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Eckes leads every lap en route to third Truck victory of 2024 at Nashville; cashes in on third Triple Truck Challenge bonus

Christian Eckes capped off a perfect run that involved leading every lap en route to a resounding NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday, June 28.

The 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion from Greenville, New York, led all 150-scheduled laps in an event where he started in third place, quickly assumed the lead from pole-sitter Stewart Friesen on the first lap, swept both stage periods and withstood a flurry of caution flags and restart periods from start to finish. Retaining the lead both on the track and on pit road, Eckes had enough muscle to power away from teammate Daniel Dye and the field during the final restart period with 32 laps remaining to win by two seconds and cash in with both his third Truck victory of the 2024 season and first $50,000 prize as part of the Triple Truck Challenge.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Friday, Stewart Friesen notched his first Truck pole position of the 2024 season and his first since 2019 after posting a pole-winning speed at 158.980 mph in 30.117 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Grant Enfinger, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 158.859 mph in 30.140 seconds.

Before the event, Nick Sanchez dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck after he wrecked his primary truck during Friday’s qualifying session. Timmy Hill also dropped to the rear of the field due to a transmission change. Ty Dillon, Matt Mills and Tanner Gray all started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

The start of the race lasted for three turns as a multi-truck wreck that involved Dean Thompson, Bret Holmes, Mason Massey, Mason Maggio, Timmy Hill and Akinori Ogata, all of whom started towards the rear of the field, wrecked in Turn 4. Prior to the early carnage, Eckes, who started in third place and behind Friesen on the inside lane, had muscled past both Enfinger and Friesen through the first two turns to assume the lead.

The start of the next restart period on the seventh lap lasted only a lap as Holmes, who was trying to continue after being involved in the opening lap wreck, spun and wrecked his No. 32 Golden Eagle Chevrolet Silverado RST against the outside wall in Turn 2. At the time of Holmes’ incident, Eckes had managed to fend off Friesen from the inside lane to retain the lead.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 14, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Eckes muscled ahead of Friesen to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Behind, Riggs battled and overtook Friesen for the runner-up spot while Majeski, Honeycutt and Enfinger followed suit in the top six. Amid the early battles, Eckes led by half a second over Riggs by the Lap 20 mark.

Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Riggs followed by Friesen, Kaden Honeycutt and Corey Heim while Ty Majeski, Daniel Dye, Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth and Clint Bowyer were scored in the top 10. Behind, Tyler Ankrum trailed in 11th place and ahead of Stefan Parsons, Chase Purdy, Tayor Gray and Ben Rhodes while Bayley Currey, Jake Garcia, Matt Crafton, Matt Mills and Jack Wood were mired in the top 20 ahead of Brenden Queen, Lawless Alan, Connor Jones, Ty Dillon and Dawson Cram.

Ten laps later, Eckes extended his advantage to over Riggs while third-place Honeycutt was up to third and trailing by less than four seconds despite reporting the sight of smoke and the smell of gear oil within his No. 45 AutoVentive/Precision Chevrolet Silverado RST. Another lap, however, Honeycutt surrendered third place and nursed his truck to the garage due to his mechanical issue. Honeycutt’s early misfortune moved Heim, Friesen and Enfinger in the top five on the track while Eckes retained his advantage by more than a second.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Eckes captured his fourth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Riggs followed suit in second place ahead of Heim, Enfinger and Daniel Dye while Caruth, Friesen, Majeski, Bowyer and Tyler Ankrum were scored in the top 10. By then, 25 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while select drivers, including Tanner Gray and Nick Sanchez, were lapped by the field.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Eckes pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Eckes retained the lead after exiting pit road first while Heim, Riggs, Caruth, Enfinger, Dye, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Chase Purdy and Ben Rhodes followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Matt Mills was penalized for equipment interference.

The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Eckes and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, however, the caution quickly returned when Taylor Gray, who restarted in the top 10, was bumped by Rhodes as Gray got sideways before he shot back across the track and wrecked his No. 17 Caden Ingram Foundation Toyota Tundra TRD Pro against the Turn 1 outside wall as he was taken out of contention. The start of the following restart on Lap 59 also did not last a single turn as the field got jumbled up through the frontstretch, with Bowyer ramming into the rear of teammate Purdy, who was stacking up the field after he ran into the rear of Ankrum, while Lawless Alan, who was rammed in the rear by Dawson Sutton, rammed and sent the No. 46 Faction46 Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Dawson Cram for a spin through the frontstretch’s grass.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 65, the field fanned out as Eckes fended off Riggs and Heim to retain the lead. With the field still fanning out through the frontstretch during the following lap, Enfinger and Dye battled for fifth place in front of Rhodes while a flurry of competitors including Friesen, Ankrum, Majeski, Crafton, Jack Wood, Jake Garcia, Stefan Parsons and Bayley Currey battled for positions as high as eighth place. Amid the battles, Eckes stabilized his advantage to half a second over Heim by the Lap 70 mark.

Just past the Lap 75 mark, Eckes stretched his advantage to a second over Heim while Caruth battled and overtook Dye for third place. Meanwhile, Riggs dropped to sixth place as he was running behind Enfinger while Rhodes, Friesen, Parsons and Crafton were mired in the top 10 ahead of Ankrum, Currey, Majeski, Wodd and Conner Jones. Meanwhile, Sanchez was racing back in 20th place ahead of Brenden Queen while Bowyer, who pitted for extensive repairs to his truck, was running in 24th place ahead of teammate Purdy.

By Lap 85, Eckes continued to lead by a second over Heim while third-place Caruth trailed by three seconds. Dye and Enfinger continued to run in the top five ahead of Rhodes and Friesen while Riggs, who was continuing to lose ground of the leaders, was trying to fend off Parsons for eighth place. Shortly after, Parsons and Riggs both made contact entering the frontstretch while battling for eighth place, which allowed Crafton and Ankrum to overtake them for positions.

Then on Lap 92, Riggs, who was fiercely battling Parsons for 13th place and had made repeated contact with Parsons as both dropped out of the top-10 mark on the track, rammed into the rear of Parsons’ No. 75 Popsells.com Chevrolet Silverado RST as Parsons was sent sideways and wrecked against the outside wall in Turn 4. The incident was enough for NASCAR to enforce a two-lap penalty on Riggs with the driver forced to serve the penalty in his pit stall for reckless driving.

As a result of the Riggs and Parsons incident, the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 95 officially concluded under caution as Eckes proceeded to captured his fifth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season and sweep both stages at Nashville. Heim settled in second followed by Caruth, Dye and Enfinger while Rhodes, Friesen, Crafton, Ankrum and Majeski were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Eckes returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Eckes retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Caruth, Dye, Rhodes, Ankrum, Friesen, Crafton and Wood while Heim exited in ninth place due to losing seven spots as he struggled to launch his truck out of his pit box following his service.

With 48 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Eckes and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Eckes muscled ahead with the lead while Dye and Rhodes quickly overtook Caruth to move up to second and third, respectively. As Eckes continued to lead in front of Dye, Rhodes and Caruth for the following lap, Friesen, who endured a slow pit service earlier in the event that cost him spots, muscled his way back into the top five while Ankrum, Heim, Crafton, Tanner Gray and Connor Jones were battling within the top 10.

Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Eckes was leading by more than half a second over teammate Dye while Caruth, Rhodes and Ankrum trailed in the top five. Behind, Heim carved his way up to sixth place while Friesen, Tanner Gray, Matt Mills and Crafton battled in the top 10 ahead of Garcia, Enfinger, Wood, Connor Jones and Bowyer.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Jack Wood, who was running in 13th place, received a tap from Connor Jones that sent Wood’s No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet Silverado RST spinning down the apron in Turn 4 and just past the entrance of pit road, though Wood managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage. During the caution period, some including Friesen, who had a loose left-rear wheel, pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

As the event restarted under green with 32 laps remaining, Eckes fended off teammate Dye to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Caruth was trying to fend off Rhodes and Ankrum for third place. With Heim charging his way back into the top, he then made a bold three-wide move to boost his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro all the way up to third place during the following lap. Soon after, Ankrum overtook Rhodes for fifth place and Tanner Gray carved his damaged No. 15 Dead On Tools Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to seventh place while Eckes retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Dye with less than 30 laps remaining.

With 25 laps remaining, Eckes extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Dye while third-place Heim and fourth-place Caruth both trailed the lead by more than two seconds. Eckes would add another second to his advantage with 20 laps remaining, thus leaving Dye to trail teammate Eckes by two seconds as Caruth, who overtook Heim for third place earlier, was trying to close in on Dye’s No. 43 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST for the runner-up spot. By then, Heim, Ankrum and Rhodes remained in the top six while Enfinger and Garcia overtook Tanner Gray for seventh and eighth on the track.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Eckes stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Dye and by nearly three seconds over Caruth as Heim and Ankrum continued to round out the top five. Behind, Rhodes, Enfinger, Garcia, Matt Mills and Friesen were in the top 10 while Majeski, Connor Jones, Tanner Gray, Nick Sanchez and Brenden Queen trailed in the top 15. As Crafton, who had been drifting out of the top 10, pitted his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 under green and dropped out of the lead lap category, Eckes grew his advantage to three seconds over teammate Dye with 10 laps remaining.

With five laps remaining, Eckes’ advantage barely decreased as he was still leading by less than three seconds over teammate Dye while third-place Caruth continued to trail Dye by four-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Heim and Ankrum trailed Eckes by three and four seconds, respectively, in the top five.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained as the leader by two seconds over teammate Dye while Heim overtook Caruth’s No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST amid a fierce late-race battle for third place. With the latter three unable to gain any ground on Eckes, Eckes was able to navigate his No. 19 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST around the Nashville circuit smoothly for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by two seconds over teammate Dye.

With the victory, Eckes, who joins Corey Heim as the second competitor to achieve three or more victories through the first 13-scheduled events, became the first competitor to lead every lap en route to a Truck Series win since Timothy Peters made the last accomplishment at Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2012. In addition, Eckes achieved his eighth career win in the Craftsman Truck Series, his first since winning at Martinsville Speedway in early April and his first at Nashville Superspeedway. The victory was the third of the season for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and the ninth of the year for the Chevrolet nameplate.

As an added bonus, Eckes pocketed his first $50,000 bonus by winning the third and final Triple Truck Challenge event of the 2024 season, thus becoming the 15th competitor to achieve the bonus in the initiative’s sixth season of existence.

“It was just a badass truck,” Eckes said on FS2. “Man, I can’t say enough about these [No. 19] guys. We felt like we should’ve won last time at Gateway and came up a little bit short, finished second and we were really motivated to get this truck better. [The truck]’s done its job for the day. What an Adaptive One Chevy. That was an ass-kicking today. I love it. I saw [Corey Heim] have four [race-winning stickers] on [his truck]. I got a little bit upset when I walked in, so now, we got another one to go catch.”

Teammate Daniel Dye was also left smiling on pit road as he achieved his first top-five career result in the Truck Series by notching a runner-up result in his 36th series start. With the result, Dye trails the top-10 cutline to make the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs by 14 points with three regular-season events remaining on the schedule.

“Man, the confidence is so important when you’re driving a race car and to finish second like this,” Dye said. “Obviously, Christian [Eckes] drove away, but I think there at the end, we were running similar speeds. Man, it feels really good. Our NAPA Nightvision Chevy was really fast. Just super excited that this happened…To finish runner-up feels good.”

Corey Heim rallied from his late pit road issues to finish in third place for his ninth top-three result of the 2024 season, Rajah Caruth nabbed his first top-five result since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March by finishing in fourth place and Tyler Ankrum recorded his fourth top-five result of the season by finishing in fifth place.

Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Matt Mills, Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia finished in the top 10.

Notably, Stewart Friesen came home in 11th place, Brenden Queen ended up in 19th place in his second Truck career start, Matt Crafton ended up in 23rd place while two laps down and Frankie Muniz settled in 31st place in his Truck debut while scored 20 laps down.

In addition, Clint Bowyer nursed his damaged No. 7 Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet Silverado RST to a 17th-place result in his 15th Truck Series career start, first since 2016 and first with Spire Motorsports.

“I will be back!” Bowyer exclaimed while being interviewed by former team owner Michael Waltrip. “I promise you there’s no way in hell I’m ending on that note.”

There were no lead changes for a single leader. The race featured seven cautions for 42 laps. In addition, 20 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 13th event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes continues to lead the regular-season standings by 40 points over Corey Heim, 89 over Nick Sanchez, 92 over Ty Majeski and 163 over Rajah Caruth.

Results.

1. Christian Eckes, 150 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

2. Daniel Dye

3. Corey Heim

4. Rajah Caruth

5. Tyler Ankrum

6. Grant Enfinger

7. Ben Rhodes

8. Matt Mills

9. Ty Majeski

10. Jake Garcia

11. Stewart Friesen

12. Conner Jones

13. Nick Sanchez

14. Tanner Gray

15. Ty Dillon

16. Jack Wood

17. Clint Bowyer

18. Dawson Sutton

19. Brenden Queen

20. Dawson Cram

21. Chase Purdy, one lap down

22. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

23. Matt Crafton, two laps down

24. Lawless Alan, two laps down

25. Layne Riggs, two laps down

26. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

27. Timmy Hill, three laps down

28. Dean Thompson, four laps down

29. Bayley Currey, four laps down

30. Akinori Ogata, six laps down

31. Frankie Muniz, 20 laps down

32. Mason Massey – OUT, Brakes

33. Kaden Honeycutt, 66 laps down

34. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

35. Mason Maggio – OUT, Mechanical

36. Bret Holmes – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for the CRC Brakleen 175. The event is scheduled to occur on July 12 and air at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

June 29, 2024
Corey Heim rallies for fourth Truck victory of 2024 at Gateway

Corey Heim’s recent hot pursuit on the track continued after the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro raced his way to a strong, dominant victory in the Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, June 1.

The 21-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led twice for a race-high 65 of 160-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified ninth and settled in the top five during both stage periods before he assumed the lead for the first time at the start of the final stage period with 83 laps remaining.

Then, amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops, followed by a single-truck incident involving Vicente Salas, Heim cycled his way back into the lead for the start of the final restart period with 23 laps remaining. Despite restarting on the inside lane, which was deemed a struggling lane on restarts, Heim rocketed ahead with the lead and led the remainder of the event as he beat runner-up Christian Eckes by more than a second. It was his fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season as he also cashed in on the second Triple Truck Challenge bonus.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, May 31, Ty Majeski claimed his third Truck pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 138.568 mph in 32.475 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Christian Eckes, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 138.041 mph in 32.599 seconds.

Prior to the event, Tanner Gray dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his TRICON Garage entry.

When the green flag waved and the race started following a three-hour delay due to on-track precipitation, the field within the middle of the pack fanned out to three lanes through the frontstretch as Ty Majeski used the outside lane to his advantage to muscle his No. 98 Road Ranger/Bucked UP Ford F-150 ahead of Christian Eckes through the first two turns and retain the lead through the backstretch. As the field behind continued to fan out through the backstretch, Majeski fended off Eckes to lead the first lap.

Through the second to fifth lap marks, Majeski retained the lead as he stretched it to as high as half a second over Eckes while Nick Sanchez, Stewart Friesen and Dean Thompson trailed in the top five. Behind, Ben Rhodes trailed in sixth place by four seconds while Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, Grant Enfinger and Daniel Dye were racing in the top 10.

Just past the Lap 10 mark, the event’s first caution period flew when newcomer Luke Fenhaus, who was racing in the mid-20s and battling both Bayley Currey and Lawless Alan amid three lanes, got loose underneath Currey before he spun his No. 66 Soda Sense Ford F-150 in Turn 1. During the event’s first caution period, select names, mainly those running within the mid-pack region, pitted, among which included Tanner Gray, Matt Mills, Connor Mosack, Bayley Currey and rookie Thad Moffitt, while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

When the event restarted under green on Lap 15, Majeski and Eckes battled dead even for the lead through the first two turns and through the backstretch as Sanchez pursued in third. Amid the tight battle, Eckes managed to lead the next lap from the inside lane and he would lead the following lap by a tenth of a second until Majeski reassumed the top spot by Lap 18. Not long after Eckes was fending off Sanchez for the runner-up spot, Friesen proceeded to battle Sanchez amid close-quarters racing for third place. With Friesen muscling ahead of Sanchez for third, Majeski retained the lead by half a second over Eckes while Dean Thompson occupied fifth place.

Through the first 25 scheduled laps, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Eckes followed by Sanchez, Friesen and Corey Heim while Thompson, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Daniel Dye and Taylor Gray were running in the top 10. Behind, Rajah Caruth occupied 11th place ahead of Tyler Ankrum, Chase Purdy, Ty Dillon and Jake Garcia while rookie Layne Riggs, newcomer Andres Perez de Lara, Tanner Gray, Bayley Currey and Lawless Alan followed suit in the top 20 along with Colby Howard, Mason Massey, Matt Crafton, Matt Mills and Bret Holmes.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 35, Majeski claimed his fourth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes settled in second ahead of Sanchez, Friesen and Heim while Thompson, Enfinger, Rhodes, Dye and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. By then, all but one of 32 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Majeski pitted while the rest led by Tanner Gray, including those who pitted earlier, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Daniel Dye was penalized for speeding on pit road as Sanchez emerged as the first competitor off of pit road.

The second stage period started on Lap 41 as Tanner Gray and Colby Howard occupied the front row. At the start, Gray muscled ahead from the outside lane to retain the lead while Mosack also retained second ahead of Sanchez and Howard as the field fanned out through the backstretch. Gray would proceed to lead by two seconds over Mosack while Sanchez, Rhodes, Howard and Majeski trailed in the top six.

Within Lap 45, the caution returned after Howard, who was in the top five, wrecked his No. 1 Coastal Sports Cards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro hard against the outside wall in Turn 3 after he lost a right-front tire. By then, Sanchez had overtaken Mosack to claim the runner-up spot while Tanner Gray was still leading. During the caution period, Crafton, who was battling electrical issues earlier in the event, pitted his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 to have his issues further addressed. Crafton would make multiple trips to pit road but he would remain on the lead lap.

As the event restarted under green on Lap 54, Tanner Gray and Sanchez dueled for the lead entering the first two turns. They then rubbed fenders and nearly wrecked entering the backstretch, but they kept their trucks running straight. Their stalled momentum, however, enabled Ben Rhodes to go three wide in between both of them exiting the backstretch as Rhodes made the move stick and he led the following lap over both Sanchez and Tanner Gray. Amid the tight battle, Rhodes would proceed to lead in his No. 99 Bommarito Automotive Group Ford F-150 ahead of Sanchez, and Tanner Gray dropped to third as Majeski closed in and eventually overtook Gray for third place.

By Lap 60, Rhodes was leading by two-tenths of a second over Sanchez followed by Majeski, Sanchez and Tanner Gray while Heim, Enfinger, Chase Purdy, Taylor Gray and Rajah Caruth trailed in the top 10. Behind, Connor Mosack was in 11th ahead of Ty Dillon, Friesen, Tyler Ankrum and Dean Thompson as rookie Layne Riggs, Andres Perez de Lara, Daniel Dye, Jake Garcia and Bret Holmes occupied the top 20.

Six laps later, Majeski, who spent the previous six laps navigating his way into the runner-up spot and was closing in on teammate Rhodes for the lead, overtook Rhodes to reassume the lead. Not long after, Eckes navigated past Rhodes for the runner-up spot while Sanchez was trying to close in for third place. In addition, Heim trailed in fifth place by more than two seconds while Tanner Gray and Enfinger both trailed by seven seconds in the top seven.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 70, Majeski claimed his fifth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season and completed the sweep of both stages of the event. Eckes settled in a close second followed by Sanchez, Rhodes and Heim while Enfinger, brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray, Purdy and Dillon were scored in the top 10.

During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Majeski pitted while Kieth McGee and Thad Moffitt remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Ankrum and Dye exited first and second, respectively, after both opted for two fresh tires while Heim, who exited third, was the third competitor to have four fresh tires on his entry. Not long after, McGee and Moffitt pitted their respective entries as Ankrum assumed the lead

With 83 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Ankrum and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Heim muscled his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead into the lead from the inside lane. As a flurry of battles ensued within the field, Heim retained the lead by half a second over Ankrum at the halfway mark with 80 laps remaining. Meanwhile, Majeski trailed in third place and by eight-tenths of a second along with Sanchez and Dye while Rhodes, Eckes, Tanner Gray, Enfinger and Caruth were scored in the top 10.

With 70 laps remaining, Heim was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Sanchez, Ankrum and Rhodes while Eckes, Dye, Enfinger, Caruth and Tanner Gray were racing in the top 10 ahead of Friesen, Purdy, Thompson, Dillon and Crafton. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray pitted his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro and his pit crew raised Gray’s hood up to address a brake issue as Gray lost multiple laps on pit road.

Ten laps later, Heim extended his advantage by more than a second over Majeski as Sanchez, Rhodes and Eckes continued to follow suit in the top five. Meanwhile, Dye was in sixth and he was racing ahead of Ankrum, Enfinger, Caruth and Friesen while Heim proceeded to slightly extend his advantage to nearly two seconds over Majeski with 50 laps remaining.

Then with 45 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as the leader Heim pit along with Jake Garcia. Majeski then pitted during the following lap before more names, including Rhodes, Enfinger, Caruth, Dillon, Dye and Ankrum, pit during the proceeding laps. With more names peeling off the track to pit their respective entries, Sanchez, who has yet to pit, was leading ahead of Eckes and Friesen while Tanner Gray and Purdy were scored in the top five with 40 laps remaining.

With less than 35 laps remaining, more names, including Sanchez, pitted under green while select names led by Tanner Gray, Purdy and Luke Fenhaus, all of whom have yet to pit, were running in the top-three spots.

Then with nearly 30 laps remaining, the caution flew after Vicente Salas spun in Turn 4 as Heim had to take evasive action to avoid hitting Salas. At the time of caution, Tanner Gray had pitted while Purdy, Fenhaus and Crafton, all of whom had yet to pit, were still on the track and occupying the top three spots. During the caution period, select names including Purdy, Crafton and Fenhaus pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track as Heim cycled back into the lead.

With 23 laps remaining, the event restarted under green as Heim and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Heim, who restarted on the inside lane, retained the lead by a narrow advantage over Majeski through the first two turns and back to the backstretch. With the battle for the lead intensifying, Heim retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Eckes tried to close in from third place and as he trailed by six-tenths of a second with 20 laps remaining.

With less than 15 laps remaining, Heim extended his advantage by nearly a second over Majeski while Eckes, Sanchez and Rhodes were in the top five. Riggs, Purdy, Friesen, Andres Perez de Lara and Luke Fenhaus followed suit in the top 10 while Heim continued to lead by a second with 10 laps remaining. Behind him, Eckes and Sanchez started to pressure Majeski for second.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Heim retained the lead by a second over Eckes and Sanchez while Majeski dropped to fourth as he trailed by three seconds. Meanwhile, Layne Riggs was up into fifth place as he occupied the spot over Purdy and Rhodes.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim remained as the leader by more than a second over Eckes as Sanchez trailed by two seconds. Having a reasonable lead to his advantage, Heim was able to smoothly navigate his way around Gateway for a final time before he navigated back to the frontstretch to claim his fourth checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

With the victory, Heim, who became the first four-time race winner of this season, notched his ninth career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, his first since winning at North Wilkesboro Speedway two races ago and his second at Gateway’s World Wide Technology Raceway after he won his first in 2022.

As an added bonus, Heim, who was absent from last year’s Truck event at Gateway due to an illness, claimed the second $50,000 bonus as part of the Triple Truck Challenge, which also marks his second time claiming the prize after he achieved his first in 2022.

Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“Total team effort today,” Heim said on FS2. “We actually struggled a bit yesterday and worked overnight on [the truck]. I just have to say [that] this pit crew redeemed themselves. Last week, we felt like we could’ve won the race and admittedly they made some mistakes, but they redeemed themselves today and that’s what it’s all about. That was awesome. [I’m] On top of the world right now. We’ve got such a great race team and such a long season ahead.”

Christian Eckes settled in the runner-up position for a third consecutive event at Gateway while Nick Sanchez, Ty Majeski and rookie Layne Riggs finished in the top five.

Chase Purdy, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, and newcomers Andres Perez de Lara and Luke Fenhaus completed the top 10 in the final running order.

There were 13 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 20 of 32 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 12th event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Christian Eckes leads the regular-season standings by 31 points over Corey Heim, 53 over Nick Sanchez and 64 over Ty Majeski.

Results.

1. Corey Heim, 65 laps led

2. Christian Eckes, two laps led

3. Nick Sanchez, 10 laps led

4. Ty Majeski, 43 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

5. Layne Riggs

6. Chase Purdy, five laps led

7. Ben Rhodes, 11 laps led

8. Stewart Friesen

9. Andres Perez de Lara

10. Luke Fenhaus

11. Tanner Gray, 19 laps led

12. Daniel Dye

13. Ty Dillon

14. Dean Thompson

15. Tyler Ankrum, four laps led

16. Rajah Caruth

17. Grant Enfinger

18. Timmy Hill

19. Lawless Alan

20. Matt Crafton

21. Bret Holmes, one lap down

22. Connor Mosack, one lap down

23. Matt Mills, one lap down

24. Jake Garcia, one lap down

25. Vicente Salas, three laps down

26. Spencer Boyd, four laps down

27. Keight McGee, four laps down, one lap led

28. Thad Moffitt, five laps down

29. Bayley Currey, seven laps down

30. Taylor Gray, eight laps down

31. Mason Massey – OUT, Engine

32. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident

Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee, for the Rackley Roofing 200. The event is scheduled to occur on June 28 and air at 8 p.m. ET on FS2.

June 1, 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
Corey Heim records dominant Truck victory at Kansas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

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

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

3. Christian Eckes, 11 laps led

4. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led

5. Brett Moffitt

6. Nick Sanchez, one lap led

7. Tanner Gray

8. Dean Thompson

9. Daniel Dye, four laps led

10. Matt Crafton

11. Bayley Currey

12. Grant Enfinger

13. Rajah Caruth

14. Bret Holmes

15. Ty Dillon, one lap down

16. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

17. Jake Garcia, one lap down

18. Layne Riggs, one lap down

19. Cam Waters, one lap down

20. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down

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

22. Timmy Hill, two laps down

23. Matt Mills, two laps down

24. Thad Moffitt, two laps down

25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

26. Lawless Alan, two laps down

27. Taylor Gray, three laps down

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

29. Mason Maggio, three laps down

30. Connor Mosack, three laps down

31. Spencer Boyd, five laps down

32. Jennifer Jo Cobb, six laps down

33. Ty Majeski – OUT, DVP

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

May 4, 2024
Kyle Busch fends off Heim for record-tying sixth Truck victory at Texas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results.

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

2. Corey Heim

3. Nick Sanchez, 16 laps led

4. Christian Eckes, 31 laps led

5. Zane Smith, eight laps led

6. Daniel Dye

7. Taylor Gray

8. Tanner Gray

9. Stefan Parsons

10. Ty Majeski

11. Lawless Alan

12. Rajah Caruth

13. Stewart Friesen

14. Bayley Currey

15. Matt Crafton

16. Dean Thompson

17. Johnny Sauter

18. Connor Jones, one lap down

19. Jake Garcia, one lap down

20. Mason Massey, one lap down

21. Timmy Hill, one lap down

22. Bret Holmes, one lap down

23. Ty Dillon, one lap down

24. Ben Rhodes, two laps down

25. Chase Purdy, two laps down

26. Matt Mills, two laps down

27. Spencer Boyd, five laps down

28. Keith McGee, eight laps down

29. Grant Enfinger – OUT, Accident

30. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident

31. Layne Riggs – OUT, Accident

32. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

33. Memphis Villarreal – OUT, Accident

34. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident

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

April 13, 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
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
Young Layne Riggs leaning on family with a hunger to win in 2024

The 21-year-old Layne Riggs encapsulates the late Ken Squier, saying “Common men doing uncommon things.” The son of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Scott Riggs, Layne has forged his own path, mainly taking to the short tracks of the south as so many others like him do.

The difference? Layne Riggs whipped all the other common men on the racetrack, and now he’s in a premier ride in the top three series of NASCAR. The young North Carolina native signed a deal with Front Row Motorsports to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2024, equaling Riggs’ first full-time opportunity in a national series.

“We just had to make sure I took advantage of every opportunity I had,” Riggs said. “I’ve always lived off part-time deals, especially in the Truck Series. I even got those three races for Kaulig in the Xfinity Series, but I think it really goes back to winning the (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series) championship in 2022. I was very successful there, and it gave me the opportunity to get more Truck Series races the next year. Kevin Harvick gave me the opportunity to drive his late model at Martinsville, and we started talking to Jerry, (from Front Row Motorsports) just kind of shooting the breeze behind the trailer before the race. He called back that next Monday and said, “We want you for next season, we think that you’re the guy and you’re the candidate to drive our truck.”

Riggs says his number one goal for the season is to get to victory lane for the first time in his national series career, but he’ll have to go to school quickly.

“I know that I have the people around me, and I know I have a good enough team. Obviously, I have really big shoes to fill. Zane (Smith) went back to back at Daytona which is going to be my first race. I’ve never run on a superspeedway before in my life, so I’m going to have to learn very quickly. He (Zane Smith) is undefeated at COTA. That truck has won every race at Circuit of the Americas and I’ve never run a road course in my life. So the two places he (Zane) was very strong at, I have zero experience at.”

However, Riggs says he feels confident about his team’s ability to match his strong suit – the short tracks.

“There’s a lot of short tracks and tracks that I’m familiar with on the schedule this year,” Riggs added.

Despite the fact that 2024 will be Riggs’ first in a top-3 series, there’s one big mentor that he can lean on – his father, NASCAR veteran Scott Riggs, who won nine races combined in the Truck & Xfinity Series and ran 208 Cup Series races over a NASCAR career that spanned 15 years.

“It makes it easier for me, is all,” Riggs said, “when I asked him what having a veteran racer so close to him does.”

“He’s still Dad. When I was younger, I went to all the Cup races with them, and it’s funny, I always thought, ‘Doesn’t everybody’s dad drive race cars?’ This is normal for a kid like me. But it’s been great. When he was getting out of it, I started getting into it. In my whole 10 or 11 years of racing, he’s only ever missed two races. It’s been a great bond, working on the late models, working on the cars in the shop after school, building the cars. He would (be my) crew chief on the weekends. He says now he’s worked himself out of a job,” Riggs jokes. “He’s worked so hard and pushed so hard to get me to this level, that now he doesn’t have a job anymore.”

That mentorship, combined with a boatload of pure talent has pushed Riggs to a level few common men reach. Now, it’s up to the young driver to do uncommon things and distinguish himself from the hungry pack in 2024.

December 21, 2023
Allgaier grabs thrilling Xfinity victory at Martinsville in overtime, secures Championship 4 berth

In a matter of one turn during an overtime shootout, Justin Allgaier went from being scored outside of the cutline to make the Championship 4 round to racing his way into the round and receiving an opportunity to contend for this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship after notching a thrilling victory in the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 28.

The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led twice for 21 of 256 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly took care of business in the early stages by winning the first stage period amid a strategic pit call to remain on the track on old tires. After pitting for fresh tires prior to the second stage, Allgaier spent the stage mired outside the top 10 and battling amongst his fellow Xfinity Series rivals to remain in contention of making the cutline.

Then amid chaos after chaos followed by a multitude of caution periods and restarts, including an overtime shootout, Allgaier, who restarted fifth in overtime, managed to muscle his way up to third place on the final lap. He then benefitted from a final lap altercation involving Richard Childress Racing’s Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill to overtake both entering the final turn before edging Creed in a photo finish to win for the fourth time in this year’s Xfinity Series season and race his way into the Championship 4, where he will be one of four competitors who will battle for this year’s championship at next weekend’s finale at Phoenix Raceway.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 27, Playoff contender and rookie Sammy Smith notched his first Xfinity pole position of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 94.515 mph in 23.035 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.458 mph in 20.047 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Jeb Burton, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chris Hacker, Devin Jones and Brett Moffitt dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Sammy Smith rocketed his No. 18 Pringles Toyota Supra ahead of the field prior to entering Turn 1 as he maintained the lead over Allgaier and Playoff contender Cole Custer. With the field running in two-wide formation and stacked through the backstretch, Smith proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of both Allgaier and Custer while Riley Herbst and Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek pursued in the top five.

During the next three laps, Sammy Smith stretched his advantage to more than a second over Allgaier, who was being pressured by Custer for the runner-up spot while Nemechek and Herbst remained dead even for fourth place in front of Playoff contender Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones and Richard Childress Racing’s Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill. Amid the early on-track battles, the first caution of the event flew on the fourth lap after Joe Graf Jr. spun with a flat left-rear tire in Turn 2.

When the race restarted on Lap 10, Sammy Smith and Allgaier dueled for the lead until Smith muscled away from Allgaier entering the backstretch. Behind, Custer was in third ahead of Nemechek while Herbst, Creed, Chandler Smith and Austin Hill battled for fifth. Amid the battles, Sammy Smith retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier and a second over Nemechek by the Lap 15 mark.

At the Lap 20 mark, Sammy Smith was leading by half a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Custer and Herbst while Creed, Hill, Myatt Snider, rookie Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones were in the top 10. With Daniel Hemric, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Parker Kligerman running in the top 15, Playoff contender Sam Mayer, who is already guaranteed a spot into this year’s Championship 4 by winning last weekend’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, was in 18th.

Fifteen laps later, Sammy Smith continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Nemechek, Custer and Herbst continued to run in the top five. Behind, Creed, Snider, Hill, Chandler Smith and Hemric were scored in the top 10 while Mayer was mired in 19th.

Another six laps later, the second caution flag of the event flew due to an incident involving Kyle Sieg in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the lead lap field led by the leader Sammy Smith pitted while the rest, including Allgaier, Nemechek, Custer, Hill, Josh Bilicki, Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Josh Williams and Brennan Poole remained on the track.

During the following restart on Lap 49, Allgaier briefly dueled with Nemechek through the first two turns before muscling his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the inside lane to gain the advantage with the top spot. Shortly after, Custer battled and overtook Nemechek for the runner-up spot as Hill tried to join the battle amid a series of on-track battles ensuing behind the front-runners.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Allgaier, who came into the event three points below the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 round, captured his 13th Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer followed suit in second along with Nemechek, Hill and Sammy Smith while Alfredo, Herbst, Myatt Snider, Chandler Smith and Josh Bilicki were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contender Sheldon Creed ended up 11th while Mayer was mired back within the top 30.

Under the stage break, some led by Allgaier, including those who remained on the track during the previous caution period, pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 68 as teammates Sammy Smith and Myatt Snider occupied the front row. At the start, Smith and Snider dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith managed to fend off Snider through the backstretch to retain the top spot. Behind, Chandler Smith moved up to third ahead of Herbst and Berry while Creed was in sixth ahead of Hemric, Brandon Jones, Kaz Grala and Ryan Sieg. The caution, however, would return on Lap 72 after Custer, who was mired within the middle of the pack after pitting during the stage break, made contact with Layne Riggs entering Turns 1 and 2 as Riggs spun while Mayer slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Riggs.

When the race restarted on Lap 79, Sammy Smith fended off Chandler Smith entering Turn 1 to retain the lead while continuing to run on the inside lane. Shortly after, Snider gave Chandler Smith a light bump to move him out of the groove and overtake him for the runner-up spot while both Berry and Herbst tried to move Chandler Smith out of the groove to overtake him for third and fourth. In the midst of the bumping and on-track contact for positions, Creed pursued closely in sixth while Sammy Smith maintained the lead over teammate Snider.

On Lap 87, the caution flew after Ryan Sieg, who was battling Herbst for sixth place, got loose underneath Herbst, made contact against Herbst’s Ford and spun towards the middle of the track in Turn 2, with the field managing to fan out and dodge Sieg’s No. 39 Ford as the Georgian continued without sustaining any significant damage to his entry. During the caution period, select names that included Mayer, Kligerman and Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

The ensuing restart on Lap 94 featured Sammy Smith rocketing away from the inside lane to retain the lead while Berry retained second place ahead of Snider, Chandler Smith, Creed and Herbst. Not long after, a three-wide battle ensued between Chandler Smith, Snider and Creed while Brandon Jones carved his way up to sixth followed by Hemric, Herbst, Grala and Retzlaff. Amid the contact and physical battles ensuing behind, Sammy Smith extended his advantage by nearly a second over Berry as the event surpassed the Lap 100 mark.

At the Lap 110 mark, Sammy Smith was leading by more than a second over Berry and more than two seconds over third-place Snider while Creed, Chandler Smith, Grala, Brandon Jones, Retzlaff, Custer and Jeremy Clements were running in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Nemechek, Mayer and Hill were scored in 14th through 17th, respectively.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Sammy Smith, who navigated his way through lapped traffic and came into the event 49 points below the Championship 4 cutline, captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Berry trailed in the runner-up spot followed by Snider, Creed and Grala while Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, Custer, Brandon Jones and Herbst were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Allgaier, Mayer, Nemechek and Hill were scored in 11th, 14th, 15th and 17th, respectively, as Nemechek managed to clinch his spot into this year’s Championship 4 round.

During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Sammy Smith pitted for service while Layne Riggs and Ryan Sieg remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Mayer exited pit road first after only electing fuel to his entry while Sammy Smith followed suit with four fresh tires along with Berry, Snider, Creed, Custer and Herbst.

With 121 laps remaining, the final stage period started as Riggs and Ryan Sieg occupied the front row. At the start, Riggs gained a strong start on the inside lane to muscle away from the field with the lead while Mayer quickly made his way into the runner-up spot along with a hard-charging Sammy Smith while Ryan Sieg fell back to fourth in front of Snider. Behind, Creed battled with Custer and Allgaier for seventh as Sammy Smith overtook Mayer for the runner-up spot before igniting his charge on Riggs for the lead.

Then with 116 laps remaining, Sammy Smith reassumed the lead after overtaking Riggs for the top spot. Snider and Berry would follow suit not long after as Riggs managed to remain in fourth in front of Mayer.

Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Sammy Smith was leading by more than three seconds over Berry and by four seconds over teammate Snider while Custer muscled his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang into fourth place ahead of Riggs. Mayer, Creed, Herbst, Grala and Allgaier were in the top 10 while Retzlaff, Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith and Hill were back in the top 15.

Four laps later, the caution flew after Riggs, who was running fifth, got hit by Mayer as Riggs spun for a second time in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names that included Playoff contenders Allgaier and Hill pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 90 laps remaining, Sammy Smith fended off teammate Snider and Berry to retain the lead as the field behind fanned out and jostled for late positions. As Sammy Smith retained the lead and started to pull away from his competition, the caution returned a few laps later after Akinori Ogata spun in Turn 2. During the caution period, select names that included Snider, Creed and Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smith was penalized for having too many men over the pit wall.

During the following restart with 81 laps remaining, Sammy Smith muscled away from Berry to retain the lead through the first two turns as Berry managed to remain in front of Custer and maintain the runner-up spot. With Herbst and Mayer battling for fourth place in front of Nemechek, Grala and Jones, Sammy Smith checked out with an advantage of more than a second with 75 laps remaining. Shortly after, the caution flew due to Kligerman losing a right-front tire and falling off the pace through the frontstretch. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

With the race restarting with 68 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead ahead of the field while Hill made his way into the runner-up spot. As Allgaier was trying to carve his way into the top five, the bumping within the pack continued to ignite amongst the Playoff contenders and front-runners through every turn and straightaway. Then three laps later, more on-track trouble ignited after Snider fell off the pace and stacked up the field exiting the backstretch, which resulted with Connor Mosack, who was hit by teammate Grala and was scraping the inside wall, spinning and hitting Grala as Clements and Jeb Burton were also involved by hitting Mosack. In the midst of the carnage, Playoff contender Custer sustained minimal front-nose damage to his No. 00 Haas Ford, but he continued to remain on the track in 12th place. Not long after, Playoff contender Chandler Smith retired due to a mechanical issue to his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro, which took him out of the equation of making this year’s Championship 4 round.

In the ensuing restart with 54 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill dueled for the lead for a full lap, with Hill leading the next lap, and they continued to duel for the lead during the next lap as he led the respective lap before he muscled his No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Nemechek’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra and clear with the lead from the outside lane. The caution, however, quickly returned during the following lap after Akinori Ogata spun for a second time of the day, this time in Turn 4.

During the following restart with 44 laps remaining, Nemechek challenged Hill for the lead from the outside lane and he managed to pull ahead through the frontstretch to lead the following lap just before the caution flew against after JJ Yeley and Ryan Ellis wrecked in the frontstretch.

With the race restarting with 36 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Nemechek used the outside lane to retain the lead from Hill. With Nemechek leading Hill, Allgaier was trying to fend off Creed and Sammy Smith for third place, with Creed and Smith placed in “must-win” scenarios to advance into the Championship 4 round, before the latter two managed to overtake the veteran Allgaier for third and fourth. As the race progressed, the caution would return with 31 laps remaining after Kaz Grala spun in Turn 2.

With the race restarting with 25 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead as he restarted from the inside lane while Hill managed to fend off teammate Creed to retain the runner-up spot. This allowed Sammy Smith to challenge Creed for third place followed by Allgaier and Custer as Smith made his way into third place.

With less than 20 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Hill while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than a second. Behind, Creed, Allgaier and Custer engaged in a fierce battle for fourth place and for the final spots to the Championship 4 round while Herbst, Jeb Burton, Snider and Riggs were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Mayer was mired in 16th as the battle between Creed, Custer and Allgaier ensued while Nemechek extended his advantage to more than a second over Hill with 15 laps remaining.

Following another caution period after Alfredo spun in Turn 4 with 14 laps remaining, the race restarted under green with eight laps remaining. At the start, Sammy Smith tried to make a move beneath teammate Nemechek entering Turn 1, but Nemechek blocked his teammate and retained the lead over Hill through the first two turns. Behind, Sammy Smith lost third place to Creed after he hopped the curb entering Turn 1, which allowed Allgaier to challenge him to fourth place. Back at the front, however, Hill gave Nemechek a push to the bumper entering Turn 3, which moved Nemechek up the track as Hill and Creed moved into first and second through the frontstretch. Then as Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Herbst and Custer battled for third behind the two Richard Childress Racing competitors during the following lap, the caution returned for six laps remaining as a multi-car wreck ignited entering the backstretch when Jeb Burton and Snider made contact and resulted with Snider hitting Riggs, spinning back across the track and collecting Grala, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Mayer, Clements, Josh Williams, CJ McLaughlin, Rajah Caruth, Chad Finchum, Jones and Bilicki. The carnage was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for 28 minutes.

Once the red flag was lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace, the event was sent into overtime as the on-track safety workers continued to clean the racing surface amid the carnage and leaked fluid. Amid an extensive caution period, the race restarted in overtime as teammates Hill and Creed occupied the front row in front of Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Custer. At the start, Nemechek got into the rear of Hill, which caused Nemechek to go way below the inside lane as Hill tried to fend off teammate Creed for the lead entering Turn 1. Hill and Creed then made contact entering the backstretch, which allowed Hill to muscle ahead of his teammate as Allgaier trailed in third place. By then, Nemechek moved up to fourth while Sammy Smith and Custer battled for fifth.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill, who was bumped by teammate Creed entering Turns 3 and 4, remained as the leader ahead of Creed and Allgaier, who scrubbed the frontstretch’s outside wall after making contact with Nemechek. Then in Turn 1, Creed ran into the rear of teammate Hill, which caused Hill to go wide as Creed made his move beneath Hill for the lead. After dueling with Hill through the backstretch, where Hill rammed into the side of Creed, Creed muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro ahead from Hill and assumed the lead before he went up the track in Turn 3, locked up the front tires and was hit in the rear by Hill. Amid the chaos, Allgaier made his move beneath both as Hill was then turned by Nemechek and triggered a multi-car wreck. With the wreck ensuing behind, Allgaier and Creed rubbed fenders approaching the finish line, with Allgaier edging Creed by 0.032 seconds to grab the victory and race his way into the Championship 4 round.

With the victory, Allgaier achieved his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season, his first at Martinsville, his first since winning the Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway in September and the 23rd of his career. The 2023 season marks Allgaier’s sixth season reaching the Championship 4 round as he will officially contend for his first elusive Xfinity Series championship in his 13th full-time campaign in the series, eighth while driving for JR Motorsports.

“[Spotter] Eddie D’Hondt, [crew chief] Jim Pohlman, both of those guys kept telling me it’s not over,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “Thank God is so good. You fans that came here today. Coming to the start/finish line, I don’t think I saw a single person sitting down. I just was hanging on and trying to go as fast as I can. I hope everybody that crashed on the frontstraightaway is alright. Man, this Hellmann’s car has been lights out all year. It’s been as fast as Xfinity 10G, for sure. I cannot say enough about the Hendrick Engine shop, everybody at Chevrolet, all of our partners. We got a shot at going for the championship in Phoenix. This is an emotional one. I’ve wanted to win at Martinsville for a long time and man, I’ve been on the other end of that too many times. To be able to come out of here tonight with the win and to have a shot at the championship next week, Jim Pohlman, what an incredible crew chief. He’s done an amazing job. Pit crew was lights out. Heck, I don’t even know who to thank right now. This is incredible.”

Amid the overtime shootout and the final lap accident, Cole Custer, who ended up 19th backwards and with a wrecked race car, managed to claim the fourth and final spot into the Championship 4 berth by seven points as he will join Allgaier, John Hunter Nemechek and Sam Mayer as the four competitors who will contend for this year’s Xfinity Series championship.

“It’s just Martinsville, everybody’s desperate,” Custer, who made the Championship 4 for the third time in his career, said in the infield care center. “It’s just one of those deals. I just can’t all my guys enough. They worked so hard and just gotten better and better and better throughout the year. I’m so glad this is over. It’s just amazing to be in the Final Four and have a shot at [the championship]. I think we’ll have something for [the competition] at Phoenix.”

Meanwhile, Austin Hill, this year’s regular-season champion who was unable to limp his wrecked race car across the finish line, ended up 21st with a DNF and was the first competitor scored out of the Playoffs. Teammate Sheldon Creed and Sammy Smith along with Chandler Smith were also eliminated from the Playoffs after all three came into Martinsville placed in “must-win” situations to transfer. The incident did very little to ease Hill’s frustration over missing an opportunity of contending for the title and towards his Richard Childress Racing teammate over the late contact.

“It wasn’t cool of me to do what I did into [Turn] 1 like driving [Creed] up the racetrack, but I still kind of stayed off of him,” Hill said. “[Creed] just did not give me a chance getting into [Turn] 3 and he didn’t give me a chance getting into [Turn] 1 [on the final lap]. Just shoved me up the racetrack. I know he’s in a “must-win” situation, but still, man, uncalled for that to happen and then, neither of the [Richard Childress Racing] guys make it to the Final Four. It’s just frustrating. Pretty excited for [Creed] to go to his next adventure over at [Joe Gibbs Racing]. I don’t have to put up with him no more…Just ridiculous.”

“I don’t know if it’s fair,” Creed said. “I don’t like racing that way and that seems to be the way that this race always plays out. I thought we had it there coming to the checkered. Not proud of racing like that. A shot at the Championship Four. I didn’t blast [Hill]. He’s still with me. I drug [raced] right here to keep him next to me and then, we raced pretty hard [in Turn 3] and I don’t know who gets into him. I feel like I played pretty fair for the situation and he’s gonna be mad, but it’s for a Championship 4 spot and I wanna fight for my guys all the way to the end.”

On the track, Sammy Smith ended up third followed by Herbst and Josh Berry while Hemric, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Kligerman finished in the top 10.

There were 13 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured 15 cautions for 101 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Justin Allgaier, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner

2. Sheldon Creed, one lap led

3. Sammy Smith, 147 laps led, Stage 2 winner

4. Riley Herbst

5. Josh Berry

6. Daniel Hemric

7. Parker Retzlaff

8. Anthony Alfredo

9. Jeb Burton

10. Parker Kligerman

11. Layne Riggs, nine laps led

12. Rajah Caruth

13. CJ McLaughlin

14. Josh Williams

15. Myatt Snider, one lap led

16. Brandon Jones

17. Jeremy Clements

18. John Hunter Nemechek, 54 laps led

19. Cole Custer, one lap led

20. Brett Moffitt

21. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident, 22 laps led

22. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

23. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

24. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Transmission

25. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

27. Chad Finchum – OUT, Accident

28. Kaz Grala – OUT, Accident

29. Joe Graf Jr., 16 laps down

30. Chris Hacker – OUT, Radiator

31. Connor Mosack – OUT, Radiator

32. Brennan Poole – OUT, Engine

33. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Oil line

34. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident

35. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Steering

36. Chandler Smith – OUT, Accident

37. Devin Jones – OUT, Engine

38. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff competitors

Playoff standings

1. Sam Mayer – Advanced

2. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

3. John Hunter Nemechek – Advanced

4. Cole Custer – Advanced

5. Austin Hill – Eliminated

6. Sammy Smith – Eliminated

7. Sheldon Creed – Eliminated

8. Chandler Smith – Eliminated

The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to conclude next Saturday, November 4, at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The finale’s broadcast is slated to occur at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network.

October 28, 2023
Majeski wins Truck Playoff opener at IRP; snaps yearlong winless drought

After enduring a winless drought throughout the regular-season stretch, Ty Majeski commenced the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs with an emphatic statement after notching a dominant victory in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, August 11.

The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led twice for a race-high 179 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly assumed the lead by the fourth lap. Proceeding to sweep both stage periods and fending off several restart challenges, including from ones by Playoff rivals Christian Eckes and Corey Heim, Majeski capitalized on a restart with 52 laps remaining to muscle his No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford entry away from the field and claim the Playoff opener victory by more than three seconds over Eckes.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 11, Playoff contender Christian Eckes secured his second Truck pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 107.918 mph in 22.884 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 107.739 mph in 22.922 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Playoff contender Zane Smith, Lawless Alan, Matt Mills and Logan Bearden dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. Tyler Ankrum also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Eckes muscled ahead with an early advantage on the inside lane followed by Majeski and Corey Heim as the field fanned out through the first two turns. As the field continued to fan out and jostle early for positions, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST while Majeski and Heim battled for the runner-up spot.

Through the second lap and as the field continued to jostle early for positions, Eckes maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over Majeski with Heim following pursuit. By the third lap, however, Majeski drew himself even against Eckes in an early battle for the lead. He continued to duel with Eckes for the following lap until Majeski muscled ahead from the outside lane. Another lap later and at the fifth lap mark, Heim moved into the runner-up spot over Eckes as he began his pursuit on Majeski for the lead.

At the Lap 10 mark, Majeski was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Eckes, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger while rookie Jake Garcia, rookie Nick Sanchez, rookie Rajah Caruth, Matt Crafton and Layne Riggs were in the top 10. Behind, William Sawalich was in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen while Jake Drew, Dean Thompson, rookie Daniel Dye, Chase Purdy and Connor Jones battled in the top 20. Meanwhile, Zane Smith was mired in 21st ahead of Matt DiBenedetto.

Nearing the Lap 14 mark, the first caution of the event flew for a multi-truck wreck involving Greg Van Alst, Landen Lewis and Hailie Deegan in Turn 3.

When the race restarted on Lap 21, Majeski received a push from Eckes on the inside lane to emerge ahead by a hair before Eckes and Heim took Majeski three-wide in Turn 1. With Majeski and Heim breaking away from the field entering the backstretch, Heim gained the advantage on the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead in his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for the following lap, though Majeski kept pressuring him for the lead. Majeski and Heim would then battle dead even for the proceeding laps until Heim muscled ahead by Lap 23. As Heim fended off Majeski for the lead, Eckes retained third while Hocevar and Enfinger were in the top five.

Nearing the Lap 30 mark, the battle for the lead intensified as Majeski made several attempts to draw even with Heim through the turns and the straightaways from the inside lane, though Heim managed to remain ahead while running on the outside lane. While both continued to battle nearly dead even for the lead, Eckes was under pressure by Hocevar for third place as Enfinger retained fifth ahead of Garcia, Riggs, Caruth, Sanchez and Tanner Gray.

By Lap 40, Majeski, who pulled the slide job on Heim in Turn 1 to assume the lead a lap earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second in his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 over Heim followed by Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger while Garcia, Riggs, Sanchez, Caruth and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. Behind, Zane Smith was up to 11th ahead of Rhodes, Jake Drew, Sawalich and Crafton while Thompson, Purdy, DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray and Deegan were running in the top 20.

Six laps later, contact was made on Lap 46 as Garcia, who was trying to overtake Enfinger for fifth, got loose, slid up the track and forced Enfinger to scrape the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. Both, though, continued to run in the top 10 as Majeski extended his advantage to two seconds over Heim.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Majeski, who ran into the rear bumper of rookie Daniel Dye in Turn 1 to get him loose and lap him several laps earlier, claimed his fifth stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Heim settled in second followed by Eckes while Riggs, Garcia, Hocevar, Enfinger, Caruth, Tanner Gray and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Rhodes, Sanchez, Crafton and DiBenedetto did not score any stage points from the first stage period.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting first followed by Heim, Hocevar, Enfinger and Tanner Gray while Eckes exited sixth after losing three spots on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 70 as Majeski and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as the field fanned out entering Turn 1. Through the backstretch, Majeski retained the lead over Heim while Enfinger was in third ahead of Hocevar and Eckes amid the field still fanning out and jostling for positions.

At the Lap 75 mark, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Heim while Enfinger, Hocevar and Eckes remained in the top five. Behind, Sawalich was in sixth followed by Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Zane Smith and Riggs while Jake Drew, Sanchez, Crafton, DiBenedetto and Caruth occupied the top 15 on the track.

Ten laps later, Majeski extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim while third-place Enfinger trailed by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Eckes remained in the top five while Playoff contenders Rhodes and Zane Smith were in eighth and ninth. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Sanchez, Crafton and DiBenedetto were mired in 11th, 13th and 16th, respectively.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Majeski continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than three seconds over Heim while Enfinger, Eckes and Hocevar continued to run in the top five. Behind, Sawalich, Tanner Gray, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Riggs were in the top 10 as 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. Notably, Sanchez and Crafton were in 11th and 12th, DiBenedetto was mired in 15th ahead of Garcia and Shane van Gisbergen, the debutant winner of the NASCAR Cup Series event at the Chicago Street Course who was making both his Truck and oval debut for Niece Motorsports, was in 22nd behind Jack Wood.

Ten laps later, Majeski, who lapped van Gisbergen a few laps earlier, retained the lead by more than five seconds over Heim while third-place Enfinger trailed by more than six seconds. As Eckes and Hocevar remained in the top five, Zane Smith moved up to seventh over Tanner Gray while Sanchez cracked the top 10 ahead of Crafton.

Another five laps later, the caution flew when Chris Hacker, a Noblesville, Indiana, native got loose and spun entering the backstretch as he barely managed to keep his No. 30 UBPN/Morgan & Morgan Toyota Tundra TRD Pro off the wall before continuing. Hacker’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 120 to finish under caution as Majeski captured his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season and second of the night. Heim settled in second while Enfinger, Eckes, Hocevar, Sawalich, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Riggs and Sanchez were scored in the top 10. By then, 20 of 36 competitors were scored on the lead lap while Playoff contenders Crafton, DiBenedetto and Rhodes were scored outside the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Heim, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Sawalich, Eckes and Hocevar. Amid the pit stops, Heim was sent to the rear of the field for a safety violation after a crew member fell over his pit box while trying to retrieve a tire due to his pit stop. In addition, Enfinger made another pit stop to address missing lug nuts to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST.

With 73 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Majeski and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski and Smith dueled for the lead until Majeski managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled for late positions, Eckes moved up to second while Hocevar, Sawalich and Riggs battled behind Smith. Amid the racing, Tanner Gray, who was running in the top 10, was black-flagged by NASCAR for a restart violation as he changed lanes prior to reaching the start/finish line to restart the event.

Shortly after and just as Tanner Gray was serving his penalty through pit road, the caution returned with 70 laps remaining when Dean Thompson got squeezed towards the outside wall through the backstretch. As Thompson’s truck was slowly sliding to a halt, he was then T-boned by Spencer Boyd as both competitors were left with heavy damage to their respective trucks.

Following an extensive caution period, the event restarted with 60 laps remaining. At the start, Majeski muscled ahead of Eckes from the outside lane to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Majeski leading by nearly half a second during the proceeding laps, Eckes retained second while Zane Smith, Riggs and Hocevar were in the top five. The caution, however, returned with 59 laps remaining when Hailie Deegan spun off the front nose of Landen Lewis and rear-ended her No. 13 Ford Performance Ford F-150 into the outside wall in Turn 1 as her event came to a late end.

During the proceeding restart with 52 laps remaining, Majeski and Eckes dueled for the lead through Turn 1 as Eckes tried to muscle ahead from the inside lane. Eckes, however, slid up the track entering the backstretch, which allowed Majeski to regain the advantage and reassume the lead as the field jostled for positions throughout the following lap. With Majeski leading with 50 laps remaining, Eckes retained second ahead of Hocevar while Riggs and Zane Smith battled for fourth in front of Sawalich. In the midst of the battles towards the front, ThorSport Racing’s Rhodes and Crafton battled for seventh.

With 40 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Eckes followed by Hocevar, Riggs and Zane Smith while Sawalich, Caruth, Heim, Crafton and Sanchez were running and battling in the top 10. Behind, Rhodes was in 11th ahead of Enfinger, DiBenedetto, Garcia and Purdy while van Gisbergen, Jake Drew, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray and Jack Wood were mired in the top 20.

Ten laps later, Majeski continued to lead by more than two seconds over Eckes while Riggs, who moved up to third place, trailed by nearly four seconds ahead of Hocevar and Zane Smith. Behind, Sawalich and Caruth retained sixth and seventh while Heim was still scored in eighth ahead of Sanchez and Crafton.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Eckes while third-place Riggs continued to trail by more than four seconds. By then, seven of 10 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included DiBenedetto, Rhodes and Enfinger were mired in 11th through 13th, respectively.

With less than 15 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Eckes and more than four seconds over third-place Riggs. Majeski would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Eckes with 10 laps remaining as Hocevar and Zane Smith remained in the top five ahead of Sawalich.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski was leading by more than three seconds over Eckes and more than four seconds over third-place Riggs as the laps continued to dwindle.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Eckes. With Eckes not gaining ground to mount a final lap charge for the win, Majeski, who also had a clear racetrack in front of him, managed to cycle his way around the circuit for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious for the first time in 2023.

With the victory, Majeski notched his third career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series, all occurring throughout the Playoffs, and his first since winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2022. He also became the 14th different competitor to win at Indianapolis Raceway Park as he recorded the third victory of the season for ThorSport Racing and the fifth for Ford.

By winning the Playoff opener at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Majeski became the first competitor to transfer to the Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit for his first NASCAR Truck Series championship.

“Man, that was awesome. How about that, Indy?! Yeah!” Majeski said on FS1. “So cool. [Owners] Duke and Rhonda Thorson put the support into this race. They wanted [Indianapolis Raceway Park] to come back and they’re a huge reason behind that. Just so proud of everybody. Obviously, a heartbreaking loss last week at Richmond, but we win and lose as a team. This is so cool. Proud of the effort, but this is just the start of our Playoff run.”

Eckes, the pole-sitter who led three laps, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season and leaves Indianapolis Raceway Park with a 39-point advantage above the top-eight cutline to commence the Playoffs while Layne Riggs achieved a career-best third-place result in his sixth career start in the Truck Series and first with Spire Motorsports.

“I thought our NAPA AutoCare Chevrolet was really good there,” Eckes said. “[Majeski]’d fire off a little bit better, then would be just a little bit better throughout. They’ve kind of been the classes of the field on these style of races from the last two years. We got a little bit of homework to do on this style stuff, but overall, just really proud of my guys for bringing what we had.”

“[Tonight]’s huge,” Riggs said. “I feel like this proves that I deserve to be here every weekend. I love truck racing, I love NASCAR racing. I wanna do it more. It’s a rare occurrence when I can do this. It was a really good truck tonight. Thank you so much to everybody. I hope I can be at one soon.”

Hocevar came home in fourth place while Zane Smith ended up fifth as both competitors leave Indiana above the cutline.

William Sawalich, rookie Rajah Caruth, Heim, Crafton and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10. Notably, Playoff competitors Nick Sanchez, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes finished 11th, 12th and 16th, respectively, while Shane van Gisbergen ended up 19th in his Truck Series debut.

There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 18 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Ty Majeski, 179 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Christian Eckes, three laps led

3. Layne Riggs

4. Carson Hocevar

5. Zane Smith

6. William Sawalich

7. Rajah Caruth

8. Corey Heim, 18 laps led

9. Matt Crafton

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Nick Sanchez

12. Grant Enfinger

13. Jake Garcia

14. Chase Purdy

15. Tanner Gray

16. Ben Rhodes

17. Jake Drew

18. Jack Wood

19. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

20. Taylor Gray, one lap down

21. Logan Bearden, one lap down

22. Daniel Dye, one lap down

23. Matt Mills, two laps down

24. Lawless Alan, two laps down

25. Bret Holmes, three laps down

26. Tyler Hill, three laps down

27. Connor Jones, four laps down

28. Landen Lewis, four laps down

29. Chris Hacker, five laps down

30. Stewart Friesen, 17 laps down

31. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

34. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Electrical

35. Colby Howard – OUT, Suspension

36. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings.

1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

2. Corey Heim +47

3. Christian Eckes +39

4. Carson Hocevar +35

5. Zane Smith +29

6. Grant Enfinger +24

7. Ben Rhodes +4

8. Nick Sanchez +2

9. Matt Crafton -2

10. Matt DiBenedetto -3

With the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs underway, the second Round of 10 Playoff event is set to occur at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, which will mark the series return to the venue since 2009. The event is scheduled to occur on August 27 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

August 12, 2023