes finished sixth and seventh as both are in the Playoffs along with Daniel Dye, who rallied from an up-and-down season to clinch the 10th and final berth to the Playoffs by 12 points over 12th-place finisher Tanner Gray. Ty Dillon and Connor Hall finished in the top 10 on the track.

Notably, Corey Heim, Rajah Caruth and Nick Sanchez, all of whom ended up 16th, 17th and 30th on the track, will compete in the Playoffs for this year’s championship while top names including Stewart Friesen, Chase Purdy, Ty Dillon and Matt Crafton did not make the Playoffs, with the latter having his streak of making the Playoffs for eight consecutive seasons and since the Playoff’s inception 2016 came to an end.

There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 69 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Ty Majeski, 70 laps led

2. Christian Eckes, 64 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Taylor Gray, five laps led

4. Grant Enfinger, 98 laps led, Stage 2 winner

5. Layne Riggs

6. Tyler Ankrum

7. Ben Rhodes

8. Daniel Dye

9. Ty Dillon, four laps led

10. Connor Hall

11. Stefan Parsons

12. Tanner Gray

13. Jake Garcia

14. Kaden Honeycutt

15. Matt Crafton

16. Corey Heim, six laps led

17. Rajah Caruth

18. Lawless Alan

19. Timmy Hill

20. Chase Purdy

21. Bret Holmes

22. William Sawalich, one lap down, three laps led

23. Bayley Currey, one lap down

24. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

26. Mason Massey, three laps down

27. Justin Carroll, three laps down

28. Mason Maggio, four laps down

29. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident

30. Nick Sanchez – OUT, Clutch

31. Conner Jones – OUT, Electrical

32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

33. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

34. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

35. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

36. Jerry Bohlman – OUT, Too Slow

The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, for the LiUNA! 175. The event is scheduled to occur on August 25 and air at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

August 11, 2024
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.

May 19, 2024
Christian Eckes chimes in for dominant Truck victory at Martinsville

Christian Eckes capped off a wild night that commenced by dominating the first half of the Craftsman Truck Series race, then dropping to the mid-pack region before the second half. But he methodically carved his way back to the front while dodging a series of late caution periods to win the Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, April 5.

The 23-year-old Eckes from Greenville, New York, led twice for a race-high 133 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he snatched the lead from pole-sitter Ty Majeski from the first lap and stretched his fuel tank to the distance of the event’s first two stage periods, He won and led throughout before he relinquished the lead to pit for fresh tires and fuel before the start of the second stage period.

Despite restarting in the top 20 at the start of the final stage period, Eckes wove his way back to the front amid multiple on-track chaos, repetitive cautions and restart periods before outlasting a late battle with Majeski during a restart period with 28 laps remaining to return to the lead. Amid two late-race restarts, Eckes then muscled away from Majeski and Nick Sanchez during a three-lap shootout to clinch his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ty Majeski notched his second Truck pole position of the 2024 season and the seventh of his career after posting a new track record lap at 97.523 mph in 19.417 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Christian Eckes, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 97.422 mph in 19.437 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started following an extensive pace lap session due to Blake Lothian leaking fluid on the circuit, Christian Eckes gained a strong launch from the outside lane to muscle ahead of Ty Majeski and assume the race lead entering the first turn. Eckes would then fend off Majeski for a full lap in his No. 19 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST to lead the first lap.

Through the second to fifth lap marks, Eckes stretched his advantage to three-tenths of a second over Majeski while rookie Layne Riggs moved his Front Row Motorsports entry into third place. As a result, Corey Heim dropped to fourth ahead of Ben Rhodes. Behind, Nick Sanchez and Jake Garcia trailed in sixth and seventh while Dean Thompson and Tyler Ankrum battled for eighth place in front of Chase Purdy and Sammy Smith.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading by three-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Riggs, Heim and Sanchez while Rhodes, Garcia, Thompson, Ankrum and Purdy were running in the top 10. Behind, Sammy Smith trailed in 11th ahead of Stewart Friesen, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth and Jack Wood while Kaden Honeycutt, Ty Dillon, Bayley Currey, Grant Enfinger and Tanner Gray occupied the top 20 ahead of Matt Crafton, Daniel Dye, William Sawalich, Matt Mills and newcomer Cam Waters.

Ten laps later and with the leaders starting to lap the rear of the field, Eckes continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Riggs trailed by a second. Behind, Heim and Sanchez retained fourth and fifth, respectively, while Rhodes, Garcia, Thompson, Ankrum and Purdy also remained in the top 10.

Another nine laps later, the event’s first caution period flew after rookie Thad Moffitt went for a spin in Turn 3. During the event’s first caution period, some including Thompson, Currey, Sawalich and Cam Waters pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 36, Eckes muscled ahead of Majeski, who struggled to start on the outside lane, and Riggs to retain the lead through the first two turns. With the event remaining under green flag conditions as Jack Wood spun in Turn 2, Eckes retained the lead ahead of Majeski and the field. Eckes would continue to lead through the Lap 40 mark.

By Lap 45, Eckes stretched his advantage to more than a second over Majeski followed by Riggs, Heim and Sanchez while Rhodes, Ankrum, Sammy Smith, Garcia and Honeycutt trailed in the top 10, with 29 of 34 starters scored on the lead lap.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Eckes captured his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season as he continued to lead by more than a second. Majeski trailed in second while Riggs, Heim, Sanchez, Rhodes, Ankrum, Garcia, Honeycutt and Purdy were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Majeski pitted while the rest led by Eckes and including Sanchez, Ankrum, Garicia, Honeycutt, Purdy, Caruth and Matt Mills remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Ty Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road. Stephen Mallozzi was also penalized due to his pit crew jumping over the pit wall too soon.

The second stage period started on Lap 60 as Eckes and Sanchez occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes rocketed away from the field to retain the lead through the first turn as Sanchez and Ankrum battled for the runner-up spot. With Eckes leading the race, teammate Ankrum would overtake Sanchez for the runner-up spot followed by Purdy, Honeycutt, Garcia, Currey and Caruth while Mills and Sawalich were racing in the top 10 ahead of Thompson, Timmy Hill, Majeski, Waters and Wood.

On Lap 64, the caution returned after Matt Crafton, who was running in the middle of the pack, bumped and sent Tanner Gray for a spin through the first two turns, with Crafton, Justin Carroll and Mason Massey slamming on the brake to avoid Gray’s TRICON Garage entry. During the caution period, Sanchez and Caruth pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

During the following restart period on Lap 73, Eckes fended off Chase Purdy and teammate Tyler Ankrum to retain the lead through the first two turns. Shortly after, however, the caution returned on Lap 75 after Riggs, who was mired in 16th, spun his No. 38 Infinity Communications Group Ford F-150 through the first two turns after getting hit by Jack Wood.

The following restart period on Lap 83 featured Eckes fending off Purdy for nearly a lap to maintain the lead as the field behind jostled for positions. As Ankrum and Purdy battled for second place in front of Kaden Honeycutt and Jake Garcia, Eckes was leading by two-tenths of a second just past the Lap 85 mark.

Then with two laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Daniel Dye, who was running in 24th place, bumped and sent Spencer Boyd for a spin along with Riggs, who was sent for a second spin of the night, in Turn 1. The incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 100 to conclude under caution as Eckes captured his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the night and the third of the 2024 season. Teammate Ankrum settled in second followed by Purdy, Majeski and Honeycutt while Garcia, Thompson, Currey, Taylor Gray and Sawalich were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Eckes, pitted while the rest, led by Majeski, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Ty Dillon was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for a safety violation.

With 91 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Majeski and Sawalich occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski muscled his No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 away from Taylor Gray and Sawalich to retain the lead through the first two turns. As Majeski started to motor away from the field, Gray occupied second followed by Sanchez while Sawalich was trying to fend off Stewart Friesen amid on-track contact and in front of the field.

With 80 laps remaining, Majeski stretched his advantage to more than a second over Taylor Gray followed by Sanchez, Friesen and Sawalich while Ben Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Heim, Caruth and Grant Enfinger trailed in the top 10 as Eckes, who restarted 18th, was up to 11th.

Ten laps later, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Taylor Gray while Sanchez, Friesen and Sawalich trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Eckes carved his way to sixth place after making contact with Heim to assume the spot while Rhodes, Tanner Gray and Caruth followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Enfinger trailed in 11th ahead of Ankrum, Crafton, Matt Mills and Cam Waters while Dye, Honeycutt, Wood, Sammy Smith and Purdy were scored in the top 20.

Another three laps later, the caution flew when Honeycutt, who was battling Daniel Dye for 16th place, made contact with Dye and then got sideways and sent Honeycutt’s No. 45 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet Silverado RST spinning toward the bottom of the backstretch’s inside wall. During the caution period, some including Rhodes, Garcia, Waters, Sammy Smith and Crafton pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

During the ensuing restart with 60 laps remaining, Majeski and Sanchez battled dead even for the lead until Majeski muscled ahead through the first two turn as Taylor Gray assumed the runner-up spot from Sanchez. Behind, Eckes battled Friesen for fourth place while Majeski was trying to drive away from the field.

A few laps later, Enfinger, who was running in the top 15, hit the outside wall exiting Turn 4, but the event remained under green flag conditions. The caution, however, returned with 55 laps remaining after Enfinger, who lost a few spots in the process, was hit by Rhodes entering the first turn, which resulted with Enfinger bumping into Dean Thompson and sending Thompson’s No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro straight into the outside wall hard in Turn 1 as Thompson’s strong run came to a late end.

With the event restarting with 46 laps remaining, Sanchez tried to use the outside lane to muscle ahead of Majeski, but Majeski managed to fight back and reassume the top spot during the following lap while the field behind bumped and jostled for late positions. Shortly after, however, the caution returned with 43 laps remaining after Bret Holmes was hit by Honeycutt entering Turn 1. Holmes then collected Justin Carroll as they both spun and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1.

The start of the following restart period with 36 laps remaining did not last long after the caution returned a lap later when Jack Wood, who was caught up in a chain reaction incident and got Caruth sideways in Turn 3, was bumped and sent for a spin by Dye as Waters, Garcia, Lawless Alan and Bret Holmes all wrecked behind Wood. By then, Majeski was leading while Eckes drew himself back into race-winning contention after he had just overtaken Sanchez’s No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST for the runner-up spot.

With the race restarting with 28 laps remaining, Eckes and Majeski battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns amid contact. They continued to battle for the top spot for a full lap until Eckes managed to use the four fresh tires to his advantage along with more on-track contact to return to the lead over Majeski. As Eckes continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Majeski with 25 laps remaining, Sanchez followed suit in third while Taylor Gray and Ankrum were running in the top five. A lap later, however, the caution flew after Riggs, who was running 17th, got bumped and sent for a spin by Enfinger in Turn 2. With Bayley Currey sustaining cosmetic damage after making contact with Riggs’ spinning truck, Cam Waters T-boned into the rear of teammate Garcia amid a chain reaction, which ended Waters’ Truck Series debut with a crunched No. 66 TRADIE Ford F-150.

As the event restarted with 17 laps remaining, Eckes muscled away from Majeski, who spun the tires on the launch, to retain the lead while Sanchez quickly assumed the runner-up spot. Majeski was then left to fend off Ankrum, Taylor Gray and a bevy of competitors to retain third place while Eckes retained the lead by nearly half a second with 15 laps remaining.

Four laps later and with Eckes leading by more than a second over Sanchez, the caution flew after Friesen, who was running in the top 15, got bumped and sent for a spin by Enfinger in Turn 2 as Enfinger also spun after getting rammed by Matt Mills, whose roof flew up amid the front nose damage.

With the event restarting with three laps remaining, Eckes retained the lead from Sanchez and Majeski while the field attempted to fan out to three lanes through the first two turns. While Majeski managed to grab second place from Sanchez through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes stretched his advantage to two-tenths of a second with two laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained as the leader by half a second over Majeski. With a flurry of battles ensuing within the field and with Majeski trying to narrow the deficit between himself and Eckes, Eckes hit his marks on all cylinders and smoothly navigated his way around the Martinsville circuit for a final time before cycling back to the frontstretch victorious with his second checkered flag of the 2024 Truck season.

With the victory, Eckes, who won two races ago at Bristol Motor Speedway, notched his seventh career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and his first at Martinsville as he also became the first repeat winner of the 2024 Truck season. The victory was the second of the season for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and the fifth time in six events of the 2024 season where the Chevrolet nameplate achieved a victory.

“[My team and I are putting together] Something really special,” Eckes said on FS1. “It hasn’t been an easy regular season so far, to say the least. We came here and we weren’t that great last year. We worked really hard on it and here we are in Victory Lane. Just super proud of this team. It’s a good day to be in Victory Lane. Can’t wait for that [grandfather] clock [trophy].”

Majeski, who led 66 laps compared to Eckes’ 133, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time of the 2024 season as he also notched his third top-three result through this season’s first six events. Amid the disappointment of settling in the runner-up spot, Majeski assumed the lead in the regular-season standings.

“We came here with a little bit of a different setup, stepped outside our comfort zone a little bit, trying to try something for the Playoffs, that’s the one that matters,” Majeski said. “I think we’ve gotten better. [Eckes] was stellar tonight. He was just a little bit better than us, and he had better tires. I just could not launch on restarts. Really solid day. Obviously, you want to win. I wanted that grandfather clock, but super proud of this No. 98 Soda Sense team. We’ve been working hard to get our trucks better. Just a little bit short tonight.”

Chase Purdy, who finished no higher than 15th during the first five events on the schedule, posted his first top-five result of the season by finishing third while Nick Sanchez and Tyler Ankrum settled in the top five.

Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Sammy Smith, Kaden Honeycutt and Corey Heim finished in the top 10.

There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 81 laps. In addition, 27 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the sixth event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Ty Majeski leads the regular-season standings by seven points over Corey Heim and Tyler Ankrum, with Christian Eckes trailing by 11 and Taylor Gray trailing by 36.

Results.

1. Christian Eckes, 133 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

2. Ty Majeski, 66 laps led

3. Chase Purdy

4. Nick Sanchez, one lap led

5. Tyler Ankrum

6. Taylor Gray

7. Rajah Caruth

8. Sammy Smith

9. Kaden Honeycutt

10. Corey Heim

11. Mason Massey

12. Matt Crafton

13. Daniel Dye

14. Ben Rhodes

15. Layne Riggs

16. Tanner Gray

17. Bayley Currey

18. Jack Wood

19. Stewart Friesen

20. Timmy Hill

21. Jake Garcia

22. Grant Enfinger

23. Ty Dillon

24. Bret Holmes

25. Spencer Boyd

26. William Sawalich

27. Thad Moffitt

28. Stephen Mallozzi, two laps down

29. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

30. Cam Waters – OUT, Accident

31. Lawless Alan – OUT, DVP

32. Justin Carroll – OUT, Accident

33. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

34. Blake Lothian – OUT, Overheating

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, April 12, at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 6, 2024
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.

February 24, 2024
Nick Sanchez scores first Truck career victory at Daytona amid dramatic overtime shootout

From being involved in an early multi-truck wreck to escaping a final lap multi-truck wreck, Nick Sanchez capped off his roller-coaster evening mired with on-track chaos to claim his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career victory in the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, February 16.

The 22-year-old Sanchez from Miami, Florida, led three times for a race-high 26 of 101 over-scheduled laps in an event where he was involved in a multi-truck wreck on the fifth lap. Despite sustaining cosmetic damage to his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST, Sanchez managed to continue as he methodically remained within distance of the front-runners through the draft. Amid more carnages ensuing, he assumed the lead for the first time with nearly 40 laps remaining and managed to remain upfront amid four additional late-race restarts amid four on-track carnages.

Then during an overtime shootout, Sanchez, who briefly lost the lead to Rajah Caruth, reassumed the top spot with drafting help from Taylor Gray before the final lap. During the final lap, Caruth ignited a multi-truck wreck entering the backstretch that sent a multitude of competitors piling into one another and Gray flipping in the air and on top of two competitors before rolling back on all four wheels. With Sanchez managing to drive away from the field prior to the incident, he was able to cruise back to the frontstretch under a cautious pace and claim his first checkered flag in his 24th series start.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Ty Majeski started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 178.767 mph in 50.345 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Johnny Sauter, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 178.703 mph in 50.363 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Spencer Boyd, Ben Rhodes and Jason White dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season commenced, Majeski and Sauter battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch amid two tight-packed lanes. With the front-runners continuing to battle amid two tight-packed lanes through Turns 3 and 4 and through the frontstretch, Sauter managed to lead the first lap by a hair over Majeski while receiving drafting help from teammate Matt Mills.

Through the next four laps and as the field started to fan out to three lanes amid the draft, Sauter and Majeski duked back and forth for the lead until Sauter managed to muscle his No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of the pack with both lanes in his control. In the process, Majeski settled in second ahead of Corey LaJoie, Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Dye. Meanwhile, Mills, who sustained significant front nose damage to his No. 42 J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST by drafting Sauter hard in the early laps, was the lead competitor on the outside lane until he was shoved out of the draft amid a tight three-wide battle towards the front.

Then just past the fifth lap mark, the event’s first caution flew after Crafton, who was boxed in between Tanner Gray and Christian Eckes amid a stacked two-pack lane within the top 15, received a bump from Eckes into Gray that got Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 loose and bumping into the side of rookie Layne Riggs, which then carried forth into Crafton clipping Tanner Gray, who clipped Stewart Friesen, who then clipped Nick Sanchez through the backstretch. The chain reaction incident ended up triggering a multi-truck wreck that also included Ty Dillon, Thad Moffitt, Rajah Caruth, Lawless Alan, Keith McGee, Enfinger, and Jake Garcia. Amid the incident, Sauter was scored the leader ahead of Majeski, LaJoie, Ankrum and Daniel Dye while Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray, Bret Holmes, Toni Breidinger and Dean Thompson were running in the top 10.

During the caution period, some including Jason White, LaJoie, Grant Enfinger, Timmy Hill, Ben Rhodes, Crafton, Riggs, Mills and Tanner Gray pitted while the rest led by Sauter remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Sauter and Majeski dueled for the lead in front of two tight-packed lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. They remained dead even for the lead through the frontstretch as Sauter tried to edge ahead before Majeski fought back on the inside lane. Amid the tight battle for the lead, Sauter had teammate Currey and Taylor Gray drafting him while Majeski had drafting help from Ankrum as he then muscled ahead with the lead through Turns 3 and 4 during the following lap. Majeski would continue to have both drafting lanes to himself with the lead and with drafting help from Ankrum by the Lap 15 mark.

Shortly after, the caution returned after Lawless Alan, who was involved in the event’s early multi-truck wreck, spun by himself below the apron entering Turns 1 and 2 after he blew a right-rear tire and damaged his front nose after his truck dug into the infield grass before he then spun back across the track and was dodged by oncoming traffic. During the caution period, some including Dye, Stefan Parsons, Cory Roper, Sanchez, Caruth, Codie Rohrbaugh and Boyd pitted while the rest led by Sauter remained on the track.

With a single remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Sauter and Majeski again dueled for the top spot through the first two turns until Sauter prevailed on the outside lane with drafting help from teammate Currey to assume the top spot for good through the backstretch. The field then fanned out through the backstretch as both Currey and Majeski tried to mount a late charge for the lead, but their momentum was not enough as Sauter managed to capture the first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski and Currey duked for the runner-up spot while Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Holmes, Jack Wood, Eckes, Thompson and Heim were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Sauter pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 26 as Majeski and Ankrum occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski and Ankrum dueled for the lead until Ankrum muscled ahead with drafting help from teammate Eckes through Turns 1 and 2. With the field dispersed and the competitors trying to regather into a drafting file, Ankrum retained the lead over teammate Eckes and Rhodes while LaJoie, Crafton, Daniel Dye, Sanchez, Breidinger, Heim and Mills moved up the leaderboard as Majeski dropped out of the top 10.

At the Lap 30 mark, Ankrum retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Rhodes, who received drafting help from LaJoie on the outside lane to challenge Ankrum for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 while Eckes continued to draft teammate Ankrum on the inside lane. Amid the stacked two-packed field, Crafton and Sanchez battled for fifth while Heim, Dye, Majeski and Breidinger were running in the top 10 ahead of Enfinger, Mills, Caruth, Sauter, Roper and Holmes.

A lap later and as both Ankrum and Rhodes continued to battle dead even for the lead, the caution flew due to debris in the form of a tire carcass from Stewart Friesen’s entry being spotted in Turn 3, with Friesen pitting for fresh tires. During the caution period, some including Sauter, Currey, Thompson, Tanner Gray, Breidinger, Mills and Holmes pitted while the rest led by Ankrum remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 37, Ankrum received another strong push from teammate Eckes to muscle ahead with the lead on the inside lane. Crafton and Dye would follow suit while Rhodes fell back into a side-by-side battle with teammate Majeski for fifth place amid the draft and two stacked lanes. With Rhodes picking up LaJoie as a drafting partner through the frontstretch, Ankrum maintained the lead ahead of teammate Eckes, Crafton and Dye through the proceeding lap.

The caution, however, would return on Lap 38 due to reports of mist around the superspeedway venue. With the field being directed to pit road and placed under a red flag period for more than seven minutes to await the track being dried, Ankrum was awarded the Stage 2 victory scheduled to conclude on Lap 40. Teammate Eckes settled in second while Crafton, Dye, Rhodes, Majeski, LaJoie, Enfinger, Sanchez and Heim were scored in the top 10.

Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace for the second stage break, nearly the entire field led by Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Bret Holmes and Sauter remained on the track. During the pit stops, Ankrum nearly collided with Spencer Boyd, who was trying to enter his pit stall. In addition, Jason White drove through multiple pit stalls while Majeski was penalized due to his pit crew jumping over his pit stall too soon.

With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Holmes and Sauter occupied the front row. At the start, Holmes marched ahead with the lead from Sauter, where the former moved in front of him to the inside lane before Tanner Gray gained a strong run amid the draft through the backstretch to claim the lead followed by Chase Purdy. Amid Gray’s early efforts, Holmes would maintain the lead amid the draft followed by Sauter for the next two laps before the caution returned as Keith McGee wrecked in Turn 4.

During the caution period, select names that included Sanchez, LaJoie and Cory Roper pitted while the rest led by Holmes remained on the track.

With the event restarting with 49 laps remaining, Sauter and Holmes engaged in another side-by-side battle for the lead and in front of two tight-packed lanes. Five laps later, however, the caution flew after Holmes slipped sideways while battling Sauter entering the frontstretch and spun towards the infield along with Currey, who spun off the front nose of Taylor Gray and made light contact with the inside wall towards the pit road entrance. This resulted in a majority of the field led by Sauter returning to pit road for service while the rest led by Enfinger pitted. Enfinger, however, would pit shortly after along with several other names during the caution period, thus handing the lead to Sanchez

With the event restarting with 39 laps remaining, Sanchez received a strong push from Taylor Gray to muscle away with the lead. As the field fanned out to two and three tight-packed lanes amid the draft, Sanchez had both lanes to his control as he retained the lead followed by Taylor Gray. Three laps later, however, Ben Rhodes received a strong shove from Eckes to march forward into the lead, where he would lead the next five laps before he was challenged by Sauter for the top spot.

Then with 30 laps remaining, Rhodes made an unscheduled pit stop under green due to a tire issue to his No. 99 Ranch Fuel Energy Drink Ford F-150 as a result of an earlier on-track contact with Ankrum, where Ankrum ran into the right side of Rhodes’ entry. Amid Rhodes’ issue, a three-way battle for the lead ensued between Chase Purdy, Sanchez and Eckes for the lead while LaJoie, Parsons, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Jack Wood joined the battle amid two tight-packed lanes.

Two laps later, Rhodes’ event went from bad to worse after he slipped sideways and spun in Turn 4 while also making contact with Tanner Gray and Breidinger due to another tire issue to his entry. The issue occurred as Rhodes was lapped by the leaders entering Turns 3 and 4. With the damage to his entry, the reigning two-time Truck Series champion concluded his event in his pit stall.

During the proceeding restart with 23 laps remaining, Sanchez received a strong shove from Eckes to assume the lead from LaJoie as Taylor Gray followed suit in third place. Trouble, however, returned during the following lap when Eckes received a bump from LaJoie that sent his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST sideways and into the side of Parsons while he also got rear-ended by Sauter, whose hood popped up as both he and Eckes spun entering the frontstretch.

The start of the next restart with 16 laps remaining featured Sanchez muscling away from the field on the inside lane with a strong push from Taylor Gray. They would be followed by Jack Wood while the rest of the field engaged to battling in two tight-packed lanes. The following lap, the caution returned after Dean Thompson ran into the rear of Mason Massey entering Turn 4 and slipped sideways while teammate Breidinger was also involved as she ran into the rear of Thompson, slipped up the track and spun her No. 1 Celsius Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.

During the following restart with nine laps remaining, Rajah Caruth received drafting help from teammate LaJoie to move into the lead entering the first two turns. Both Spire Motorsports competitors would muscle away from the field through the backstretch until Sanchez gained a massive draft to reassume the top spot with drafting help from Taylor Gray as they were followed by Wood, Ankrum and Purdy while Caruth and LaJoie briefly separated amid the draft.

Two laps later and as Sanchez and Taylor Gray started to battle dead even for the lead in front of the pack, the caution flew after Ankrum slipped sideways off the front nose of Purdy, with both collecting Eckes before spinning through the backstretch’s grass. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime as Sanchez was scored the leader ahead of Caruth, Taylor Gray, Wood, LaJoie and Crafton.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, Sanchez and Caruth battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns until Caruth assumed the lead from the outside lane as both he and LaJoie rocketed ahead from the outside lane. They then maintained the lead through the backstretch until Sanchez and Taylor Gray gained a run to the outside lane towards Turns 3 and 4, which was enough for Sanchez to reassume the lead entering the frontstretch.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sanchez was leading ahead of Taylor Gray, Wood, Caruth and Heim as the field started to fan out to three lanes through the first two turns. Then entering the backstretch, a fiery multi-truck ignited after Caruth drove up the track and turned Wood into Taylor Gray, which sent Gray spinning and wrecking against the backstretch’s outside wall before he was T-boned by Daniel Dye and sent upside-down on top of Eckes and Tanner Gray before his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro rolled back on all four wheels. With the caution flag flying to end the event as nearly the entire field wrecked in the backstretch, Sanchez, who drove away from the incident, was scored the leader and declared the winner for his first series’ career victory.

With the victory, Sanchez, who claimed the 2023 Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year title and just missed the Championship 4 cutline amid a winless season, became the 123rd competitor overall to achieve a victory in the Craftsman Truck Series and the seventh to do so at Daytona International Speedway. He also recorded the first victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series for Rev Racing and the 100th points-paying victory in NASCAR at Daytona for the Chevrolet nameplate, with the Chevrolet nameplate also racking up its fourth victory at Daytona.

Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“[The win]’s Pretty surreal, especially with how the race started,” Sanchez said on FS1. “A big thanks to my team, sticking with me all last year. We were winless. It hurt. We should’ve won, but we redeemed ourselves in the first race possible. [It’s] Definitely gonna be a good year.”

Amid the carnage, Corey Heim ended uo in second place followed by Rajah Caruth, who navigated his damaged No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST to a strong top-three result while Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd ended up in the top five. Parsons, Crafton, Timmy Hill, Bryan Dauzat and Eckes finished in the top 10.

Taylor Gray, who ended up 19th following his final-lap upside-down wreck, emerged uninjured, though he, LaJoie, Dye, Roper, Thompson and Rohrbaugh were unable to finish.

There were 24 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 52 laps.

Following the first event of the 2024 Truck Series season, Tyler Ankrum, who finished 11th at Daytona, leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Sanchez, four over Eckes, five over both Holmes and Crafton, seven over both Heim and Majeski and eight over Caruth.

Results.

1. Nick Sanchez, 26 laps led

2. Corey Heim

3. Rajah Caruth, one lap led

4. Bret Holmes, 13 laps led

5. Spencer Boyd

6. Stefan Parsons

7. Matt Crafton

8. Timmy Hill

9. Bryan Dauzat

10. Christian Eckes, one lap led

11. Tyler Ankrum, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

12. Jason White

13. Bayley Currey

14. Stewart Friesen

15. Ty Majeski, six laps led

16. Tanner Gray, one lap led

17. Grant Enfinger, two laps led

18. Jack Wood

19. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

20. Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident, five laps led

21. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident

22. Cory Roper – OUT, Accident

23. Codie Rohrbaugh – OUT, Accident

24. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

25. Mason Massey, one lap down

26. Matt Mills, two laps down

27. Tony Breidinger, four laps down

28. Chase Purdy – OUT, Accident, one lap led

29. Johnny Sauter – OUT, Accident, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner

30. Ben Rhodes, – OUT, Accident, five laps led

31. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

32. Lawless Alan – OUT, Overheating

33. Layne Riggs – OUT, DVP

34. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident

35. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

36. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

With the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, February 24, and air at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

February 17, 2024
Ben Rhodes lands first Truck victory of 2023 at Charlotte

From rolling off the starting grid in 19th place to claiming the checkered flag in first place, Ben Rhodes emerged victorious for the first time in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season after winning the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 26.

The 2021 Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, led two times for 37 of 134 scheduled laps as he managed to reassume the lead from Carson Hocevar during a late restart with 24 laps remaining. From there, he managed to pull away from the field and beat runner-up Corey Heim by more than two seconds to win for the first time in the 2023 season and at Charlotte.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Tanner Gray claimed his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 180.385 in 29.936 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 180.180 mph in 29.970 seconds.

Prior to the event, Tyler Ankrum dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his Hattori Racing Enterprises entry. Rookie Nick Sanchez also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his Rev Racing entry.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Tanner Gray received a push from teammate Corey Heim on the inside lane to muscle ahead of Majeski with the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. As the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch and entering the frontstretch, Gray managed to fend off Majeski and Heim as he led the first lap.

During the second lap and amid a series of early on-track battles, Tanner Gray retained the lead by half a second over a side-by-side battle between Majeski and Heim while rookie Rajah Caruth closed in while running in fourth. Shortly after, Armani Williams had early on-track issues after he made contact with the wall and limped his damaged truck to pit road, but the race remained under green.

Then on the fourth lap, Heim gained a strong run beneath teammate Tanner Gray entering the frontstretch as he assumed the lead in his No. 11 Rootly Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Entering Turn 1, Majeski attempted to overtake Gray, but he got loose beneath Gray as his truck slipped sideways, but he managed to straighten his truck entering the backstretch as Gray and Caruth overtook him for top-five spots. In the midst of the battle, Heim stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Caruth and more than a second over third-place Dean Thompson while Majeski and Tanner Gray trailed in the top five. Behind, David Gilliland was in sixth ahead of Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith and Stewart Friesen while Grant Enfinger, Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray, Lawless Alan and Chase Purdy rounded out the top 15. Meanwhile, Jack Wood was in 16th ahead of Ben Rhodes, Colby Howard, Matt DiBenedetto and Matt Crafton while rookie Nick Sanchez was up to 21st ahead of Hailie Deegan and rookie Jake Garcia.

Ten laps later, Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Caruth as Dean Thompson retained third while trailing by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Majeski also retained fourth while Hocevar carved his way up to fifth. With Zane Smith moving up to sixth, Tanner Gray fell back to seventh ahead of David Gilliland while Taylor Gray cracked the top 10.

Another four laps later, Hocevar carved his way up to second place as he trailed Heim by more than a second while Caruth, Thompson and Majeski dropped a spot, but remained in the top five.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Heim claimed his fourth Truck stage victory of the season after fending off Hocevar by a tenth of a second. Hocevar settled in second followed by Thompson, Caruth and Zane Smith while Majeski, Tanner Gray, Friesen, David Gilliland and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted and after the pit stops, Heim retained the lead after exiting pit road first ahead of Hocevar, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Thompson and Gilliland. Following the pit stops, Majeski pitted for a second time for repairs to his quarter panel. Caruth also made another pit stop due to a jack issue from his initial stop.

The second stage started on Lap 36 as Heim and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Hocevar dueled for the lead through the first two turns amid a tight pack of competitors. Just as Hocevar tried to peek ahead on the outside lane, Heim managed to muscle ahead on the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 as he retained the lead while teammates Tanner Gray and Thompson battled for third. Behind, Friesen was in fifth while David Gilliland carved his way to sixth ahead of Taylor Gray, Zane Smith, Eckes, Bayley Currey, Colby Howard and Matt DiBenedetto.

Just past the Lap 40 mark, Heim was holding a steady advantage over Hocevar followed by Thompson, Tanner Gray and Friesen while Zane Smith, Taylor Gray, Gilliland, Rhodes and Eckes were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Colby Howard was in 11th ahead of DiBenedetto, Crafton, Sanchez, and Currey while Purdy, Deegan, Enfinger, Garcia and Caruth were running within the top 20.

Five laps later, Hocevar emerged as the third different leader of the event as he overtook Heim for the lead while third-place Thompson trailed by more than two seconds. By then, Caruth and Majeski were mired back in 18th and 20th, respectively, as Friesen and Zane Smith rounded out the top five.

At the Lap 50 mark, Hocevar extended his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Heim while third-place Thompson trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Friesen and Zane Smith remained in the top five while Taylor Gray retained sixth ahead of Ben Rhodes.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Hocevar claimed his second stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Heim settled in second ahead of Thompson, Zane Smith and Friesen while Taylor Gray, Rhodes, Gilliland, Sanchez and Eckes were scored in the top 10. By then, 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hocevar returned to pit road. Following the pit stops, Heim managed to edge Hocevar to reassume the lead followed by Taylor Gray, Thompson, Zane Smith and Sanchez. Following the pit stops, Tanner Gray pitted for a second time with the hood up on his truck.

With 66 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Heim and Hocevar occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Hocevar dueled for the lead until Heim launched ahead with the lead on the inside lane through the first two turns. Heim would retain the lead through the frontstretch as Hocevar overtook Taylor Gray for second while the rest of the field fanned out and jostled for positions.

With 60 laps remaining, Heim continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Hocevar. A lap later, however, Hocevar reassumed the lead over Heim as Thompson, Rhodes and Friesen were scored in the top five.

Then with 54 laps remaining, the caution flew when Armani Williams slipped sideways and spun entering Turn 4 as his truck dipped below the apron and onto pit road, where he collided against the pit road wall and damaged his truck. Despite the incident, Williams emerged uninjured as his incident also did not involve any crew members.

Following an extensive cleanup period and while still under a caution, Hocevar led a parade of competitors to pit road with 48 laps remaining. Amid mixed strategy, Chase Purdy exited first after only opting for fuel as he was followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, Deegan, Taylor Gray and Thompson.

During the following restart with 45 laps remaining, Purdy struggled to launch on the inside lane while Rhodes received a strong push from Hocevar’s No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST to assume the lead on the outside lane. The field then fanned out to three lanes entering Turn 1 as Hocevar quickly challenged Rhodes for the lead. Entering the frontstretch, however, the caution returned when Zane Smith got loose underneath Taylor Gray while battling for third, spun across the track and clipped the side of Hailie Deegan’s No. 13 Ford F-150 before spinning across the frontstretch grass.

With the race restarting with 38 laps remaining, Rhodes managed to launch with a strong start and retain the lead ahead of Hocevar while transitioning from the outside to the inside lane entering Turn 1. After being placed in a three-wide battle between Hocevar and Christian Eckes through the backstretch, Rhodes maintained the top spot as he gained a strong start on the outside lane and muscled away from the field. Behind, Hocevar and Eckes battled for second in front of Majeski and Taylor Gray.

With 33 laps remaining, Hocevar managed to reassume the lead from Rhodes as Eckes fell back to third ahead of Heim and Thompson. Two laps later, however, the caution returned as Tyler Ankrum and Kris Wright wrecked in the backstretch.

As the race restarted under green with 24 laps remaining, Rhodes gained a strong push from Eckes on the inside lane to pull ahead of Hocevar and reassume the lead entering the first turn. With the rest of the field jostling for positions, Rhodes retained the lead by a tenth of a second with 20 laps remaining.

With 15 laps remaining, Rhodes was leading by three-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Hocevar, Thompson and Eckes while Enfinger, Majeski, Taylor Gray, DiBenedetto and Gilliland were scored in the top 10. Behind, Caruth was in 11th ahead of Currey, Crafton, Sanchez, and Garcia while Daniel Dye, Purdy, Tanner Gray, Jack Wood and Friesen were running in the top 20.

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Rhodes continued to lead in his No. 99 Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 by eight-tenths of a second over Heim and more than a second over Thompson while Hocevar and Enfinger were in the top five. Rhodes would retain the lead by a second over a three-truck battle between a tight three-truck battle between Heim, Thompson and Hocevar with five laps remaining.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Rhodes remained as the leader by more than two seconds over Heim with Hocevar, Thompson and Enfinger scored in the top five. With Heim unable to narrow the deficit for a final lap and with Rhodes having a clear view in front of him, the Kentucky native was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch for his first elusive checkered flag of the 2023 campaign.

With the victory, Rhodes became the ninth different winner of the 2023 Truck season and the sixth series regular to place himself in contention to make the 2023 Truck Playoffs. In addition to scoring his seventh series career victory and the second of the season for ThorSport Racing, Rhodes notched the first Truck victory at Charlotte for himself and the Ford nameplate as he claimed the first $50,000 bonus for winning the first Triple Truck Challenge event.

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I didn’t think we were that good in practice,” Rhodes said on FS1. “I didn’t qualify the best, and here, [the truck] came to life at night. Oh, man, I had so much fun. This is so much fun. Charlotte is a track that we come to. ThorSport Racing, we’re based in Sandusky, Ohio. We come to the North Carolina guys’ house and we like to win.”

“I’ll take the championship right now,” Rhodes added. “The whole season is so hard to put together. It’s unbelievably hard and it’s only gotten more difficult over the years. I started running this series in 2016 and I’ll tell you, I keep getting better every year and so does the competition. The harder I try, the harder it is to win a race, so a championship, being locked [into the Playoffs], I’ll take that. The last three races have been so unbelievably hard on my team. We’ve been wrecked in the last three and haven’t had any good showings because of it. I’ll take the points. Thank you.”

Heim, who led four times for a race-high 49 laps, settled in second place for the second time this season but managed to extend his lead in the regular-season standings with five regular-season events remaining on the schedule.

“Me and [Hocevar] and [Thompson] were probably the best trucks,” Heim said. “[Rhodes] just came along really strong, and once we got to second on the restart, where [Hocevar] got put in the middle there, I really thought we had a shot at it. It just proves that clean air is king here, but I feel like if I did a better job of getting by as soon as possible rather than waiting on a run, we might have had a better opportunity.”

Dean Thompson, Heim’s teammate at TRICON Garage who qualified seventh, had a career night as he claimed third-place results in both stages before settling a career-best third-place in the final running order for his first top-five result in the series.

“This season, so far, has been so up and down,” Thompson said. “We’ve had such good runs. We had [good runs at] Texas, Kansas, and it just ends up wrecking. To have this turned around like this is just massive. Not just for me, but for my team too. This plays a lot in my confidence so we can carry it to Gateway.”

Hocevar, who led five times for 43 laps, came home in fourth place followed by Grant Enfinger while Eckes, Majeski, DiBenedetto, Sanchez and Taylor Gray finished in the top 10.

There were 12 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 32 laps. In total, 26 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 11th event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Corey Heim continues to lead the regular-season standings by 26 points over Ty Majeski, 43 over Zane Smith, 63 over Grant Enfinger and 76 over Ben Rhodes.

Results.

1. Ben Rhodes, 37 laps led

2. Corey Heim, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner

3. Dean Thompson

4. Carson Hocevar, 43 laps led, Stage 2 winner

5. Grant Enfinger

6. Christian Eckes

7. Ty Majeski

8. Matt DiBenedetto

9. Nick Sanchez

10. Taylor Gray

11. Rajah Caruth

12. Matt Crafton

13. Bayley Currey

14. David Gilliland

15. Jake Garcia

16. Chase Purdy, two laps led

17. Lawless Alan

18. Jack Wood

19. Daniel Dye

20. Colby Howard

21. Bret Holmes

22. Stewart Friesen

23. Zane Smith

24. Tyler Hill

25. Mason Maggio

26. Ryan Vargas

27. Tanner Gray, one lap down, three laps led

28. Tyler Ankrum, two laps down

29. Josh Reaume, three laps down

30. Matt Mills, three laps down

31. Spencer Boyd, three laps down

32. Kris Wright, four laps down

33. Hailie Deegan six laps down

34. Justin Carroll, 12 laps down

35. Armani Williams – OUT, Accident

36. Keith McGee – OUT, Fuel pump

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is the series’ annual visit to Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, which will serve as the second site of this year’s Triple Truck Challenge program. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 3, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

May 27, 2023
Carson Hocevar escapes final lap carnage for first Truck career victory at Texas

After finishing in the runner-up spot four times while having numerous opportunities to win slip out of his grasp in his previous 58 starts, Carson Hocevar’s day under the victorious sun arrived as he emerged as a first-time winner in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career following a wild finish to the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 1.

The 20-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, led only the final lap of 172 over-scheduled laps and had appeared to be heading for a top-five finish in an event mired with late caution periods and on-track chaos. During the final lap, however, Hocevar gained a run on a side-by-side battle between Zane Smith and rookie Nick Sanchez on the final lap through the frontstretch when Sanchez got loose after making contact with Smith. While trying to regain his momentum, Sanchez got bumped by Hocevar as he turned back across the track and clipped Smith while wrecking across the outside wall with Christian Eckes. Amid the carnage, Hocevar escaped with the lead and managed to retain it as the caution flew to conclude the event, in which Hocevar was deemed as the leader and awarded his first long-awaited victory in NASCAR.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, rookie Nick Sanchez claimed his second Truck career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 185.510 mph in 29.109 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Jack Wood, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 184.906 mph in 29.204 seconds.

Prior to the event, Spencer Boyd and Matt DiBenedetto started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Sanchez pulled ahead with an early advantage followed by Ty Majeski while Wood slipped up the track as he lost a handful of spots and fell out of the top five. Then as the field made its way through the backstretch, the caution flew when Chad Chastain spun and backed his No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST into the outside wall as he sustained rear-end damage.

During the following restart on the fifth lap, Sanchez retained the lead followed by a side-by-side battle between Eckes and Majeski through the first two turns. Entering the backstretch, however, Majeski wiggled and was quickly overtaken by teammate Ben Rhodes, Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim amid a three-wide battle while Eckes settled in second while trying to pursue Sanchez. With Majeski dropping back to seventh during the following lap, Jack Wood went up the track in Turn 1 and continued to lose more spots early in the event as he slipped out of the top 10. Amid the battles around the circuit, Sanchez retained the lead in front of Eckes and Rhodes.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Sanchez was leading by three-tenths of a second over Eckes followed by Rhodes, Hocevar, and Corey Heim while Majeski, Friesen, Tanner Gray, Grant Enfinger and rookie Jake Garcia were running in top 10. Behind, Chase Purdy was in 11th followed by Zane Smith, Tyler Ankrum, Dean Thompson and rookie Rajah Caruth while Bret Holmes, Wood, rookie Taylor Gray, Matt Crafton and Colby Howard occupied the top 20.

Ten laps later, Sanchez extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Eckes followed by Rhodes, Hocevar and Heim. A lap later, the caution returned when Chad Chastain wrecked for the second time after spinning and backing his truck into the outside wall in the backstretch.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 25, Sanchez and Eckes dueled for the lead and remained dead even for a full lap as Eckes managed to lead the following lap. Sanchez, however, would prevail during the following lap and reassume the lead as the field behind jostled for spots.

When the competition caution flew on Lap 35, Sanchez was leading by more than a second over Eckes while Rhodes, Majeski and Rhodes were scored in the top five. By then, 29 of 34 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the competition caution, the teams were given three minutes to service their respective trucks with the competitors retaining their spots as they entered pit road and during the latest caution period, which kept Sanchez as the leader.

With the event proceeding under green on Lap 35, Sanchez battled against Eckes on the inside lane before he was able to pull ahead and retain the lead exiting Turn 4 while the field behind jostled for spots around the circuit.

Four laps later, Sanchez was leading by more than a second over Rhodes followed by Eckes, Zane Smith and Dean Thompson while Heim, Friesen, Purdy, Majeski and Enfinger were in the top 10. Sanchez would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Rhodes as the event reached its Lap 50 mark.

Just past the Lap 60 mark, Sanchez retained the lead by a second over Rhodes while third-place Eckes trailed by more than a second. Zane Smith and Thompson remained in the top five while 25 of 34 starters were scored on the lead lap.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 77, Sanchez claimed his first Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Rhodes settled in second while Eckes, Majeski, Zane Smith, Thompson, Heim, Purdy, Friesen and Enfinger were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the field led by Sanchez returned to pit road as the teams were given three minutes to service the truck while the competitors retained their respective spots as they entered pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 77 as Sanchez and Rhodes occupied the front row. At the start, Sanchez and Rhodes dueled dead even for the lead for a full lap as Rhodes prevailed during the following lap to lead by a nose. Sanchez, however, fought back during the following lap on the inside lane as he returned to the lead. Shortly after, the caution returned when Lawless Alan spun his No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST on the backstretch.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 82, Sanchez retained the lead while Eckes challenged Rhodes for second in front of Zane Smith and Thompson. As the event surpassed its halfway mark a few laps later, Sanchez started to extend his advantage to nearly a second while Eckes retained second over Rhodes. By then, Corey Heim launched his bid for a spot in the top five while more jostling within the field occurred.

Nearing the Lap 90 mark, Ankrum scrubbed the wall while running within the top 15 while rookie Rajah Caruth made contact with the wall after contact with Hocevar, which prompted Caruth to pit under green for damage repairs.

At the Lap 100 mark, Sanchez was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Eckes while Rhodes, Thompson, Zane Smith, Heim, Taylor Gray, Friesen, Tanner Gray and Purdy occupied the top 10. With Enfinger back in 11th, Matt Crafton was up in 12th followed by DiBenedetto, Colby Howard and Hocevar while Majeski had fallen back to 16th in front of Jake Garcia, Ankrum, Wood and Hailie Deegan.

Ten laps later, Sanchez’s advantage decreased to eight-tenths of a second over Eckes while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than a second.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 122, Sanchez, who used the lapped traffic to his advantage to extend his advantage while Eckes struggled to overtake the lapped competitors, claimed his second Truck consecutive stage victory of the season and of the day. Eckes settled in second as he trailed a second behind while Rhodes, Thompson, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Heim, Purdy, Taylor Gray and Crafton were scored in the top 10.

Following the final three-minute pit stop period, the final stage started on Lap 122 as Sanchez and Eckes shared the front row. At the start, Sanchez jumped ahead with another strong start on the inside lane followed by Zane Smith, who also gave Sanchez a push as he then tried to pursue Sanchez for the lead while Eckes fell back to third. A lap later, Rhodes navigated his way to third while Eckes was being challenged by Hocevar for fourth.

Not long after, Taylor Gray, who was running in the top 10, made contact against the wall, but the event proceeded under green as Zane Smith started to intimidate Sanchez for the lead. Getting his deficit down to as little as a tenth of a second, Zane Smith, however, continued to settle behind Sanchez while more battles ensued behind.

Then with less than 35 laps remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as Zane Smith, who kept Sanchez close within his sights, tried to overtake Sanchez in Turn 1 through a slide job. He, however, slid up the track in Turn 1 and could not make the move stick as Sanchez pulled the crossover move to reassume the lead through the backstretch. Rhodes then tried to follow suit in second, but he got loose entering Turn 4, which allowed Zane Smith to reassume second as he tried to reignite his charge on Sanchez for the lead.

With 31 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jack Wood, who was running in the top 20, plowed his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST through the frontstretch grass as he kicked up debris and grass on the frontstretch’s pavement.

During the following restart with 25 laps remaining, Sanchez and Zane Smith dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Sanchez managed to use the inside lane to his advantage as he cleared Zane Smith and retained the lead. Behind, Eckes challenged Zane Smith for second, with the latter still prevailing as the field returned to the frontstretch amid a series of battles. Shortly after, the caution flew for a viscous multi-truck wreck on the frontstretch when Thompson, who was having a strong run towards the front, hit the outside wall entering the frontstretch as his damaged truck veered sideways towards the outside wall and came to a stop towards the middle of the frontstretch before he was T-Boned by Matt Mills as Trey Hutchins and Armani Williams also piled into the carnage. Amid the hard carnage, all competitors emerged uninjured, though Thompson was placed on a stretcher and into the ambulance for further evaluation. The wreck, however, was enough to place the event in a red flag period to give the on-track safety crew time to clear the carnage.

Once the red flag was lifted amid a 15-minute hiatus and the race restarted with 17 laps remaining, Sanchez jumped ahead of Zane Smith despite spinning the tires to retain the lead as Hocevar challenged Zane Smith for second. Smith, however, pulled away and tried to challenge Sanchez for the lead while Friesen battled and overtook Hocevar for third. Shortly after, Friesen nearly got into the wall on the backstretch as he lost third to Hocevar, but he continued to run straight as the event proceeded under green. By then, Sanchez was still leading by a tenth of a second over Zane Smith.

Following another late caution period with 11 laps remaining due to a multi-truck involving Taylor Gray, rookie Daniel Dye, Mason Massey and Ankrum on the backstretch, the event restarted under green with seven laps remaining. At the start, Sanchez and Zane Smith dueled for the lead through the backstretch until Sanchez managed to fend off Smith once again to retain the lead. The caution, however, shortly returned when Matt Crafton, Tanner Gray and Enfinger wrecked in Turn 4. The incident was enough to send the event into overtime and past its scheduled distance of 167 laps.

At the start of the first overtime attempt, Sanchez and Zane Smith battled for the lead with neither peeking ahead. Amid the side-by-side battle towards the front, the caution flew and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt for a spin involving Lawless Alan, who rallied to run in the top 10, on the backstretch. At the moment of caution, Sanchez was still scored the leader followed by Zane Smith, Friesen, Eckes and Hocevar.

During the start of the second overtime attempt, Sanchez and Zane Smith dueled for the lead with Friesen, Eckes and Hocevar following in pursuit. Sanchez and Smith would remain dead even for the lead while Hocevar and Eckes dueled behind for third, all while the field behind battled for spots within the top five and 10.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Sanchez and Zane Smith remained dead even for the lead. They then made contact as Sanchez slipped sideways. Despite regaining control of his truck, he was then hit by Hocevar as Sanchez spun back across the track and clipped Smith’s No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford F-150 before colliding into the outside wall while also collecting Eckes. Amid the carnage, Hocevar escaped with the lead through the first two turns as the caution flew to end the event under the yellow flag. With the lead within his grasp, Hocevar was deemed the leader at the moment of caution and declared the winner as he cycled back to the finish line to claim his first checkered flag in NASCAR competition and in his 59th series start.

With the victory, Hocevar became the 122nd different competitor to achieve a victory in the Craftsman Truck Series, the first competitor to achieve a first series victory at Texas since Jeb Burton made the last accomplishment in 2013 and he became the first first-time winner in the series of the 2023 season. He also recorded the first victory of the season and the fifth overall for Niece Motorsports.

“I didn’t think y’all were gonna talk to me [in Victory Lane], to be honest,” Hocevar, who became the fourth different winner of the 2023 season, said on FS1. “I figured I was gonna talk to y’all [on pit road]. I’m just excited. I didn’t mean to get into [Sanchez]. I just wanted to give him a push and they were sideways the second I hit him. He was gone. I apologize to them. I’ll take the fall for it. I wrecked a Chevy, but, Chevy’s in Victory Lane, I’ll go talk to him. He deserved to win, for sure, but all the times we were the fastest car and I don’t win and this team don’t win. They deserve to win more than anything. I finally can stop getting the same question asked so many times. We didn’t deserve to win today. We were just in the right spot at the right time…My whole crew deserves this win more than anything.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Hocevar, who addressed his involvement of the final lap incident, added. “I was just like, ‘I’ll sit here’. [Sanchez and Smith] hit pretty good. I just tried to push [Sanchez] and he was sideways, so the second he crossed right back up, I mean, I was coming so much faster than him just to help push. He crossed left, crossed right and he’s sideways, so the second I touched him, he went around. I didn’t mean to tear up any race cars. I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”

With Hocevar scored as the winner, Chase Purdy ended in a career-best second place followed by Friesen and Majeski while rookie Jake Garcia finished in the top five. Hailie Deegan came home in sixth to tie her career-best result in the NASCAR Truck circuit while Heim, Ryan Vargas, Jack Wood and Rhodes completed the top 10 on the track.

Sanchez, who led a race-high 168 laps, ended up in 16th and with a destroyed race truck after being unable to limp back to the finish line while Zane Smith and Eckes managed to limp their trucks in 14th and 15th, respectively, below the lead lap finishing category.

“It was, obviously, coming to the last lap,” Sanchez said. “Me and [Zane Smith] were playing aggressive side-drafting game and I feel like I went a little too aggressive on him, got loose, went through the grass, saved it and just got hooked by [Hocevar]. Don’t know what else to say on that after all day just kind of in my own little race and for that to happen, but it is what it is. It’s racing. Thanks to everyone on the No. 2 Gainbridge and Save Chevy team. The truck’s fast. I hate we tore a fast one up, but just got to build another one and come back strong.”

“The end there, it was just overtime, overtime, overtime restarts,” Smith said. “I don’t know what’s really going on with [Sanchez], but he was just so, so sketchy, especially on the straightaways. He doors me [on the frontstretch], gets off me, drives [his truck] through the grass and then, I just get hooked. We were in great position to get our third win of the year there. We’ll rebound and go to Bristol Dirt and hopefully have a good weekend there.”

There were seven lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 36 laps.

Following the fifth event of the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series season, Ty Majeski leads the regular-season standings by three points over Zane Smith, 12 over Ben Rhodes, 19 over Christian Eckes and 51 over Matt Crafton.

Results.

1. Carson Hocevar, one lap led

2. Chase Purdy

3. Stewart Friesen

4. Ty Majeski

5. Jake Garcia

6. Hailie Deegan

7. Corey Heim

8. Ryan Vargas

9. Jack Wood

10. Ben Rhodes, one lap led

11. Mason Massey

12. Kris Wright

13. Matt Crafton

14. Zane Smith

15. Christian Eckes, two laps led

16. Nick Sanchez – OUT, Accident, 168 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

17. Grant Enfinger, one lap down

18. Lawless Alan, two laps down

19. Rajah Caruth, three laps down

20. Colby Howard, three laps down

21. Josh Reaume, four laps down

22. Spencer Boyd, four laps down

23. Bret Holmes, five laps down

24. Taylor Gray, six laps down

25. Daniel Dye, seven laps down

26. Tyler Ankrum, eight laps down

27. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

28. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

29. Armani Williams – OUT, Accident

30. Trey Hutchins – OUT, Accident

31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

32. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Vibration

33. Keith McGee – OUT, Vibration

34. Chad Chastain – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is the third annual running of the Weather Guard Truck Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 8, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

April 1, 2023