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  • Ty Majeski dominates for first Truck Series championship at Phoenix

    Ty Majeski dominates for first Truck Series championship at Phoenix

    Ty Majeski stormed to his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship by securing a dominant victory in the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 8.

    After starting on the pole, the 30-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led a race-high 132 of 150-scheduled laps in the season-finale event. He led the first 38 laps before he was overtaken by Championship 4 contender Corey Heim. Majeski finished the first stage in second place at the conclusion of the first stage. He regained the lead during the first stage’s pit stop period and before the start of the second stage, Majeski prevailed after a mid-stage battle with Heim on the track to claim the second stage victory.

    Majeski would then lead the field to the start of the final stage period with 52 laps remaining. During three caution periods due to on-track carnages and three restart periods throughout the final stage, Majeski retained the lead through every restart period. He executed the final one with 27 laps remaining to his advantage as he motored away from Heim along with Championship 4 finalists Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger. Majeski capped off the 2024 season with his third Craftsman Truck Series victory this year and his first championship in his third full-time series campaign.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Championship 4 finalist Ty Majeski claimed the final pole position of the 2024 season and the sixth of the season with a pole-winning lap at 138.180 mph in 26.053 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Championship 4 finalist Corey Heim, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 138.021 mph in 26.083 seconds. Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger, the remaining two Championship 4 finalists, lined up in fourth and fifth, respectively.

    Before the event, Lawless Alan dropped to the rear of the field in a backup after he wrecked his primary truck during the finale’s qualifying session.

    When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Ty Majeski led the way through the first two turns. Majeski pulled away through the backstretch and led the first lap. His Championship 4 rivals Corey Heim and Christian Eckes followed suit in second and third, respectively.

    Over the next four laps, Majeski stretched his early advantage to more than a second over Heim and Eckes while Nick Sanchez and Stewart Friesen followed suit in the top five. Behind, Dean Thompson retained sixth place ahead of Connor Mosack, Championship 4 finalist Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt and rookie Layne Riggs. Conner Jones, Chase Purdy, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and the Gray brothers of Tanner and Taylor were racing in the top 16.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Majeski continued to lead by two seconds over Heim while third-place Eckes trailed by three-and-a-half seconds. Behind, Sanchez and Friesen remained in the top five. Enfinger, who lost three spots despite starting in fifth place, was up to seventh place behind Thompson. Majeski stabilized his lead to more than two seconds over Heim and by nearly six seconds over Eckes 10 laps later as Enfinger drove his way back to fifth place behind Sanchez.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Majeski’s lead decreased to six-tenths of a second over Heim as the latter started to close in on the former for the top spot. Majeski slightly increased his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Heim at the Lap 35 mark before Heim assumed the lead from Majeski entering the backstretch on Lap 39. By then, Eckes retained third place and trailed the lead by more than four seconds. Enfinger retained fifth place behind Sanchez but trailed the lead by more than 10 seconds.

    On Lap 41, the finale’s first caution period flew when Frankie Muniz got bumped by William Sawalich as he slid sideways in Turn 3 as Heim barely avoided McGee’s sideways truck. Muniz’s incident was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 45, to officially conclude under caution as Heim claimed his 10th Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski, Eckes, Sanchez and Enfinger followed suit in the top five while Thompson, Mosack, Riggs, Conner Jones and Friesen were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, they pitted for the first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Majeski reassumed the lead as he exited pit road first. He was followed by Eckes, Heim, Sanchez and Enfinger. Amid the pit stops, Heim endured slow pit service after he was forced to reverse his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro into his pit stall to ensure his pit crew could change the left-side tires. Enfinger barely clipped his rear tire changer while entering his pit stall.

    The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Majeski and Eckes occupied the front row. The field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Majeski and Eckes dueled for the lead. Majeski would then use the outside lane to muscle his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 ahead and gain the lead through the first two turns as Heim muscled through into second place ahead of Eckes and Sanchez. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch, Majeski led the next lap over Heim while Eckes, Sanchez, Thompson and Enfinger followed suit in the top six.

    On Lap 58, the caution returned when Jack Wood, who was racing outside the top 25, got sideways after making contact with Bayley Currey who was racing in a three-wide battle with Matt Crafton. It resulted in Wood spinning and backing his No. 91 Mongoose Chevrolet Silverado RST into the outside wall in Turn 2. The incident and damage to the rear end of Wood’s truck were enough to make Wood the first retiree of the finale. During the caution period, Crafton and Daniel Dye pitted while the rest of the field, led by Majeski, remained on the track.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 64, a four-wide battle for the lead ensued between Majeski, Heim, Sanchez and Thompson through the frontstretch’s dogleg. Heim muscled ahead from the inside lane entering the first two turns and Majeski closed to Heim’s rear bumper entering the backstretch. Majeski tried to make a move beneath him, but Heim transitioned to the outside lane and fended off Majeski to retain the lead. With Heim leading the race, Majeski retained second ahead of Sanchez and Eckes while Riggs moved up into the top five. Riggs then challenged Eckes for fourth place while Mosack, Enfinger and Thompson closed in from sixth to eighth, respectively. By then, Thompson was penalized for a restart violation.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 75, Majeski, who overtook Heim for the lead five laps earlier despite making contact with the latter, extended his advantage to more than a second over Heim. Sanchez, in third place, trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Riggs and Eckes trailed in the top five ahead of Mosack, Friesen, Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Purdy. Ben Rhodes, Rajah Caruth, Tanner Gray, Conner Jones, Kaden Honeycutt, Daniel Dye, William Sawalich, Tyler Ankrum, Matt Crafton and Stefan Parsons followed suit in the top 20.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Majeski had stretched his advantage to more than three seconds and captured his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim followed suit in second while Riggs, Sanchez, Eckes, Mosack, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Friesen and Rhodes were scored in the top 10.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. After the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after he exited pit road first while Sanchez, Eckes, Riggs, Heim, Mosack, Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Caruth and Tanner Gray followed suit in the top 10. Amid the pit stops, Crafton was penalized for improper fueling to his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150.

    With 52 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Majeski and Sanchez occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as both Sanchez and Majeski dueled in front of the field entering the first two turns. Majeski and Sanchez would continue to duel for the lead entering the backstretch in front of Heim and Riggs before Mosack, who was racing in the top six behind Eckes, ran up the track and hit the outside wall.

    As the field scattered to avoid hitting Mosack, Tyler Ankrum then got bumped by Sawalich as he spun his No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST back across the middle of the backstretch, which triggered a multi-truck wreck that involved Sawalich, Andres Perez de Lara, Stefan Parsons, Friesen, Frankie Muniz, Spencer Boyd and rookie Thad Moffitt. The carnage was enough to place the finale in a red flag period for more than six minutes. By then, Heim, who restarted in fifth place and had moved up to third place before the caution, was penalized for a restart violation, after he steered his No. 11 Safelite Toyota to the left and below the frontstretch’s apron before reaching the start/finish line.

    Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, some of the drivers, including Mosack, Friesen and Currey, pitted while the rest of the field, led by Majeski, remained on the track.

    The next restart period began with 43 laps remaining and featured Majeski as he fended off Sanchez, Eckes and Riggs through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. Majeski proceeded to lead Riggs through the backstretch while Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Caruth and Eckes all followed suit. Meanwhile, Heim, who restarted 19th after serving his penalty, was up to 16th place. As Heim proceeded to climb his way into the top 14, Majeski held a narrow lead over Riggs with 40 laps remaining as Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Eckes followed suit in the top six.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Conner Jones, who was racing in 11th place, spun in Turn 2 after he made contact with teammate Jake Garcia amid close-quarters racing and was nearly hit by teammate Ben Rhodes while sliding towards the outside wall. The incident occurred in front of Heim, who made his way into 11th place. During the caution period, some of the drivers, including Enfinger and Eckes, pitted while the rest, led by Majeski, remained on the track.

    During the next restart period with 33 laps remaining, Majeski and Riggs led the field to the start as Majeski muscled ahead from the outside lane through the frontstretch’s dogleg. Heim went to the apron to gain spots towards the top-five mark entering the first two turns, as Majeski muscled away from the field entering the backstretch. But the caution quickly returned as Riggs made contact with Sanchez in a battle for the runner-up spot and spun his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 in Turn 2. Nathan Byrd also spun as he jammed on the brakes to avoid Riggs.

    The following restart period with 27 laps remaining featured Majeski muscling ahead of a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot. Heim, Sanchez and Daniel Dye battled through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns before Heim muscled his way into the runner-up spot entering the backstretch. As the field fanned out, Majeski led the following lap ahead of a hard-charging Heim while Sanchez, Eckes and Dye were in the top five.

    Meanwhile, Enfinger was mired in ninth place as Majeski stretched his advantage to a second over Heim. Eckes would then charge his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST into third place on the track. With his fresh tires and only 24 laps remaining, it placed three Championship 4 finalists in the top three on the track while Dye was assessed a restart violation penalty.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the finale, Majeski was leading both the race and the championship battle by more than a second over Heim while third-place Eckes trailed by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Enfinger was in sixth place behind Sanchez and Taylor Gray while Honeycutt, Mosack, Tanner Gray and Rhodes were in the top 10.

    Five laps later, Majeski added another second to his advantage as he led by more than two seconds over Heim while Eckes trailed in third place by three-and-a-half seconds. By then, Enfinger moved his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST up to fifth place despite trailing the lead by more than seven seconds. Majeski, who was posting the fastest lap times on the track, continued to extend his advantage to more than three seconds over Heim with 10 laps remaining.

    With five laps remaining, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than four seconds over Heim while Eckes continued to trail in third place by five seconds. Meanwhile, Enfinger trailed in fifth place on the track by nine seconds while Sanchez was mired in fourth place.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained in the lead both in the race and the championship battle by more than four seconds over Heim. Heim was unable to narrow the gap between himself and Majeski for a final lap charge. Majeski smoothly navigated his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 around the Phoenix circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag and win both the race and his first Truck Series championship.

    With his first title, Majeski also claimed his sixth career race victory and became the 21st competitor overall to win a championship in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division. He was also the third consecutive Ford competitor to win a Truck championship in recent seasons and the seventh to achieve a first title under the series’ current inception of the Playoff-elimination format.

    Majeski also delivered both the sixth Truck driver’s championship and the third owner’s championship for ThorSport Racing while veteran crew chief Joe Shear Jr. notched his second title in the series.

    The 2024 season marks the fourth time over the previous seven seasons that the championship-winning competitor won the season-finale event on a schedule and the third time over the last five seasons that it occurred at Phoenix Raceway. Majeski’s 2024 championship comes in his third full-time Truck season driving for ThorSport Racing, a team whom Majeski drove for in select events in 2021 before he was elevated to a full-time ride in 2022.

    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “God, I can’t believe it,” Majeski said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Just huge thank you to [team owners] Duke and Rhonda Thorson. Joe Shear Jr., he’s one bad dude. This is so much fun racing with this group. So proud to have the opportunity to drive these great race trucks. There’s a lot of time in my career where this [championship] looks like a far dream and Duke and Ronda really gave me my third opportunity after I had two opportunities that failed. Man, I can’t thank them enough. We have had a lot of ups and downs and just so proud of these guys.”

    During his championship interview, Majeski, a five-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion who grew up competing in late models and short-track events, evoked an inspiring message to short-track racers striving to emerge as a future NASCAR champion.

    “[Winning]’s possible,” Majeski said. “You just need to find a way to set yourself apart from everybody else. I did that by working in the shop. [I] Started as an engineer at ThorSport [Racing] in 2021 with three or four races, didn’t know what it was going to turn into and now, we’re champions. Man, this is special. We’re going to celebrate this one.”

    As Majeski celebrated both the race victory and his first championship on the stage with his team, the remaining three Championship 4 finalists including Corey Heim, Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger were left disappointed on pit road as the trio fell short of winning their first title in the series.

    Heim, the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota entry, ended up in the runner-up spot both on the track and in the final standings and was left surprised by the late restart violation penalty. He admitted though that he could not keep pace with Majeski to battle for the title amid his late-race rally. Heim, who capped off the season with a series-leading six victories, will return to the Truck Series with TRICON Garage for the 2025 season as he strives to make another run for his first championship.

    “It’s hard to even be upset,” Heim said. “I did almost everything right except for that restart violation, but we were able to get our track position back pretty quick and make the most of it. I just had nothing for [Majeski] all day. He was so fast. I’m just proud of myself for not driving through the fastest truck like I drove through last year by [Carson] Hocevar and we’re going to go with our heads up high. A six-win season, career highs for myself, my team, organization, everybody. Just one sport short of the championship.”

    Meanwhile, the late pit stops for both Eckes and Enfinger did not pay dividends for either driver as Eckes settled in third place on the track and in the final standings while Enfinger came home in fifth place on the track and fourth place in the final standings.

    “[I] Just didn’t have enough today,” Eckes, who achieved four race victories, a season-high 11 stage victories and is set to graduate to the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing in 2025, said. “[Majeski] and [Heim] were just stronger than us. We threw a Hail Mary with the tires and I thought for a second I would be able to catch them and just didn’t have enough. I wish we could have finished [the season] off with a championship, but just came up a little short. So proud of my guys and we’ll move on to 2025.”

    “Honestly, [I needed] just more speed,” said Enfinger, who notched back-to-back victories during the Round of 8 and will be remaining with CR7 Motorsports for the 2025 Truck Series season.

    “Really proud of the CR7 Motorsports group. All we’ve overcome all year. I feel like we came here with the right mindset, the right game plan and honestly, pretty much the right execution for the stuff in our control. We just flat out didn’t have the speed tonight…It is a special year. Definitely disappointing performance for us tonight, but overall, proud of everything we did. We just flat out didn’t have the short-run speed. I think after 15 laps, we were respectable, but just couldn’t go on the short run.”

    Nick Sanchez finished in fourth place, which was enough to settle in fifth place in the final standings and his final campaign in the Truck Series with Rev Racing as he is set to move up to the Xfinity Series with Big Machine Racing in 2025. Taylor Gray, Kaden Honeycutt, Connor Mosack, Ben Rhodes and Layne Riggs, the latter of whom claimed the 2024 Truck Series Rookie-of-the-Year title, completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were seven lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 43 laps. In addition, 22 of 35 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 132 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Corey Heim, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Christian Eckes

    4. Nick Sanchez

    5. Grant Enfinger, two laps led

    6. Taylor Gray

    7. Kaden Honeycutt

    8. Connor Mosack

    9. Ben Rhodes

    10. Layne Riggs

    11. Tanner Gray

    12. Chase Purdy

    13. Rajah Caruth

    14. Jake Garcia

    15. Dean Thompson

    16. Brett Moffitt

    17. Conner Jones

    18. Stewart Friesen

    19. Matt Crafton

    20. Dawson Sutton

    21. Bayley Currey

    22. Timmy Hill

    23. Stefan Parson, one lap down

    24. Daniel Dye, one lap down

    25. Matt Mills, two laps down

    26. Nathan Byrd, three laps down

    27. Thad Moffitt, three laps down

    28. Spencer Boyd, four laps down

    29. Keith McGee, four laps down

    30. Lawless Alan, four laps down

    31. Andres Perez de Lara – OUT, Accident

    32. William Sawalich – OUT, Accident

    33. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident

    34. Frankie Muniz – OUT, Accident

    35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates championship finalists

    Final standings

    1. Ty Majeski

    2. Corey Heim

    3. Christian Eckes

    4. Grant Enfinger

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Taylor Gray

    7. Rajah Caruth

    8. Tyler Ankrum

    9. Ben Rhodes

    10. Daniel Dye

    The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 14, 2025, for a new season of competition.

  • Christian Eckes clinches Championship 4 berth at Martinsville with bump and run

    Christian Eckes clinches Championship 4 berth at Martinsville with bump and run

    Christian Eckes capped off a dominant run by pulling a late bump-and-run move on Playoff rival Taylor Gray that enabled him to clinch a Championship 4 berth after winning the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, November 1.

    The 23-year-old Eckes from Greenville, New York, led all but 13 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the pole position. He captured the event’s first two stage periods before he pitted for the first and only time before the start of the final stage period with 90 laps remaining. After reassuming the lead from Ben Rhodes with 84 laps remaining, Eckes would retain the top spot through three caution periods and two restart periods.

    Then, during the event’s final restart period with five laps remaining, Eckes was caught in a controversial incident with Taylor Gray. It resulted in Eckes bumping and sending Gray up the racetrack and out of the lead after Gray had taken it from Eckes at the start of the restart. Eckes would then duel, swap spots and bump Rhodes for the top spot during the following two laps before he moved Rhodes out of the racing groove in the same turn as he moved Gray. With the late clean air to his advantage, Eckes retained the lead for the final two laps and cruised to his fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and secured his first-ever berth to the Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Christian Eckes notched the pole position with a lap at 96.830 mph in 19.556 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 96.805 mph in 19.561 seconds.

    Before the event, the following names including Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Justin Carroll, Tanner Gray and Clayton Green dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Christian Eckes motored his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Ty Majeski, who struggled to launch at the start, and the field through the frontstretch as he had both lanes to his control through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind jostled for early spots, Eckes led the first lap while Majeski fended off Playoff contenders Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot as rookie Layne Riggs followed suit.

    Over the next four laps, Eckes stretched his early advantage to as high as seven-tenths of a second over Majeski while Sanchez followed suit in third place as the field behind bumped and jostled amongst one another for early spots. Behind, Riggs was in fourth place ahead of Taylor Gray while Ben Rhodes, Playoff contender Corey Heim, Chase Purdy, Kaden Honeycutt and Playoff contender Rajah Caruth were in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Majeski while Sanchez, Riggs and Taylor Gray were racing in the top five ahead of Rhodes, Heim, Purdy, Honeycutt and Caruth. Behind, Jack Wood, Johnny Sauter, William Sawalich, Dean Thompson and Matt Crafton were in the top 15 while Timmy Hill, Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Landen Lewis and Matt Mills pursued in the top 20. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger was up to 24th place while Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum was mired in 31st place.

    Ten laps later, Eckes extended his advantage to more than a second over Majeski while third-place Sanchez trailed by two seconds. Behind, Riggs and Taylor Gray remained in the top five ahead of Rhodes, Heim, Purdy, Honeycutt and Caruth as Enfinger and Ankrum were mired in 22nd and 31st, respectively.

    Another 10 laps later, Eckes stabilized his advantage to more than a second over runner-up Majeski and by more than three seconds over third-place Sanchez while Riggs and Taylor Gray remained racing in the top five. Meanwhile, Enfinger cracked the top 20 as he was up to 20th place while Ankrum gained four spots to 27th place. By then, Heim retained seventh place behind Rhodes while Caruth continued to race in 10th place behind Purdy and Honeycutt.

    Then on Lap 35, the event’s first caution period flew due to Matthew Gould slowly coming to a halt in the backstretch after he fell off the pace through the frontstretch earlier. During the caution period, some led by Rhodes and including Enfinger and Ankrum, the latter of whom was spared from losing a lap, pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Matt Crafton and Landen Lewis were both penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 42, Eckes fended off Majeski to retain the lead through the first two turns while 10th-place Caruth tried to throw a three-wide move beneath teammate Purdy for more positions towards the front. The following lap, Purdy and Dean Thompson made contact entering Turn 1 as Thompson tried to make a tight move beneath Purdy for position. With a bevy of competitors continuing to bump, fan out and jostle for spots, Eckes proceeded to drive away with the lead as he retained the top spot by the Lap 45 mark.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 50, Eckes, who came into Martinsville 38 points above the top-four cutline in his pursuit to make the Championship 4 round, captured his 10th Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski followed suit in second as he was followed by Sanchez, Taylor Gray and Riggs while Heim, Honeycutt, Purdy, Sawalich and Connor Zilisch were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Caruth plummeted to 28th place after he went up the racetrack in Turn 3 on Lap 49 while Enfinger and Ankrum settled in 14th and 17, respectively.

    Under the stage break, some led by Taylor Gray and including Caruth pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. By then, the top seven competitors including Eckes, Majeski, Sanchez, Heim, Honeycutt, Purdy and Sawalich were the only ones who had yet to pit. During the pit stops, Jake Garcia was penalized for pitting outside his pit box.

    The second stage period started on Lap 60 as Eckes and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes fended off Majeski and Sanchez to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Eckes retained the lead for the following lap while Majeski was racing in second place ahead of Sanchez and Heim. Towards the Lap 65 mark, Honeycutt was in fifth place and he was followed by Sawalich while Purdy, who was trapped on the outside lane, was dueling with Friesen and Rhodes for seventh place.

    Just past Lap 70, Eckes extended his lead to more than a second over Majeski while Sanchez and Heim continued to trail in third and fourth, respectively. As Honeycutt retained fifth place in front of Sawalich, Friesen, Rhodes and Zilisch, Purdy dropped to 10th place as he was racing ahead of Enfinger while Ankrum, Taylor Gray and Caruth were mired in 14th, 16th and 22nd, respectively.

    At the Lap 80 mark, Eckes’ advantage stood to nearly two seconds over runner-up Majeski while third-place Sanchez trailed by three seconds. With fourth-place Heim trailing by four seconds, Enfinger and Ankrum were mired in 10th and 11th, respectively, Taylor Gray was up to 15th place and Caruth was mired in 22nd place.

    Ten laps later, Eckes extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Majeski as Sanchez and Heim trailed as far back as six seconds. Behind, Sawalich was up into fifth place and trailing the lead by seven seconds while Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Enfinger and Ankrum were in the top 10 ahead of Zilisch, Riggs, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye and Purdy.

    Another four laps later, Eckes lapped Caruth, who was the lowest-running Playoff contender on the track in 25th place and placed in a “must-win” situation to keep his Playoff hopes alive. Eckes would proceed to stretch his lead to four seconds over Majeski just past the Lap 95 mark as both Sanchez and Heim trailed by seven seconds.

    Then on Lap 97, the caution flew as Dylan Lupton slid and wrecked his No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST hard against the Turn 2 outside wall. Lupton’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 100 to officially conclude under caution as Eckes captured his second Truck stage victory of the event and the 11th of the 2024 season. Majeski followed suit in second ahead of Sanchez, Heim and Sawalich while Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Ankrum and Enfinger were scored in the top 10. With seven of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of stage points, Caruth, the only Playoff contender to not score stage points, was mired in 25th place.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Eckes pitted while Ben Rhodes remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, the following names that include Justin Carroll, Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson were all penalized for their respective pit crews jumping over the pit wall too soon. Soon after, Caruth, who pitted twice under the caution period, took his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST behind the wall and the pit crew went under the hood of Caruth’s truck to address a potential left-front braking issue. The issue was enough to knock Caruth both out of the lead lap category and in contention to advance into the Championship 4 round.

    With 90 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Rhodes and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Rhodes retained the lead ahead of Eckes through the first two turns and the backstretch. Rhodes would proceed to lead the following lap ahead of Eckes while Majeski and Sanchez battled for third place in front of Heim. Behind, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Enfinger were strapped from seventh to ninth, respectively, as Eckes closed in on Rhodes for the lead with 85 laps remaining.

    Then with 84 laps remaining, Eckes gave Rhodes a slight bump in Turn 3, which allowed Eckes to draw himself even with Rhodes’ No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 through the frontstretch before he muscled back ahead and reassumed the lead. As Eckes proceeded to lead with 80 laps remaining, Sanchez started to close in on Rhodes for the runner-up spot while Majeski and Heim trailed in the top five.

    With 70 laps remaining, Eckes stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Sanchez and Majeski while Rhodes dropped to fourth place. Meanwhile, Heim retained fifth place ahead of Friesen, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Enfinger and Sawalich while Caruth, who had his left-front brakes addressed, returned to the track despite being strapped 20 laps down in 33rd place.

    Fifteen laps later, Eckes’ advantage grew to five seconds over runner-up Sanchez while third-place Majeski also trailed by five seconds. In the process, Heim retained fifth place while trying to fend off Friesen and both Taylor Gray and Ankrum battled for seventh place while Enfinger was in 10th place.

    Another 15 laps later, Eckes retained the lead by six seconds over Sanchez while Majeski trailed the latter by nearly a second in third place. Behind, Friesen moved up to fifth place as he trailed Rhodes on the track while Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Sawalich, Enfinger and Riggs occupied the top 10 in front of Heim, Corey Day, Honeycutt, Crafton and Zilisch.

    Then with 38 laps remaining, the caution flew when Honeycutt, who was racing in the top 15, made contact with the outside wall in between Turns 1 and 2 after he blew a right-front tire. During the caution period, some led by Rhodes and including Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Heim pitted while the rest led by Eckes and including Sanchez, Majeski and Ankrum remained on the track.

    The start of the ensuing restart period with 29 laps remaining featured Eckes muscling ahead and leading the field with both lanes under his control through the first two turns while Sanchez and Majeski dueled for the runner-up spot. As Eckes muscled away with a reasonable lead for the following lap, Sanchez, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to maintain his Playoff hopes, muscled his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST away with the runner-up spot ahead of Majeski, who got bumped by Friesen in Turn 1.

    With Friesen settling in fourth behind Majeski, a three-wide action then ensued between Riggs, Rhodes and Taylor Gray during the next lap while Purdy almost got turned by Corey Day through the backstretch. As more bumping and jostling for late spots ensued within the field, Eckes was ahead by more than a second with the lead with 25 laps remaining.

    Then with 19 laps remaining, the caution returned when Dean Thompson bumped and sent teammate Tanner Gray into Brett Moffitt as both went up the track and wrecked against the Turn 3 outside wall while Corey Day slid sideways and spun past both to avoid the carnage. During the caution period, some including Riggs, Crafton, Sawalich and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

    Down to the final 12 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Eckes fended off Taylor Gray, whom Eckes shared on the front row, through the first two turns and the backstretch to retain the lead. With Gray settling behind Eckes and in front of a stacked field, Sanchez tried to pursue both from third place as Eckes led the following lap. Then in Turn 1, Gray, who was placed in a “must-win” situation to advance to the Championship 4 round, bumped Eckes through the first two turns. Seconds later, the caution returned when Friesen, who was racing in sixth place, got bumped by Enfinger as the latter was hit by Purdy, which sent Friesen for a spin in Turn 2 as Sauter limped his No. 66 TSPORT Ford F-150 to pit road with damage and sparks flying out of the truck.

    The start of the next restart period with five laps remaining featured Eckes and Taylor Gray sharing the front row for a second time, where Gray dueled with Eckes through the first two turns until Gray used the outside lane to muscle his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead with the lead through the backstretch. Then entering Turn 3, Eckes bumped and sent Gray up the racetrack, which allowed Eckes to reassume the lead while Gray dropped to fifth place.

    During the following lap, Rhodes bumped and drew himself into a side-by-side with Eckes through the first two turns and the backstretch before Rhodes muscled his way into the lead through Turns 3 and 4. Rhodes proceeded to lead the next lap before Eckes bumped and drew himself back beneath Rhodes through the first two turns and the backstretch. Eckes would then slip up and cause Rhodes to go up the track, which allowed Eckes to muscle back away with the lead as Purdy came storming in his No. 77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST into the runner-up spot. Purdy and Rhodes would both bump and jostle for the runner-up spot during the following lap as Eckes motored away.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained in the lead ahead of a tight side-by-side battle between Purdy and Rhodes for the runner-up spot. With the latter two battling amongst one another and not closing the gap to the lead, Eckes would smoothly cycle his No. 19 Chevrolet around the Martinsville circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by more than a second over Rhodes, who edged Purdy at the finish line for the runner-up spot.

    With the victory and the Martinsville sweep of the season, Eckes notched his ninth career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, his fourth of the 2024 season and his first since winning at Nashville Superspeedway in late June. He also recorded the fourth Truck victory of the season for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and the 12th for the Chevrolet nameplate.

    Above all, Eckes, who is in his fourth and final campaign in the Truck Series before he graduates to the Xfinity Series in 2025, officially clinched his spot into this year’s Championship 4 round for the first time in his career as he will contend for his first Craftsman Truck Series championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[Contending for the championship] feels great,” Eckes, who was met with mixed reactions from the crowd, said on FS1.” Like I told everybody, I wasn’t gonna let us lose this race. The truck was too good. [Racing with Taylor Gray], it was just hard racing. I feel bad about [Rhodes]. I just got way too loose entering the corner, but everybody’s really happy with me. I don’t really care. Proud of everybody for working hard. We’ll go on to Phoenix.”

    Not long after, Eckes, who was bumped into the rear by Taylor Gray during the cooldown lap, was met with Gray on the frontstretch as the latter vented his verbal frustration over the late bump and contact caused by Eckes that took Gray out of contention for both the victory and a spot to the Championship 4 round. With both competitors exchanging words while being surrounded by crew members and officials, Gray would give Eckes a light shove to the chest after issuing his warning before he stormed away.

    “[Am I happy] With the exchange? No,” Gray, who finished fourth at Martinsville but missed the Championship 4 cutline by 28 points, said. “I got shipped to the fence whenever I raced him perfectly clean in [Turns] 1 and 2. What comes around goes around. I have to race him next year all year long. I guess he’s got that one for him.”

    Overall, Gray joins Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum and Rajah Caruth as the bottom four Playoff contenders in the standings to not transfer into the Championship 4 round. On the contrary, Corey Heim and Ty Majeski, who finished seventh and 11th at Martinsville, respectively, claimed the final two berths to the Championship 4 round as both join Eckes and Grant Enfinger in the final Playoff round to contend for their first Truck Series championship.

    Rhodes and Purdy finished second and third on the track at Martinsville while Taylor Gray and Nick Sanchez finished in the top five. Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen completed the top-10 final running order.

    There were six lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 46 laps. In addition, 19 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Christian Eckes, 187 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    2. Ben Rhodes, 12 laps led

    3. Chase Purdy

    4. Taylor Gray, one lap led

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Layne Riggs

    7. Corey Heim

    8. Tyler Ankrum

    9. Grant Enfinger

    10. Stewart Friesen

    11. Ty Majeski

    12. Connor Zilisch

    13. Matt Crafton

    14. William Sawalich

    15. Dawson Sutton

    16. Bayley Currey

    17. Dean Thompson

    18. Corey Day

    19. Matt Mills

    20. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    21. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    22. Spencer Body, two laps down

    23. Lawless Alan, two laps down

    24. Clayton Green, three laps down

    25. Justin Carroll, three laps down

    26. Jack Wood, four laps down

    27. Matthew Gould, five laps down

    28. Johnny Sauter – OUT, Accident

    29. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    30. Brett Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    31. Rajah Caruth, 21 laps down

    32. Daniel Dye – OUT, Brakes

    33. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

    34. Dylan Lupton – OUT, Accident

    35. Landen Lewis – OUT, Brakes

    36. Norm Benning – OUT, Brakes

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    3. Corey Heim – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    5. Taylor Gray – Eliminated

    6. Nick Sanchez – Eliminated

    7. Tyler Ankrum – Eliminated

    8. Rajah Caruth – Eliminated

    The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is scheduled to occur next Friday, November 8, and air at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Grant Enfinger doubles down with dramatic fuel-mileage Truck victory at Homestead

    Grant Enfinger doubles down with dramatic fuel-mileage Truck victory at Homestead

    Three weeks after securing a Championship 4 berth by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Talladega Superspeedway, Grant Enfinger doubled down in his bid to be known as a legitimate championship contender for this season’s finale by winning the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 26, following a fuel-mileage battle to the victory.

    The 39-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led twice for 32 of 134-scheduled laps in an event where he started ninth and cruised to a sixth-place result during the event’s first stage period. Then in the closing laps of the second stage period, he charged up the leaderboard and overtook pole-sitter Corey Heim to assume the lead and race his way to the second stage victory. Despite getting entangled with an on-track incident with Playoff contender Christian Eckes at the start of the final stage period that forced Enfinger to eventually pit and lose a lap amid a tire rub, the Alabama veteran seized an opportunity to rally back through the field that started when Conner Jones intentionally wrecked Matt Mills with 60 laps remaining. During the caution period, he received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap and pitted for fuel that would enable him to reach the event’s scheduled distance.

    Then starting with the final restart period with 52 laps remaining, Enfinger began his fuel economy run to the finish while also carving his way back up the leaderboard. While most of his fellow Playoff contenders pitted for fuel midway into the final stage period, Enfinger remained on the track and returned to the lead with 21 laps remaining. Despite reducing his pace for the remainder of the event, Enfinger had built a reasonable gap from his closest competition and had enough fuel saved in his tank to reach the event’s scheduled distance and claim the checkered flag for his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season and in recent weeks.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 25, Playoff contender Corey Heim notched his first Truck pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 165.062 mph in 32.715 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender and teammate Taylor Gray, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 164.689 mph in 32.789 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that include Tanner Gray, Matt Mills and rookie Layne Riggs dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, the field quickly fanned out through the frontstretch as teammates Corey Heim and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field continued to fan out through the backstretch, Heim managed to muscle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 and he would proceed to lead the first lap.

    Over the next four laps and amid a series of early on-track action within the field, Heim proceeded to extend his advantage to as high as seven-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while Playoff contender Christian Eckes followed suit in third place. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt and Connor Mosack trailed in the top five ahead of Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth and Stewart Friesen while Playoff contenders Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Heim stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while third-place Eckes trailed by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Honeycutt and Mosack remained in the top five ahead of Majeski, Caruth, Friesen, Enfinger and Sanchez while Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson, Matt Crafton, Connor Zilisch and Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum were racing in the top 15.

    Five laps later, Heim stretched his early advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Honeycutt, who overtook Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier, while Eckes followed suit in fourth place as he trailed Gray by a second. Not long after, Majeski would move into the top five in fifth place as a trio of Playoff contenders that include Caruth, Enfinger and Sanchez were racing from seventh to ninth, respectively, while Heim retained the lead by half a second over Honeycutt at the Lap 20 mark.

    By Lap 25, Honeycutt used the outside lane to gain a big draft on Heim through the backstretch, but Heim moved in front of Honeycutt’s No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST to stall his momentum. Honeycutt, who was running faster lap times than Heim, would proceed to use the outside lane to continue to gain more ground towards Heim’s rear bumper through every corner and straightaway during the proceeding laps as Heim was navigating his way through lapped traffic.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim, who came into Homestead 30 points above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off Honeycutt to notch his ninth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Honeycutt settled in second ahead of Majeski, Taylor Gray and Eckes while Enfinger, Mosack, Sanchez, Caruth and Dean Thompson were scored in the top 10. With all but one of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contender, Tyler Ankrum, settled in 16th place behind teammate Daniel Dye.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for a first round of pit service that included a change of four fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of teammate Taylor Gray, Honeycutt, Eckes and Enfinger while Majeski, who lost three spots following his pit service, exited in sixth place ahead of Sanchez, Thompson, Mosack and Matt Crafton. Shortly after, Sanchez was sent to the rear of the field due to speeding while exiting pit road.

    The second stage period started under green on Lap 38 as teammates Heim and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through both the frontstretch and the backstretch as Gray received a draft from Eckes to muscle ahead of Heim through the backstretch. As Enfinger muscled into fourth place ahead of Majeski and a steaming pack of trucks through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes challenged Gray for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch during the following lap while Heim followed in close pursuit.

    Taylor Gray would then slide his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in front of Eckes’ No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST entering the frontstretch and lead the next lap before Eckes pulled a crossover move to the inside lane and assumed the lead through Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 40. Shortly after, Heim overtook teammate Gray for the runner-up spot as Eckes led the following lap. Heim then overtook Eckes to reassume the lead entering the frontstretch on Lap 42 and he would proceed to slowly muscle away with the top spot. By Lap 45, Heim stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Eckes while Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Majeski followed suit in the top five. Behind, Mosack occupied sixth place as Caruth, Honeycutt, Crafton and Dye were in the top 10.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Heim extended his advantage to a second over Eckes while Enfinger muscled his way up to third place as he trailed the lead by two seconds. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray fell back to fourth place ahead of Majeski while Mosack, Caruth, Honeycutt, Dye and Crafton were in the top 10. Towards the middle of the field, Playoff contenders Ankrum and Sanchez were mired in 17th and 19th, respectively, as Heim proceeded to lead by seventh-tenths of a second over Eckes by Lap 55.

    Then on Lap 57, Enfinger, who overtook Eckes for the runner-up spot a lap earlier and had been gaining ground on the leaders, steered his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead from Heim through Turns 3 and 4 while he also almost got sideways entering the frontstretch. He then fended off Heim entering Turns 1 and 2 to retain the top spot.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Enfinger, who is already guaranteed a spot into this year’s Championship 4 field by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Talladega Superspeedway earlier in October, notched his third Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Eckes, Majeski and Honeycutt while Taylor Gray, Dye, Mosack, Caruth and Crafton were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of Playoff points, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Ankrum and Sanchez were mired in 16th and 17th, respectively.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Enfinger returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first as he was followed by Taylor Gray, Heim, Connor Zilisch, Eckes, Honeycutt, Majeski, Caruth, Mosack and Thompson. Shortly after, Zilisch returned to pit road for service due to the Charlotte rookie missing his pit stall during the first cycle with the field.

    With 67 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Enfinger and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Taylor Gray muscled ahead into the lead from the inside lane while Eckes and Enfinger collided against one another entering the first turn. As the field fanned out through the first two turns, Eckes fended off Majeski for the runner-up spot while Enfinger, who quickly reassumed third place through the backstretch, had a left-rear tire rub and smoke puffing out of his truck. During the following lap, Enfinger continued to nurse his damaged truck on the track despite dropping out of the top five mark and losing more spots as Taylor Gray retained the lead.

    With 64 laps remaining, however, Eckes and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead as Heim and Majeski followed suit in close pursuit. As Enfinger pitted under green to have his damaged truck assessed prior to the following lap, Eckes was out in front of a tight four-truck battle for the lead that involved Heim, Gray and Majeski. Heim then rocketed back into the lead with 62 laps remaining while Eckes followed suit in second. As Gray and Majeski battled for third place, Layne Riggs carved his way up to fifth place while Caruth, Honeycutt, Sanchez, Mosack and Thompson were in the top 10.

    Then with 60 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Matt Mills, who was racing in the top 20, getting loose after he received a bump from Conner Jones’ No. 66 TSPORT Ford F-150 and smacked the outside wall in Turn 4 as flames erupted out of his No. 42 Utilitra/J.F. Electric Chevrolet Silverado RST. Following the incident, Mills managed to climb out of his damaged truck under his own power while Jones, who vocally expressed his displeasure with Mills over an earlier on-track battle, was assessed a two-lap penalty for reckless driving. Mills would eventually be taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.

    During the caution period, some led by Riggs and including Sanchez and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Enfinger, who received the free pass during the caution period, also pitted.

    The start of the next restart period with 52 laps remaining featured Heim receiving a draft from Majeski to muscle ahead of Eckes to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Then exiting the backstretch, Majeski, who was in third place, shot his No. 98 Poppi/Road Ranger Ford F-150 below the track entering Turns 3 and 4 as he tried to bolt into the lead. Heim, however, used the outside lane and a draft from Eckes to muscle back ahead and retain the lead for the following lap. By then, Majeski managed to claim the runner-up spot as Caruth intimidated Eckes for third place.

    Then as Caruth tried to go below Eckes for third place in Turns 3, he got loose, which allowed Riggs and Dye to overtake him as Caruth was left to battle Sanchez and Taylor Gray for seventh place. Shortly after, Riggs overtook Eckes and Majeski on his four fresh tires before he assumed the lead from Heim with 49 laps remaining.

    With less than 45 laps remaining, Riggs extended his advantage to more than a second over Sanchez, who also bolted his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST to the front on four fresh tires. With Heim dropping to third place, Mosack followed suit in fourth place ahead of Enfinger, Majeski, Ankrum, Dye, Friesen and Ben Rhodes while Eckes, Caruth and Taylor Gray dropped to 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. As Heim was overtaken by both Mosack and Enfinger, Riggs retained the lead by a second with 40 laps remaining.

    With 36 laps remaining, mixed strategies within the field ensued as Caruth pitted his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for four fresh tires and fuel under green. Eckes would then pit for the following lap before more names including Crafton, Honeycutt and Majeski pitted during the next lap. Teammates Heim and Taylor Gray would then pit their respective Toyotas under green with 33 laps remaining as Riggs, who was approaching lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Sanchez.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Riggs, who was among several competitors who continued to race on the track and aiming to stretch their fuel tank to the scheduled distance, continued to lead by a second over Sanchez while third-place Enfinger also trailed by a second. As Mosack, Ankrum, Friesen, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy and Dawson Sutton followed suit in the top 10, Heim, the first competitor who recently pitted under green, trailed the lead by 31 seconds in 11th place as Majeski, Timmy Hill, Eckes and Caruth were mired in the top 15, with Taylor Gray trailing in 17th place.

    Three laps later, Enfinger challenged Riggs for the lead and he would overtake him to lead the following lap. Enfinger, who was also racing on fumes to stretch his fuel tank to the scheduled distance, would proceed to lead by half a second over Riggs while Sanchez trailed in third place by nine-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Heim trailed the lead by 26 seconds in 10th place as he remained ahead of Majeski, Eckes and Caruth.

    With 15 laps remaining, Enfinger, who was slowly reducing his speed while remaining on the track to stretch his fuel tank, continued to lead by more than a second over Riggs while third-place Sanchez trailed by more than two seconds. With Mosack and Friesen in the top five ahead of Ankrum, Heim carved his way up to eighth place and trailed the lead by 24 seconds.

    Five laps later, Enfinger retained the lead by more than two seconds over runner-up Riggs and by more than three seconds over Sanchez while Heim, who was still in eighth place, trailed by 21 seconds. By then, Caruth and Taylor Gray, both of whom were strapped in 13th and 14th, respectively, un-lapped themselves while Majeski and Eckes were racing in ninth and 11th, respectively.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Enfinger stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Riggs, who was slowly gaining ground on the former, as Sanchez continued to trail in third place by nearly seven seconds. A lap later, Heim cycled to seventh place but still trailed the leader Enfinger by 18 seconds. Another two laps later, Riggs ran out of fuel as he coasted his No. 38 Love’s RV Stops Ford F-150 below the apron through the first two turns and past Purdy, who also ran out of fuel.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger remained in the lead by more than 10 seconds over Sanchez. As Sanchez ran out of fuel and dropped off the pace through the backstretch, Enfinger managed to have enough fuel in his dry tank to coast his No. 9 Chevrolet around the Homestead circuit smoothly for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious for his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

    With the victory, Enfinger notched his 12th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division and his first at Homestead as this marks the first time ever where the Alabama veteran has notched back-to-back Truck victories in recent weeks. The Homestead victory was also the second ever for CR7 Motorsports and the 10th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate as Enfinger eyes additional momentum before his bid and the primary focus for the championship battle in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway two weeks from now.

    “I think the truck we had here was equally as good [as the one from Darlington Raceway] and I feel like we were able to take a disadvantage with whatever happened on that restart [with 67 laps remaining],” Enfinger said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I didn’t think I did anything wrong and my buddy Christian [Eckes] was, I guess, trying to split the middle and just cut our tire a little bit, but just racing. At the end of the day, [crew chief] Jeff Stankiewicz just had the best truck out here. This Champion Power Equipment Chevy was really fast after about five laps yesterday and it was the same way today. [Spotter] Tim [Fedewa] did a good job of managing me with the tires and then Jeff did a good job managing me with the fuel. I felt like I saved at least 20% more than I did in the first run, but Jeff was on me pretty hard. Hard to beat these two weeks.”

    “We’ve had potential all year,” Enfinger added. “There’s been some times I haven’t executed. There’s been some times we just had bad luck, but maybe this is the time we get our momentum and like I told the guys, we’ll just not get too worked up over this one. Just focus on Phoenix, but it’s hard not to have momentum. Just overall, proud of the execution of these guys. More than anything, just proud of the speed. We had the fastest truck all day and when you do that, you can even have some slip-ups or mistakes and overcome them.”

    With Enfinger winning the race, Ty Majeski came home in second place and Connor Mosack settled in third place while Corey Heim could carve his way back up to as high as fourth place ahead of Tyler Ankrum.

    Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray finished in the top 10. Meanwhile, Sanchez, who ran out of fuel on the final lap, ended up in 13th place, the final competitor scored on the lead lap, while Riggs fell back to 22nd place, a lap down.

    As a result, Heim, Eckes and Majeski enter next weekend’s Round of 8 finale above the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 field while Caruth, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Sanchez trail the cutline.

    There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 13 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 32 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Ty Majeski

    3. Connor Mosack

    4. Corey Heim, 68 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    5. Tyler Ankrum

    6. Stewart Friesen

    7. Daniel Dye

    8. Rajah Caruth

    9. Christian Eckes, three laps led

    10. Taylor Gray, four laps led

    11. Matt Crafton

    12. Ben Rhodes

    13. Nick Sanchez

    14. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap down

    15. Dean Thompson, one lap down

    16. Corey Day, one lap down

    17. William Sawalich, one lap down

    18. Connor Zilisch, one lap down

    19. Dawson Sutton, one lap down

    20. Tanner Gray, one lap down

    21. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    22. Layne Riggs, one lap down, 27 laps led

    23. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    24. Jake Garcia, two laps down

    25. Conner Jones, two laps down

    26. Chase Purdy, three laps down

    27. Spencer Boyd, three laps down

    28. Conor Daly, three laps down

    29. Nathan Byrd, four laps down

    30. Marco Andretti, seven laps down

    31. Bayley Currey, nine laps down

    32. Justin Mondeik, 20 laps down

    33. Frankie Muniz, 29 laps down

    34. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim +49

    3. Christian Eckes +38

    4. Ty Majeski +22

    5. Rajah Caruth -22

    6. Taylor Gray -24

    7. Tyler Ankrum -41

    8. Nick Sanchez -43

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Martinsville Speedway for the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200, which will determine this year’s Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, November 1, and air at 6 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Grant Enfinger scores dominant victory at Talladega, clinches Championship 4 berth

    Grant Enfinger scores dominant victory at Talladega, clinches Championship 4 berth

    The feeling of winning at home never felt sweeter for Grant Enfinger, who guaranteed himself an early shot to contend for this year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after capping off a dominant performance with a victory in the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, October 4.

    The 39-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led nine times for a race-high 34 of 85-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and spent a majority of the event racing upfront amid the draft and up against both his fellow Playoff and non-Playoff contenders. After finishing second in the first stage before winning the second stage, Enfinger, who would endure three restarts throughout the final stage period, retained the lead at the start of the final one with nine laps remaining. He then fended off late challenges from Playoff contenders Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray through the frontstretch on the final lap and amid a multi-truck wreck approaching the finish line to record his first elusive victory of the season and automatically transfer his way into this year’s Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, William Sawalich, the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East champion, notched his first Truck Series career pole position after he posted a pole-winning lap at 175.764 mph in 54.482 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ben Rhodes, who posted his best qualifying lap at 175.648 mph in 54.518 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Keith McGee dropped to the rear of the field as a result of replacing Bryan Dauzat in the FDNY Racing entry. Bayley Currey also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his Niece Motorsports entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, William Sawalich muscled his No. 1 Starkey/Soundgear Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead with the lead from the inside lane as he was followed by Ben Rhodes and Playoff contenders Ty Majeski and Taylor Gray through the first two turns. Sawalich proceeded to lead through the backstretch as a bevy of competitors behind dueled early for positions in two drafting lanes. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger received a draft from Chase Purdy from the outside lane to rocket his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead and lead the first lap ahead of Sawalich.

    Through the second to fifth lap, the field fanned out to three drafting lanes as Purdy, Enfinger and Matt Mills all took turns leading at the front while Jake Garcia, Sawalich, Connor Zilisch, Dean Thompson, Majeski, Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Dean Thompson and Lawless Alan all followed pursuit. By then, Ben Rhodes, who started on the front row alongside Sawalich, was penalized for jumping the start, as he launched ahead of Sawalich when he was not in control of bringing the field up to race pace before the event’s start. After serving a drive-through penalty for the penalty, however, Rhodes was penalized a second time, this time for a blend violation as he moved up the racing surface early through the backstretch. The pair of penalties would result in Rhodes losing a lap to the field while Mills and Enfinger dueled for the lead in front of the field.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Enfinger was leading ahead of Purdy, Sawalich, Mills and Majeski while Garcia, Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Zilisch, Ankrum and Dean Thomson were racing in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contender Corey Heim occupied 11th place ahead of, Lawless Alan, Playoff contender Christian Eckes, Playoff contender Rajah Caruth and Ryan Reed while Bret Holmes, Nick Sanchez, Stefan Parsons, Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray were mired in the top 20.

    Five laps later, Enfinger, who led three of the previous five laps, was leading by a hair amid a side-by-side battle with Mills while the rest of the field racing in two-packed lanes followed suit. By then, Garcia, Sawalich and Zilisch were running in the top five as Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray and Ankrum were racing in the top-10 mark. In addition, Heim and Caruth were battling within the top-15 mark while Eckes and Sanchez were mired within the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Johnny Sauter, who was making his second Truck start of the season with Hattori Racing Enterprises, had pitted to have a broken spoiler brace fixed.

    With two laps remaining in the first stage period, Sanchez and Currey pitted their respective entries, primarily for fuel, as Enfinger retained the lead.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Matt Mills received a draft from Garcia to overtake Enfinger from the outside lane through the backstretch and claim his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Enfinger settled in second ahead of Garcia, Zilisch and Sawalich while Thompson, Majeski, Alan, Taylor Gray and Tanner Gray were scored in the top 10 on the track. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders that included Ankrum, Heim, Eckes and Caruth were mired within the top 16 while Sanchez was down in 32nd place.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Mills pits while the rest including Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Spencer Boyd and Sanchez remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first ahead of Majeski, Garcia, Alan, Zilisch, Eckes, Thompson, Taylor Gray, Caruth and Tyler Ankrum. Friesen, Crafton and Boyd would eventually pit prior to the second stage’s start while Sanchez, who pitted before the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track and inherited the lead.

    The second stage period started on Lap 27 as Sanchez and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Sanchez and Enfinger dueled for the lead for a full lap and in front of two stacked lanes. Enfinger was being pushed by Garcia while Sanchez was being pushed by Majeski and Zilisch. By then, Taylor Gray pitted to have a punctured tire on his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro removed as both Sanchez and Enfinger continued to duel for the lead by the Lap 30 mark.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Sanchez, who had both lanes to his control before Enfinger came storming back to challenge him for the lead, got loose by Zilisch through the frontstretch. Sanchez then slid sideways into the path of Zilisch, where Zilisch kept pushing Sanchez’s spinning No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST while Sauter, Rhodes and Purdy all wrecked against the outside wall while trying to avoid the wreck. The incident occurred as Mills and Parsons made contact, but avoided igniting a wreck entering the frontstretch while being mired behind Playoff contenders Heim, Ankrum and Taylor Gray, the latter of whom had lost a lap to the field.

    The multi-truck incident on Lap 37 was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 40 to officially conclude under caution as Enfinger was awarded his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Garcia, Eckes, Alan, Caruth, Thompson, Heim, Tanner Gray, Ankrum and Stefan Parsons were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some, led by Crafton and including Boyd while the rest led by Enfinger pitted. During the pit stops, Mason Maggio, who made contact with Ankrum on pit road, was penalized for having too many men over his pit wall. Soon after and amid the caution period, a bevy of names including Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Sanchez all returned to pit road for additional services.

    With 39 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Dye and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Daniel Dye, who received drafting help from a bevy of Chevrolet teammates, including teammate Eckes, muscled his No. 43 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Caruth before he then moved in front of Caruth entering the backstretch. Eckes would also follow suit and he also transitioned his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST in front of Caruth on the inside lane. By the following lap, Dye was leading ahead of a five-truck breakaway from the field along with teammate Eckes, Ankrum, Caruth and Dean Thompson while Enfinger and Corey Heim dueled for sixth place in front of two lines of stacked competitors.

    With 35 laps remaining, teammates Eckes and Dye dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes of competitors. Five laps later, the top-10 competitors on the track were separated under a second as Eckes was leading ahead of Enfinger, teammate Dye, Caruth and Parsons while Mills, Garcia, Alan, Kaden Honeycutt and Sanchez were in the top 10.

    Then with 28 laps remaining, a majority of field led by Eckes and Enfinger pitted under green. During the pit stops, Caruth blew a tire while he was slamming on the brakes and locking up his front tires of his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST while trying to enter pit road. Caruth, however, would be penalized for being too fast while trying to enter pit road as he eventually lost a lap. In addition, Dye missed pit road and could not pit with the front-runners while Norm Benning spun on pit road after making contact with Stefan Parsons. Soon after, Purdy was seen limping his slowed truck below the apron on the backstretch, but he continued without drawing a caution.

    Back on the track with 25 laps remaining, Jason White was leading ahead of Dawson Sutton, Mason Maggio, Honeycutt and Sanchez while Enfinger, Eckes, Garcia, Riggs and Friesen were scored in the top 10.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Garcia got turned off the front nose of Parsons that resulted in Garcia colliding with rookie Layne Riggs and clipping Riggs again that sent Riggs back across the track and into Tanner Gray and Matt Mills up against the outside wall. Connor Zilisch and Dean Thompson would also get involved in the carnage while Playoff contenders Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray slid through the infield grass and kicked up dirt to avoid the carnage.

    During the caution period, some led by the leader Jason White and including Sutton, Mason Maggio, Clay Greenfield, Cory Roper, Spencer Boyd and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by the new leader Honeycutt remained on the track.

    Down to the final 17 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Honeycutt received a draft from Eckes on the inside lane to rocket ahead with the lead through the first two turns. As the field started to fan out to three lanes through the backstretch, Eckes made his move to the outside lane as he overtook Honeycutt while he was followed by Sanchez. Sanchez then made a move beneath Eckes in Turn 4 as he assumed the lead and led the following lap ahead of Honeycutt and Eckes. Sanchez would then be placed on defense to block Eckes and Honeycutt as Enfinger and Taylor Gray started to muscle up into the top five by the following lap.

    The caution would then return with 15 laps remaining after Sanchez received a push from Eckes that got him sliding sideways below the apron entering Turn 3. While trying to save his truck from spinning, Sanchez slid up the track backward in between Turns 3 and 4 and barely clipped Dye, which sent Dye for a spin below the turn’s grass. With nearly the entire field dodging Sanchez’s truck, Keith McGee and Mason Maggio wrecked along with Dawson Sutton while avoiding Sanchez.

    The start of the following restart period with nine laps remaining featured Enfinger rocketing ahead with the lead with drafting help from Eckes and Alan while Taylor Gray, who restarted outside the front row, blended in line in fourth place ahead of Ryan Reed and Ankrum. With a majority of the front-runners running in a long single-file line towards the inside lane, Enfinger retained the lead for the following lap and ahead of Eckes, Alan, Ankrum and Reed.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, the top 12 competitors were racing under a second while the top 16 were separated within a second. In the process, Enfinger was leading ahead of Eckes, Alan, Taylor Gray and Reed while Ankrum, Friesen, Heim, Caruth and Majeski were mired in the top 10 ahead of Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd.

    During the following lap, the field behind Enfinger slowly started to fan out to multiple drafting lanes as Heim, racing in eighth place, was leading a charge from the outside lane with drafting help from Caruth. Heim and Caruth then made contact entering the backstretch, which stalled their momentum and forced both to blend back in the long drafting lane towards the double yellow lines and behind Enfinger, who continued to lead in front of Eckes.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger remained as the leader ahead of Eckes, Alan, Taylor Gray and Reed while Daniel Dye was trying to ignite a final drafting charge from the outside lane along with Caruth, Parsons and Heim. Enfinger would continue to lead through the backstretch along with Turns 3 and 4 as both Taylor Gray and Ankrum transitioned to the outside lane to receive the drafting momentum Dye was receiving.

    Then through the frontstretch and with the finish line in sight, Lawless Alan would then transition to the outside lane, but Taylor Gray and Eckes pinned him in three-wide formation. As Enfinger retained the lead, trouble ignited as Ankrum was bumped and sent spinning through the frontstretch before he was hit in the driver’s side by Friesen. Eckes then slid sideways off the front nose of teammate Reed and shot back across the track, where he collected a majority of the front-runners. Meanwhile, Enfinger managed to fend off a charge from Taylor Gray to claim the checkered flag and grab the victory.

    With the victory, Enfinger, who scored his first series victory at Talladega in 2016, became the first Playoff competitor to win the Truck Series Playoff event at Talladega and he became the fifth competitor to achieve multiple Truck victories at Talladega. He also notched his 11th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series and his first since winning at the Milwaukee Mile in August 2023.

    Above all, Enfinger, who came into Talladega strapped in seventh place in the Playoff standings, became the first competitor to clinch a spot into this year’s Championship 4 round, where he will contend for the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 8.

    “[My team] knew stuff was going to get dicey,” Enfinger, who credited spotter Tim Fedewa with the victory, said on FS1. “We didn’t make all the perfect decisions today, but we had a Champion Power Equipment Chevy [that] was fast enough to get it done today. That was hairy coming right [to the finish]. I knew Taylor [Gray] was coming with a run. Tim told me to go up, then he told me to come down. It’s just Talladega right there. Hopefully, all the fans enjoyed it. It’s nothing like winning at your hometown, home track. On top of that, we get to race for a championship at Phoenix.”

    Enfinger’s Talladega victory was also the first ever for CR7 Motorsports, a team that debuted in 2018 and had hired Enfinger as a part-time competitor in 2021 before signing him to a full-time, multi-year deal at the start of this season. Now after recording five top-five results and barely transferring into the Playoff’s Round of 8 throughout the previous 19 events on this year’s schedule, the organization will receive its first opportunity to contend for a NASCAR championship with the veteran Enfinger also setting his sights on claiming the title one year after being one position shy of claiming it.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “There are just so many people that make this team,” Enfinger added. “It’s a little bit of the little team that could, but we have great resources with our friends over there at [McAnally-Hilgemann Racing]. Obviously, great resources from everybody at Team Chevy. We’ve been knocking on the door. I know it’s speedway race, but we’ve been knocking on the door at all the tracks. I feel like we stumbled that first round of the Playoffs, but it really doesn’t matter now. [I was] able to win our way to Phoenix. Now, we can just focus on that. Looking forward to having some fun the next couple races, but a championship’s on the line now.

    Behind Enfinger, Taylor Gray tied his career-best result of second place as he just missed his first victory and an early ticket to the Championship 4 round by 0.041 seconds. Daniel Dye managed to cross the finish line in third place with a destroyed race truck while Rajah Caruth and Lawless Alan finished in the top five. Christian Eckes, Ryan Reed, Stefan Parsons, Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd finished in the top 10 on the track.

    With Playoff contenders Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Caruth and Eckes finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Nick Sanchez ended up 11th, 12th, 14th and 22nd, respectively. As a result, Eckes, Heim and Majeski leave Talladega above the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 round while Caruth, Gray, Sanchez and Ankrum trail the cutline.

    There were 27 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 25 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Taylor Gray

    3. Daniel Dye, three laps led

    4. Rajah Caruth, two laps led

    5. Lawless Alan

    6. Christian Eckes, eight laps led

    7. Ryan Reed

    8. Stefan Parsons

    9. Bret Holmes

    10. Spencer Boyd

    11. Corey Heim

    12. Ty Majeski

    13. Stewart Friesen, one lap led

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Clay Greenfield

    16. Cory Roper

    17. Danny Bohn

    18. Mason Maggio

    19. Kaden Honeycutt, three laps led

    20. Jason White, seven laps led

    21. Norm Benning

    22. Nick Sanchez, 10 laps led

    23. Matt Crafton, one lap led

    24. Dawson Sutton, four laps down, one lap led

    25. Chase Purdy, 14 laps down, one lap led

    26. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

    27. William Sawalich, 21 laps down

    28. Layne Riggs – OUT, Accident

    29. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident

    30. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident

    34. Johnny Sauter – OUT, DVP

    35. Ben Rhodes – OUT, Accident

    36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Rear Gear

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim +30

    3. Christian Eckes +29

    4. Ty Majeski +5

    5. Rajah Caruth -5

    6. Taylor Gray -13

    7. Nick Sanchez -20

    8. Tyler Ankrum- 23

    The second Round of 8 event in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to occur at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, and is scheduled to occur on October 26 and air at noon ET on FS1.

  • Corey Heim rallies for wild final-lap Truck Series victory at Kansas; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Corey Heim rallies for wild final-lap Truck Series victory at Kansas; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Corey Heim capped off a roller coaster event that started with starting at the rear of the field to quickly carve his way to the front, dominating and playing a late fuel-mileage battle to perfection on the final lap to win the Kubota Tractor 200 at Kansas Speedway on Friday, September 27.

    The 22-year-old Heim from Marietta, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 64 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he started at the rear of the 34-truck field due to hitting the wall when a part of his suspension rubbed against his right-side tire while trying to post a qualifying lap, which resulted with his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota team opting to repair the truck and the driver not posting a qualifying lap.

    Once he took the green flag from the rear of the field, Heim quickly rocketed his way to a third-place result after the first stage period that spanned 30 laps. He would then muscle the lead away from Playoff rival Christian Eckes at the start of the second stage period and proceed to claim the stage victory. Heim would dominate the final stage period before pitting from the lead with less than 30 laps remaining as part of a late cycle of green flag pit stops.

    Then as he cycled his way back to the front in the closing laps, Heim zipped by Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who ran out of fuel on the final lap after he was trying to stretch his fuel tank to the event’s scheduled distance and proceeded to cruise to his sixth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season. As a result of his victory, Heim and seven additional Playoff contenders officially transferred from the Playoff’s Round of 10 to 8 while two contenders, including the reigning series champion Ben Rhodes, were eliminated from title contention.

    On-track qualifying determined the starting lineup on Friday. Playoff contender Ty Majeski secured his fifth Truck Series pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 175.023 mph in 30.853 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Connor Mosack, who posted his best qualifying lap at 174.565 mph in 30.934 seconds.

    Before the event, Playoff contender Corey Heim dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his TRICON Garage Toyota entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Ty Majeski received a push from Playoff contender Christian Eckes from the inside lane to muscle ahead of Connor Mosack through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes, Eckes issued an early side-by-side challenge with Majeski for the lead through Turns 3 and 4, where he would lead the first lap by a narrow margin from the outside lane.

    Over the next three laps, Eckes and Majeski dueled fiercely for the lead through every corner and straightaway while Connor Mosack followed closely in third place. Amid the early battle for the lead, early trouble struck for Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth and Daniel Dye, both of whom hit the outside wall on separate occasions, with Caruth hitting the wall entering the backstretch on the second lap as Dye scraped the wall entering the frontstretch on the third lap. Amid the scrapes, both kept their trucks running straight and proceeding without drawing a caution.

    By the fifth lap, Eckes managed to muscle ahead of Majeski to have both lanes under his control with the top spot. As Conor Daly served a pass-through penalty through pit road for diving his No. 44 Polkadot Chevrolet Silverado RST below the frontstretch’s white lines before taking the green flag, Playoff contender Taylor Gray bounced off the frontstretch’s outside wall and got loose off the front nose of Dawson Sutton while just behind, rookie Layne Riggs nearly spun sideways after he almost brushed the wall. Miraculously, both continued to race straight.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Majeski, who reassumed the lead from Eckes two laps earlier, was leading by over Eckes as Playoff contender Nick Sanchez, Stewart Friesen and Mosack were in the top five. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt, Playoff contender Ben Rhodes, Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Dawson Sutton and Layne Riggs were in the top 10 while Tanner Gray, Corey Heim, Jake Garcia, Matt Mills and Daniel Dye were mired in the top 15. With seven of 10 Playoff contenders racing in the top-15 mark, the remaining Playoff contenders including Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger and Rajah Caruth were mired in 18th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.

    Shortly after, Daniel Dye, who hit the outside wall for a second time, pitted his No. 43 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST under green and lost a lap in the process. By then, Majeski had stretched his advantage to two seconds over Eckes as Sanchez, Friesen and Honeycutt followed suit in the top five.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Sanchez while Eckes dropped to third place. Behind, Honeycutt and Taylor Gray followed suit in the top five while Friesen, Riggs, Heim, Tanner Gray and Mosack were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Rhodes was mired in 14th, Ankrum was scored in 18th, Enfinger and Caruth were mired back in 20th and 21st, respectively, and Dye was mired in 33rd as he would pit for a second time to address a flat right-front tire, which cost him two more laps in the process.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Majeski, who came into Kansas 58 points above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, captured his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. With the 10 stage points, Majeski officially clinched his spot into the Playoff’s Round of 8. Eckes followed suit in second along with Heim, who thundered his way from the rear of the field, while Honeycutt, Riggs, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Mosack were scored in the top 10. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Caruth, Rhodes, Ankrum, Enfinger and Dye were scored in 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st and 34th, respectively, with the latter three laps down.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for a first round of service while Timmy Hill remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Eckes exited pit road first followed by Heim, Majeski, Sanchez and Riggs. With Hill eventually pitting under the caution period, Eckes cycled back to the lead.

    The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Eckes and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes, who gained a strong start from the inside lane, quickly darted his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST to the outside lane to move in front of Heim. Eckes’ move enabled Majeski to try to gain a run from the inside lane as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Eckes proceeding to lead the following lap, Majeski and Heim dueled for the runner-up spot while Riggs and Sanchez battled for fourth place in front of Taylor Gray and Kaden Honeycutt. As a series of on-track battles towards the front continued, Eckes led by two-tenths over Heim, with Majeski, Riggs and Sanchez in the top five by Lap 40.

    By Lap 45, Heim dueled with Eckes for the lead amid a crossover moves through the frontstretch, where he led a lap for himself for the first time from the inside lane and he would muscle ahead by three-tenths of a second over the following lap. Behind, Riggs trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second followed by a trio of Playoff contenders that included Majeski, Sanchez and Taylor Gray. With Caruth scored in 11th place behind non-Playoff contenders Tanner Gray, Honeycutt, Bayley Currey and Friesen, Enfinger was in 14th place, Ankrum was scored in 19th place and Rhodes was in 21st place. Meanwhile, Dye was scored two laps down in 31st place.

    Five laps later, Heim stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Riggs, who overtook Eckes for the spot, while Majeski, Taylor Gray and Sanchez continued to follow suit in the top six.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Heim, who had already secured his spot into the Round of 8 by points, notched his eighth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Riggs followed suit in second place as he trailed by three-and-a-half seconds while Eckes, Majeski, Taylor Gray, Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Honeycutt, Currey and Caruth were scored in the top 10. The remaining Playoff contenders included Enfinger, Ankrum, Rhodes and Dye were mired in 15th, 16th, 21st and 31st, respectively.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim returned to pit road for another round of service. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first as he was followed by Riggs and Eckes. Amid the pit stops, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen and Ankrum were both penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while Dawson Sutton was penalized for being too fast while exiting pit road. Not long after, Taylor Gray, who had a slow pit service, returned to pit road due to an issue with his right front tire.

    With 66 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Heim and Riggs occupied the front row. At the start, Heim and Riggs dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Heim muscled ahead from the inside lane. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes while Eckes challenged Riggs for the runner-up spot, Heim rocketed away with the top spot as he led the following lap.

    Not long after, Eckes, who was fiercely battling Riggs for the runner-up spot, got loose and caused Riggs to step off the gas as he dropped to fifth place. With Eckes retaining second, Sanchez and Tanner Gray followed suit in third and fourth, respectively. Amid the fierce battle for the runner-up spot, Heim was leading by four-tenths of a second with 60 laps remaining.

    A few laps later, the caution returned when Matt Mills, who was battling Taylor Gray and Corey Day for a spot in the top 15, veered dead right into Day as Day made contact against the side of Gray’s No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro before he hit the Turn 3 outside wall head-on as Mills also slipped and wrecked against the wall. During the caution period, select names including Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray, and Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Heim remained on the track. Soon after, Rhodes pitted for a second time for fuel that would enable him to reach the event’s scheduled distance on his full tank.

    With the race restarting under green with 51 laps remaining, Heim and Eckes battled dead even for the lead in front of two stacked lanes from the first two turns through the backstretch as both Riggs and Sanchez tried to join the battle. Heim would then manage to muscle ahead of Eckes for the lead through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch for the following lap. Riggs, who was battling Sanchez for third place during the previous lap, would then overtake Eckes for the runner-up spot a few laps later as he commenced his charge on Heim for the lead while Currey, Sanchez, Chase Purdy and Caruth battled for fourth place.

    With nearly 45 laps remaining, the top five competitors were separated by a second as Riggs, who was trying to use every lane to gain ground on Heim through every turn and straightaway, only trailed Heim by a tenth of a second. Behind, Eckes retained third place ahead of Currey and Purdy as Sanchez, Caruth, Mosack, Majeski and Tanner Gray were racing in the top 10. Not long after, Matt Crafton was penalized for a restart violation. Then while trying to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road, Crafton was penalized a second time, this time for missing the commitment line to enter pit road.

    As the event was down to its final 40 laps, Heim retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Riggs while third-place Eckes and fourth-place Currey trailed by two seconds. Purdy retained fifth as he trailed the lead by three seconds while Sanchez, Caruth, Majeski, Tanner Gray and Mosack continued to race in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Enfinger, Ankrum, Rhodes, Taylor Gray and Dye were mired in 12th, 13th, 17th, 19th and 27th, with the latter pinned two laps behind.

    Then 10 laps later and with Heim slightly stretching his advantage to eight-tenths of a second, a late cycle of green flag pit stops and strategies ensued as Riggs and Enfinger peeled off the track to pit their respective entries. By then, Tanner Gray and Sanchez had pitted under green before Currey and Bret Holmes pitted during the following lap. Mosack, Ankrum and Dean Thompson would pit during the next lap before the leader Heim pitted with 27 laps remaining. More names including Caruth, Eckes, Purdy and Caruth would all pit with 25 laps remaining as Majeski cycled into the lead.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski, who opted to remain on the track to stretch his fuel tank and worn tires as far as possible, was leading by seven-and-a-half seconds over runner-up Honeycutt and by eight seconds over third-place Sutton while Rhodes, who commenced his fuel stretch to the event’s scheduled distance and to race his way into the Playoff’s Round of 8, was scored in fourth place. Behind, Heim navigated his way up to seventh place behind teammate Taylor Gray while Enfinger was mired in 17th place behind Caruth.

    Five laps later, Majeski continued to lead by nine seconds over Honeycutt while third-place Sutton trailed by 10 seconds. As Rhodes, who was locked in a heated duel with Enfinger for the final transfer spot into the Round of 8, retained fourth place and trailed the lead by 11 seconds, Heim was up to fifth place and trailing the lead by 16 seconds while Friesen, who opted to remain on the track to try to stretch his fuel tank to the distance, dropped to sixth place as he was in front of Riggs.

    With 10 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by 10 seconds over Honeycutt as Heim boosted his way up to third place. With Sutton following suit in fourth place, Rhodes dropped to fifth place, which left him in jeopardy of not advancing to the Round of 8, as Enfinger, who boosted himself back above the cutline, was up to 13th place on the track and trying to overtake Currey for more.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski, whose lap time continued to decrease while he was on fuel-conservation mode, was ahead by six seconds over a hard-charging Heim while Honeycutt, Riggs and Rhodes were scored in the top five. By then, Eckes and Caruth were in seventh and ninth, respectively, while Enfinger was up to 11th as Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Ankrum and Dye were mired in 15th, 17th, 19th and 27th, respectively.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski, who led by three seconds during the previous lap, remained as the leader by more than a second over Heim, but he dropped his No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 below the frontstretch’s apron as he ran out of fuel. By then, both Friesen and Rhodes also ran out of fuel and lost pace with the field as Heim rocketed past Majeski entering Turn 1. Having enough fuel in his fuel tank, Heim smoothly navigated his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro around the Kansas circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag.

    With the victory, Heim, who had already secured his spot into the Playoff’s Round of 8 by points, claimed his 11th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division, his sixth of the season and his second at Kansas after he won the spring Kansas event in May. Heim also became the first competitor to sweep both Truck Kansas events in a single season as he continues his quest to return to the Championship 4 and contend for this year’s Truck Series championship.

    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[I had] Just a deep sigh of relief [when Majeski ran out of fuel],” Heim said on the frontstretch on FS1. “We were the best truck all night. Just huge thank you to my TRICON Garage guys. This is my favorite track. I love coming here. I had a smile on my face all week coming to this place. Just glad we could sweep the year here. It’s just such an awesome place to come. [I] Certainly thought we had [the race] lost there with [Majeski] almost making it on fuel, but it just shows my team made the right [pit] call.”

    Behind Heim, rookie Layne Riggs, who was bidding for a third consecutive Truck Series race victory, came home in second place as Christian Eckes, Kaden Honeycutt and Dawson Cram finished in the top five. Ty Majeski, who led 51 laps from pole position, coasted across the finish line in 15th place, the final competitor on the lead lap, after he ended up a single lap shy of having enough fuel to win.

    Meanwhile, Grant Enfinger steered his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST to a ninth-place result, which was enough for him to claim the eighth and final transfer spot into the Round of 8. He will join Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray as eight Playoff contenders transferring into the second round of the Playoffs.

    “[Tonight was] Definitely a little bit stressful. Definitely too close for comfort,” Enfinger said. “[Crew chief] Jeff Stankiewicz and all these guys at CR7 Motorsports have done a great job all year, but this is a round we want to forget. We snuck through here and now, we’re looking forward to going to Talladega next week.”

    For Ben Rhodes, however, the reigning two-time series champion ended up in 22nd place and a lap down after he ran out of fuel despite trying to stretch his fuel tank in his No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 to the distance from when he last pitted on Lap 82. The final result left both him and Daniel Dye eliminated from the Playoffs, with the former not remaining in contention for a third title in 2024.

    “We could have been a lot better to fire off [tonight’s race],” Rhodes said. “All in all, I’m thankful for all of our partners. I wish we were able to get [my sponsors] another championship run, but the past three seasons have been really good to us.”

    The remaining Playoff contenders including Rajah Caruth, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray and Daniel Dye finished seventh, 12th, 14th, 18th and 27, respectively, on the track.

    There were 10 lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 15 of 34 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results:

    1. Corey Heim, 64 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Layne Riggs

    3. Christian Eckes, 19 laps led

    4. Kaden Honeycutt

    5. Dawson Sutton

    6. Tanner Gray

    7. Rajah Caruth

    8. Bayley Currey

    9. Grant Enfinger

    10. Connor Mosack

    11. Chase Purdy

    12. Nick Sanchez

    13. Dean Thompson

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Ty Majeski, 51 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    16. Bret Holmes, one lap down

    17. Conor Daly, one lap down

    18. Taylor Gray, one lap down

    19. Nathan Byrd, one lap down

    20. Brenden Queen, one lap down

    21. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    22. Ben Rhodes, one lap down

    23. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    24. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

    25. Matt Crafton, two laps down

    26. Justin Mondeik, three laps down

    27. Daniel Dye, three laps down

    28. Spencer Boyd, five laps down

    29. Frankie Muniz, five laps down

    30. Lawless Alan, six laps down

    31. Jennifer Jo Cobb – OUT, Electrical

    32. Corey Day – OUT, Accident

    33. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    34. Marco Andretti – OUT, Brakes

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings:

    1. Corey Heim – Advanced

    2. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    3. Nick Sanchez – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski – Advanced

    5. Rajah Caruth – Advanced

    6. Taylor Gray – Advanced

    7. Tyler Ankrum – Advanced

    8. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    9. Ben Rhodes – Eliminated

    10. Daniel Dye – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to occur at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, for the Love’s RV Stop 225. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, October 4, and air at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Layne Riggs doubles down with second consecutive Truck victory at Bristol

    Layne Riggs doubles down with second consecutive Truck victory at Bristol

    Three weeks after winning the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff opener as a non-Playoff contender, rookie Layne Riggs spoiled the Playoffs for a second consecutive race by grabbing a late dominant victory in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 19.

    Riggs, a second-generation racer from Bahama, North Carolina, led the final 80 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 18th and methodically carved his way up the leaderboard, where he would finish in the top 10 at the conclusion of the first stage period before he moved up into the top-five by the end of the second stage period.

    Then at the start of the final restart period with 80 laps remaining, Riggs overtook Playoff contender Corey Heim to lead for the first time. Despite having his momentum stalled twice due to a pair of late-race caution periods, starting with 44 laps remaining before occurring again with 19 laps remaining, Riggs, who prevailed during the proceeding restarts, capitalized on the final one with 13 laps remaining to muscle his Ford away from a bevy of Playoff contenders and cruise to his second Truck Series career victory in back-to-back races and of his career at Thunder Valley.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Thursday, Connor Zilisch scored his second pole position in three Truck Series starts after he posted a pole-winning lap at 125.207 mph in 15.325 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Corey Heim, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 124.186 mph in 15.451 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Kaden Honeycutt and Playoff contender Ty Majeski dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. As a result of Majeski’s penalty, his truck chief Tyler Shullick was ejected for the event and the driver was revoked a pit selection for next weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Connor Zilisch gained an early advantage from the outside lane and proceeded to fend off Corey Heim through the first two turns. As the field jostled for early spots through the backstretch before navigating back to Turns 3 and 4, Zilisch led the first lap in his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    Over the proceeding four laps, Zilisch maintained a steady advantage over Heim and William Sawalich while Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top six ahead of Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray. Behind, Playoff contender Daniel Dye started to battle Tanner Gray for eighth place as Chase Purdy overtook Ty Dillon for 10th place.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Zilisch was leading by half a second over Heim as Sawalich, Caruth, Eckes and Sanchez continued to follow suit in the top six. Meanwhile, Friesen, Dye, Tanner Gray and Purdy also followed suit in the top 10 while Matt Crafton, Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Ty Dillon, Dean Thompson, Layne Riggs, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger, Stefan Parsons, Jake Garcia, Playoff contender Taylor Gray and Connor Mosack all occupied the top-20 spots. Behind, Playoff contender Ben Rhodes was mired in 23rd place and teammate Ty Majeski was back in 32nd place behind Bret Holmes and Matt Mills.

    Fifteen laps later, Zilisch stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Heim while third-place Sawalich and fourth-place Caruth both trailed by a second. With Eckes and Sanchez continuing to follow suit in fifth and sixth, respectively, ahead of Friesen, Dye, Purdy and Matt Crafton, Majeski was still mired in 28th place and in jeopardy of being lapped by Zilisch while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Ankrum, Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes were racing within the top-21 mark.

    Another 10 laps later, Zilisch retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Heim, who started to close in to Zilisch’s rear bumper as the latter was getting mired in lapped traffic. Behind, Caruth overtook Sawalich for third place while Eckes, who was radioing brake issues to his truck, was trying to fend off Sanchez for fifth place.

    On Lap 42, Heim made his move beneath Zilisch through the backstretch before he assumed the lead for the first time through Turns 3 and 4. As Heim started to muscle away with a steady advantage by the Lap 45 mark, Caruth started to challenge Zilisch for the runner-up spot while Sawalich, Sanchez and Eckes trailed by more than a second in the top-six mark.

    By Lap 50, Caruth managed to fend his way through lapped traffic to overtake teammate Zilisch for the runner-up spot. While Eckes and Friesen pinned the lapped competitor of Keith McGee in a three-wide battle for sixth place ahead of Riggs, Caruth would then overtake Heim for the lead from the outside lane and through the frontstretch on Lap 52.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 55, Caruth, who came into the event four points below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off Heim amid a bevy of lapped traffic to notch his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Eckes, Zilisch and Sanchez while Friesen, Sawalich, Riggs, Purdy and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Taylor Gray, Majeski, Ankrum, Rhodes and Enfinger were mired in 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th, respectively, while 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Caruth pitted for a first round of pit service while Timmy Hill remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first ahead of Caruth, Eckes, Zilisch and Sanchez while Sawalich, Riggs, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Dye followed suit in the top 10, respectively.

    The second stage period started on Lap 65 as Timmy Hill and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Heim used the four fresh tires on the inside lane to rocket his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro away from Hill with the lead entering the backstretch. With Heim pulling away, Caruth and Eckes overtook Hill for second and third, respectively, as the field behind scrambled for positions. With Zilisch making his way up to fourth place and a series of on-track battles ensuing, Heim proceeded to lead just past the Lap 70 mark.

    At the Lap 75 mark, Heim was leading by nearly half a second over Caruth while third-place Eckes trailed by nearly a second. Behind, Zilisch and Riggs were in the top five ahead of Sanchez, Friesen, Sawalich, Crafton and Timmy Hill as Dean Thompson, Purdy, Daniel Dye, Tanner Gray and Majeski trailed in the top 15 ahead of Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Conner Jones, Mosack and newcomer Corey Day. With Playoff contenders Rhodes and Ankrum mired within the top-30 mark, Heim maintained the lead by half a second by Lap 80.

    Just past the Lap 90 mark, Heim’s advantage stabilized to four-tenths of a second over Caruth, with both approaching lapped traffic, as Eckes trailed in third place by a second. As Zilisch and Riggs continued to trail in the top five ahead of Sanchez on the track, Caruth started to issue his challenge on Heim for the lead from the inside lane and he would emerge ahead to lead the Lap 100 mark before Heim fought back from the outside lane. Eckes then joined the battle a few laps later and he would overtake Caruth for the runner-up spot while Heim maintained the lead. Heim would then lap Rhodes, who was mired in 29th place, another lap later.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew due to Zilisch spinning in Turn 4 from the top five after he got a bump from Sanchez’s No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST exiting the backstretch. The incident involving Zilisch, who lost a lap while trying to straighten his truck, was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 110 to officially conclude under caution as Heim, who came into the event 41 points above the cutline, claimed his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes, Caruth, Riggs and Sanchez followed suit in the top five while Friesen, Sawalich, Crafton, Thompson and Purdy were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Dye, Taylor Gray, Majeski, Enfinger, Ankrum and Rhodes were mired in 11th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 24th and 30th, respectively, while 27 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    During the stage break, select names led by Nick Sanchez pitted for service while the rest led by Heim, including a majority of the front-runners, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, newcomer Corey Day was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    With 80 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Heim and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Heim gained a strong launch from the outside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns. Then as Heim transitioned to the inside lane in front of Eckes, Riggs, who restarted behind Heim, remained on the outside lane to challenge and overtake Heim for the lead through the frontstretch. With Riggs leading the following lap by a hair, he then cleared Heim while remaining on the outside lane and proceeded to lead the next lap mark. With Riggs continuing to lead with 75 laps remaining, Heim and Eckes followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Friesen and Caruth battled for fourth place in front of Sawalich and Crafton.

    With 65 laps remaining, Riggs stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Heim as Eckes, Caruth and Friesen followed suit in the top five. As non-Playoff contenders Sawalich, Crafton, Purdy and Thompson followed suit in the top nine, Playoff contenders Sanchez, Majeski, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye, Ankrum and Enfinger followed suit from 10th to 15th, while Rhodes was mired in 30th and trapped a lap down.

    Fifteen laps later, Riggs stabilized his steady advantage to half a second over Heim as both Caruth and Eckes trailed by a second in third and fourth, respectively. With Friesen retaining fifth place ahead of Sawalich, Crafton and a hard-charging Sanchez, Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray, Dye, Ankrum and Enfinger were all mired in the top 15 as Rhodes, who was lapped for a second time, was back in 30th place.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Playoff contender Daniel Dye, who was running in 14th place and had a flat tire to his No. 43 Champion Container Chevrolet Silverado RST, slipped sideways entering the frontstretch and was hit by Kaden Honeycutt as the latter sustained significant damage to his No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST. With Honeycutt being taken out of contention, Dye would drop out of the lead lap category as his truck was being repaired.

    During the caution period, select names including Bayley Currey, Ty Dillon, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Stefan Parsons, Matt Mills, Lawless Alan and Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Riggs remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart period with 29 laps remaining featured Riggs and Heim dueling for the lead through the first two turns until Heim got loose underneath Riggs entering the backstretch. Heim’s slip allowed Riggs to muscle his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 ahead with two clear lanes to his advantage as he led the following lap. Riggs would proceed to lead with 25 laps remaining while Playoff contenders Heim, Eckes and Caruth followed suit in the top four ahead of Crafton, Friesen, Sanchez, Sawalich, Purdy and Taylor Gray.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Heim as Eckes, Caruth and Crafton trailed in the top five by within two seconds. Another lap later, however, Riggs’ momentum was stalled due to the caution returning as Jack Wood, who was running within the top-20 mark, spun his No. 91 Mongoose Chevrolet Silverado RST due to contact from Ben Rhodes that started when they exited the backstretch before the incident concluded with Wood sliding to a halt below the apron in Turn 4. By then, Dye lost more laps after he pitted under green earlier.

    With the race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining, Riggs and Heim again dueled for the lead as Caruth tried to make the battle fanned out to three lanes entering the first two turns. Amid the battle, Riggs used the outside lane to muscle ahead with the lead through the backstretch as Heim, Caruth and Eckes battled for second place in front of the field. With Heim, Caruth and Eckes fiercely battling for the runner-up spot, Riggs continued to lead with 10 laps remaining.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to over a second over a three-truck battle involving Heim, Caruth and Eckes as Sanchez was up to fifth place ahead of Crafton, Purdy, Majeski, Friesen, Ankrum and Sawalich.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Riggs remained as the leader by a second over Heim and Caruth while Eckes was losing ground and trailing by two seconds in fourth place. With a comfortable advantage and no challengers closing in from behind, Riggs was able to smoothly cruise his way around the Bristol circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and zipped back across the finish line for his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

    With the victory, Riggs, who celebrated his first career win at the Milwaukee Mile three races ago in late August, became the first competitor to back up a first career victory with a second in back-to-back Truck Series starts since Chase Briscoe made the last accomplishment between winning his first career race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2017 and winning in his one-race series’ return at Eldora Speedway in July 2018. Riggs also became the 26th competitor overall to win a Truck race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Riggs’ victory was the fourth of the season and in recent weeks for the Ford nameplate and the 10th overall for Front Row Motorsports in the Truck Series. While this season marks the first time a competitor won the first two Truck races of the Playoffs since Sheldon Creed made the previous accomplishment in 2021, Riggs became the first non-Playoff competitor to commence the Playoffs with back-to-back victories.

    “Oh my gosh,” Riggs said on FS1. “We have just learned so much with the cars and trucks. My team, Dylan [Cappello], my crew chief, he’s badass. He works so hard at night. We as a team, we’re a young team. I think the average age [of the No. 38 team] is like in the 20s. It’s so amazing. To be running fifth, 10th and all of sudden, go back to back [with victories] in the Playoffs. Man, I wish I was in the Playoffs so bad. I think we’d be a real threat to win this championship.”

    Behind Riggs, Corey Heim edged a hard-charging Rajah Caruth to claim his third runner-up result of the 2024 season. The result was enough for Heim to clinch a spot by points into the Playoff’s Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ championship.

    “[I] Didn’t quite have it when the grooves started to move around there,” Heim said. “Every time we got a heat cycle on the tires, it seemed like it got tighter and tighter. Just didn’t quite have it, but solid points day in the Playoffs. That’s what you need. I’ll keep moving forward with TRICON Garage, Safelite, Toyota Racing. Huge thanks to all those guys and looking forward to my favorite place next week [at Kansas].”

    In addition to Heim, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez have also secured their spots into the Round of 8 by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

    “It’s a great turnaround for us because I felt like we were maybe a 10th to 12th-place race car in practice,” Eckes said. “Kudos to [crew chief] Charles [Denike] and the [No. 19] guys for getting [the truck] tuned up to run top five. We weren’t race-winning capable, but still a decent run. Just proud of everybody. It’s cool to be locked in the next [Playoff] round, but I got to go take care of business at Kansas first.”

    “[I’m] Happy to recover to fifth,” Sanchez added. “Obviously, I show up to win, so [I] need to be a little better than fifth on my end on some things, but yeah, good night. We locked in the Rev Racing Gainbridge Chevrolet [into the Round of 8]. We go to Kansas and just focus on winning.”

    Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen and Tyler Ankrum finished in the top 10 on the track while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Taylor Gray, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes ended up 12th, 17th and 30th, respectively.

    As a result, Daniel Dye and Ben Rhodes are the two Playoff contenders who enter next weekend’s Round of 10 finale below the cutline in the Playoff standings while Enfinger holds sole possession of the eighth and final transfer spot above the cutline by seven points.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 39 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Layne Riggs, 80 laps led

    2. Corey Heim, 65 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Rajah Caruth, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Christian Eckes

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Matt Crafton

    7. Chase Purdy

    8. Ty Majeski

    9. Stewart Friesen

    10. Tyler Ankrum

    11. William Sawalich

    12. Taylor Gray

    13. Bret Holmes

    14. Dean Thompson

    15. Bayley Currey

    16. Stefan Parsons

    17. Grant Enfinger

    18. Corey Day

    19. Connor Zilisch, 41 laps led

    20. Connor Mosack

    21. Jake Garcia

    22. Timmy Hill, five laps led

    23. Tanner Gray

    24. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    25. Matt Mills, one lap down

    26. Jack Wood, one lap down

    27. Ben Rhodes, two laps down

    28. Justin Mondeik, two laps down

    29. Spencer Boyd, two laps down

    30. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    31. Mason Maggio, four laps down

    32. Daniel Dye, six laps down

    33. Keith McGee, six laps down

    34. Tyler Tomassi, eight laps down

    35. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

    36. Conner Jones – OUT, Overheating

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim – Advanced

    3. Nick Sanchez – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski +58

    5. Rajah Caruth +35

    6. Tyler Ankrum +25

    7. Taylor Gray +23

    8. Grant Enfinger +7

    9. Daniel Dye -7

    10. Ben Rhodes -12

    The Round of 10 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Kansas Speedway for the Kubota Tractor 200, where the first of two elimination processes will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, September 27, and air at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Nick Sanchez named full-time Xfinity competitor for Big Machine Racing in 2025

    Nick Sanchez named full-time Xfinity competitor for Big Machine Racing in 2025

    Nick Sanchez will be graduating to the NASCAR Xfinity Series division on a full-time basis in 2025, where he will be piloting the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro entry for Big Machine Racing.

    The news comes as the 23-year-old Sanchez from Miami, Florida, is campaigning in his second full-time season in the Craftsman Truck Series with Rev Racing. It also comes a week after Parker Kligerman, who currently drives for Big Machine Racing in the Xfinity circuit, announced that he will not be returning to the organization nor pursue any full-time NASCAR driving activities next season.

    The move for Sanchez to Big Machine Racing marks a reunion for both parties after the Miami native drove for the organization in six of the final eight races of the 2022 Xfinity season. During the six-race stint, Sanchez’s best on-track result was seventh at Martinsville Speedway. Amid his part-time Xfinity campaign, he was competing full-time in the ARCA Menards Series for Rev Racing, where he would proceed to win the championship.

    For the 2025 season, Sanchez’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet entry will continue to receive primary sponsorship support from Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers. In addition, Gainbridge, which sponsors Sanchez in the Truck Series, will continue to support the Miami native in his first full-time Xfinity stint by serving as his associate sponsor.

    “I couldn’t be more excited to join Big Machine Racing with Chevrolet next year in the Xfinity Series,” Sanchez said in a released statement. “I’m grateful to get the opportunity to work with [CEO] Scott Borchetta, [crew chief] Patrick Donahue, and the whole Big Machine team next year. This amazing opportunity would not be possible without Big Machine Records, Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers, Chevrolet, Gainbridge, the NASCAR Diversity program, Rev Racing, Bono, and everyone at Spire, who made this dream a reality. As a driver, I feel that I’m ready to move to the next level and I look forward to competing for wins and ultimately a championship next year driving the #48 for Big Machine Racing!”

    Sanchez, who grew up competing in go-karts before transcending his way to compete in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series for Rev Racing and as a Drive for Diversity member, is a recipient of the 2019 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award. After inking a full-time ARCA Menards Series East deal with Rev in 2020, he notched his first ARCA Menards Series career victory during the 2021 season-finale event at Kansas Speedway.

    During the 2022 season, Sanchez notched the first ARCA Menards Series drivers’ championship for himself and Rev Racing in a season where he recorded three victories. He also made his first eight career starts on the Xfinity circuit, six with Big Machine Racing and two with BJ McLeod Motorsports. The following season, Sanchez became a full-time competitor for Rev Racing in the Truck Series. Despite missing the cutoff to the Championship 4 in a tie-breaker during his first Playoff run, the Miami native notched the series’ Rookie-of-the-Year title. He commenced this season by winning for the first time ever at Daytona in February before winning the series’ 700th Truck race overall at Charlotte in May. To go along with a total of seven top-five results and 10 top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, Sanchez made the Playoffs for a second consecutive season.

    With a 10th-place result during the Truck Series’ Playoff opener at the Milwaukee Mile, Sanchez is ranked in fourth place in the Playoff standings as he continues his pursuit to win his first Truck title while also continuing to impress Big Machine Racing’s CEO Scott Borchetta.

    “In 2022 we put Nick in our car for a handful of races and he was fast right out of the gate,” Borchetta said. “At Martinsville in particular, I watched him go full-on, elbows out, putting the car right where it needed to be, with no fear against the best-of-the-best in the series. Since then, he’s done a fantastic job in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and I know that he and Crew Chief Patrick Donahue and the entire Big Machine Racing Team are going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2025.”

    Amid the excitement of Sanchez joining Big Machine Racing in 2025, Borchetta also took a moment to recognize the team’s current driver Parker Kligerman’s contributions since both first joined forces at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2022 before campaigning on a full-time basis in 2023.

    Through 58 races, Kligerman piloted Big Machine Racing’s No. 48 entry to a total of 12 top-five results, 30 top-10 results, 58 laps led and average-finishing results within the top-13 mark. Kligerman also made the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs, where he settled in 10th place in the final standings, and is in a prime position to make the Playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2024.

    “I am so grateful to Parker Kligerman for coming to Big Machine Racing for the 2023 and 2024 seasons,” Borchetta added. “He was the perfect driver at just the right time to help us go to the next level in the Xfinity Series. His smarts as a race driver have been on display since his first race with us. He’s simply a very fast driver that makes very few mistakes and unforced errors.

    “His ability to bring home race cars with all four corners intact while battling door to door is absolutely top percentile in the series, which is fully on display with him on the eve of clinching our second consecutive playoff appearance. He and the team are determined to go as far as we possibly can in the playoffs and, who knows, maybe we’ll cap this off at the finale in Phoenix! I have nothing but great things to say about Parker and I hope that our relationship continues at the highest level as he navigates his next career moves. He will always be a Big Machine Driver.”

    With Sanchez securing next year’s plans for himself and Big Machine Racing, any future plans involving Rev Racing within NASCAR’s top three national touring series remains to be determined.

    Prior to the 2025 season, Nick Sanchez’s 2024 Truck Series Playoff run with Rev Racing continues with the upcoming UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway this Thursday, September 19, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. Big Machine Racing’s Xfinity Series season with Parker Kligerman also continues at Bristol for the Food City 300 and the series’ regular-season finale that will air this Friday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Layne Riggs spoils the 2024 Playoff opener with first Truck career victory at Milwaukee

    Layne Riggs spoils the 2024 Playoff opener with first Truck career victory at Milwaukee

    For a second time since the inception of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Playoff format, a non-Playoff contender stole the final spotlight in the Playoff opener as rookie Layne Riggs dominated the final stage and cruised to his first Craftsman Truck Series career victory in the LiUNA! 175 at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, August 25.

    The 22-year-old, second-generation racer from Bahama, North Carolina, led the final 53 of 175-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in 16th place but methodically drove his way to the front, where he would spend the majority of the event running upfront with a bevy of Playoff contenders.

    Then after notching a total of 13 stage points between the event’s first two stage periods, Riggs flexed his horsepower at the start of the final stage period with 56 laps remaining to move into second place before he then muscled past Playoff contender Ty Majeski for the lead three laps remaining. With the lead in his sole possession, Riggs would maintain it for the remainder of the event and beat Majeski by one-and-a-half seconds to score his first elusive Truck Series career win.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 24, Playoff contender Ty Majeski notched his fourth Truck pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 122.556 mph in 29.815 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tanner Gray, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 122.469 mph in 29.836 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Playoff contender Rajah Caruth and Justin Carroll dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Ty Majeski rocketed his No. 98 Road Ranger/Soda Sense Ford F-150 ahead with a strong start from the inside lane and he retained the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Playoff contender Christian Eckes, who started behind Majeski on the inside lane, used every inch of the first two turns to muscle his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST past Tanner Gray’s No. 15 Dead On Tools Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for the runner-up spot. As the field behind jostled for early spots, Majeski proceeded to lead the first lap.

    Over the next four laps, Majeski stabilized his lead to as high as six-tenths of a second over runner-up Eckes while Playoff contenders Corey Heim and Nick Sanchez made their way into third and fourth, respectively, ahead of Tanner Gray and Kaden Honeycutt. With William Sawalich, winner of the ARCA Menards Series event at Milwaukee earlier in the day, running in seventh, Playoff contenders and teammates Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Dye followed suit in the top nine while rookie Layne Riggs occupied 10th place ahead of Playoff contender Grant Enfinger.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Majeski extended his early advantage to more than a second over Eckes while Heim, Sanchez and Honeycutt followed suit in the top five ahead of Tanner Gray, William Sawalich, Ankrum, Daniel Dye and Riggs. Behind, Enfinger retained 11th place ahead of Matt Crafton, with Playoff contenders Ben Rhodes and Taylor Gray occupying 13th and 14th, respectively, ahead of Sammy Smith, Jake Garcia, Dean Thompson, Matt Mills, Chase Purdy and Ty Dillon. Meanwhile, Playoff contender Rajah Caruth was up to 24th place after starting at the rear of the field while Bayley Currey plummeted to 36th place, dead last, due to pitting under green from the top-15 mark after getting squeezed into the frontstretch’s outside wall by Taylor Gray and Crafton that cut Currey’s left-front tire on the sixth lap.

    Ten laps later, Majeski’s advantage was reduced to eight-tenths of a second over Eckes as Heim and Sanchez trailed the lead as far back as five seconds. Behind, Ankrum retained eighth place and was running two spots ahead of Dye while Enfinger, Rhodes, and Taylor Gray were running 11th, 13th, and 14ty, respectively. By then, Caruth was still mired in 23rd as Honeycutt continued to run as the highest non-Playoff contender in fifth place ahead of Tanner Gray and Sawalich.

    Another 15 laps later, Majeski regained his wide advantage from early in the race as he was now leading by more than a second over Eckes. Behind, Heim continued to fend off Sanchez in third place, where the former was ahead of the latter by half a second, while Honeycutt retained fifth place ahead of Tanner Gray, Sawalich, Ankrum, Dye and Riggs. Meanwhile, Caruth cracked the top 20 as he was running in 20th place behind Matt Mills while Playoff contenders Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Taylor Gray remained in 11th, 13th and 14th, respectively.

    Then on Lap 42, Eckes took advantage of Majeski getting mired behind lapped traffic, starting through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4 before returning to the frontstretch, to move into the lead as he used the outside lane to overtake Majeski along with lapped competitors Bret Holmes and Chase Purdy. Eckes proceeded to stretch his advantage to more than a second just past the Lap 45 mark while Heim, Sanchez and Honeycutt trailed the lead as far back as six seconds.

    Then on Lap 47, the event’s first caution period flew when Jayson Alexander got loose and hit the outside wall in Turn 3, where his truck came to a stop. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Eckes pitted while Ty Dillon and Jake Garcia remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Eckes exited pit road first ahead of Majeski, Sanchez, Heim, Riggs and Dye, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Heim was sent to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road.

    With the caution period being extended towards the first stage’s conclusion period at Lap 55, the first stage period officially concluded under caution. As a result, Ty Dillon, who remained on the track, claimed his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Jake Garcia, who also remained on the track, followed suit in second ahead of Eckes, Majeski and Sanchez while Riggs, Dye, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray and Ankrum were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Enfinger, Rhodes, Caruth and Heim were mired back in 13th, 18th, 19th and 22nd, respectively, as they missed the first round of opportunities for stage points.

    Under the stage break and extended caution period, select names including the leader Ty Dillon, Garcia, Stewart Friesen, Conner Jones and Chase Purdy pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track.

    Amid an extended caution period, where Dexter Bean stalled on the frontstretch just past the Lap 60 mark, the second stage period started on Lap 62 under green as Eckes and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes muscled ahead of Majeski to retain the lead through the first two turns and from the inside lane while Riggs overtook Majeski for the runner-up spot entering the backstretch. As Eckes proceeded to lead the following lap, Riggs followed suit in second ahead of Majeski, Sanchez and the Gray brothers while Crafton was battling Dye for seventh place ahead of Ankrum, Honeycutt and Enfinger.

    By Lap 70, Eckes maintained a narrow lead over Riggs as Majeski, Sanchez and Tanner Gray followed suit in the top five. Eckes would proceed to slightly stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second by Lap 75 over Riggs as Majeski, Sanchez and Tanner Gray continued to trail in the top five. Meanwhile, Heim, who restarted just outside the top 20 amid his pit road speeding penalty, was up to 14th place in his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro behind Rhodes while Taylor Gray, Dye, Crafton, Ankrum and Honeycutt rounded out the top 10 ahead of Enfinger and Dean Thompson. Amid the battles upfront for a majority of the Playoff contenders, Caruth was mired back in 20th place.

    Ten laps later, Eckes retained the lead by half a second over Riggs, with third-place Majeski trailing the lead by a second and fourth-place Sanchez trailing by more than two seconds. Behind, the Gray brothers retained fifth and sixth, with older brother Tanner racing ahead of younger brother Taylor, while Dye occupied seventh place as he was two spots ahead of teammate Ankrum.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 87 and 88, Eckes extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Majeski and Riggs as Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray, Dye, Crafton, Anrkum and Honeycutt followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Enfinger, Rhodes, Thompson, Heim, Sammy Smith, Ty Dillon, Matt Mills, Caruth, Garcia and Sawalich.

    Through the Lap 100 mark, Eckes stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Majeski while Riggs, Sanchez and Taylor Gray trailed the lead as far back as six seconds. By then, Playoff contenders Dye and Ankrum were in sixth and ninth, respectively, while Enfinger, Rhodes and Heim trailed in the top 13. In addition, Caruth was mired back in 18th place behind Dillon and Mills.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 110, Eckes cruised to his ninth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski followed suit in second ahead of Riggs, Sanchez and Taylor Gray while Dye, Ankrum, Crafton, Honeycutt and Enfinger were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Rhodes, Heim and Caruth were mired back in 11th, 13th and 19th, respectively.

    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 as he exited pit road first ahead of Riggs, Majeski, Sanchez, Dye, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Heim, Tanner Gray and Enfinger.

    With 56 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Eckes and Riggs occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes gained a brief advantage from the inside lane through the frontstretch until he went wide, which allowed Majeski to capitalize and clear Eckes off of Turn 2 with the lead. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch, Riggs then joined the battle for the lead with Majeski and Eckes, but Majeski retained the top spot as Matt Mills got sideways off the front nose of Caruth and hit the wall in Turn 3, though the race remained under green flag conditions. With Majeski leading Riggs for the following lap, Eckes fell back to third as he had Heim, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Sanchez and more trailing in from behind.

    Then with 53 laps remaining, Riggs battled and overtook Majeski to lead for the first time through the backstretch. Riggs proceeded to lead by half a second in his No. 38 Zorn Compressor & Equipment Ford F-150 over Majeski with 50 laps remaining as Eckes, Heim and Sanchez trailed in the top five by less than three seconds. By then, nine of 10 Playoff contenders were running in the top 13 while Caruth, the lone Playoff contender who was not running inside the top 13 on the track, was mired back just within the top-20 mark.

    With 40 laps remaining, Riggs stabilized his advantage to six-tenths of a second over Majeski while Eckes, Sanchez and Heim trailed in the top five by as far back as four seconds. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray trailed in sixth place by five seconds while Ankrum, Rhodes, Tanner Gray and Dye were scored in the top 10 ahead of Crafton, Honeycutt, Enfinger, Sawalich and Ty Dillon. Meanwhile, Caruth was mired back in 19th place in front of Dean Thompson.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to a second over runner-up Majeski as Eckes, Sanchez and Heim were running in the top five, with the latter three trailing by more than four seconds. Behind, Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Rhodes, Dye and Tanner Gray followed suit in the top 10 while Playoff contenders Enfinger and Caruth were mired back in 13th and 17th, respectively.

    Five laps later, Riggs continued to lead the race ahead of eight Playoff contenders and by a second over his closest challenger Majeski. Riggs would proceed to retain the top spot by seven-tenths of a second over runner-up Majeski with 15 laps remaining while third-place Eckes trailed in third place by one-and-a-half seconds

    With 10 laps remaining, Riggs, who was being mired in lapped traffic and had his steady advantage steadily decreasing over the last several laps, continued to lead by nine-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Eckes continued to trail by one-and-a-half seconds in third place ahead of Sanchez and Heim. Heim would then be entangled in a battle for fifth place with teammate Taylor Gray and Ankrum while Dye, Rhodes and Crafton trailed in the top 10.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Riggs stretched his advantage back up to a second over runner-up Majeski as Majeski had Eckes trailing him by nine-tenths of a second. By then, fourth-place Sanchez trailed by three seconds while Taylor Gray, who persevered in his late battle against teammate Heim and Ankrum, was running in fifth place and trailing the lead by six seconds.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Riggs remained as the leader by one-and-a-half seconds over Majeski. With Majeski unable to quickly narrow the deficit, Riggs, who was mired within no lapped traffic that could stall his momentum, cycled his Ford smoothly around the Milwaukee circuit for a final time before he streaked back to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag in his 23rd series’ start.

    With the victory, Layne Riggs, the leading Rookie-of-the-Year candidate who did not make the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs, became the 125th competitor overall to win in the Craftsman Truck Series division, a list that includes his father and former NASCAR competitor, Scott Riggs. He also joined Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth as competitors to record their first Truck victories in 2024 and he notched the ninth Truck career victory for Front Row Motorsports, with the team winning for the first time since Talladega Superspeedway in October 2023 with Brett Moffitt. The victory was also a first for rookie crew chief Dylan Cappello.

    Prior to his first Truck career victory, Riggs had only notched four top-five results while ending up with 10 results of 18th or worse through 16 starts in his rookie campaign. Riggs’ Milwaukee victory, which made him the spoiler of the day as a non-Playoff contender, resulted in the 10 qualified Playoff contenders missing their first shot of automatically transferring past the Round of 10 to 8 by not winning the Playoff opener.

    The only thing that went wrong for Riggs’ first victory was the driver dislocating his shoulder while standing atop his roof and pumping his fists in the air and in front of the Milwaukee fans after claiming his checkered flag. Nonetheless, Riggs would receive assistance from his No. 38 pit crew to climb back down from his truck’s roof as he then proceeded to celebrate both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane.

    “I don’t even know how to describe [the first win],” Riggs said in Victory Lane on FS1. “The biggest thing I can do is just thank Zorn that was on the truck this weekend. It’s their first race. It’s awesome for them. Thank you to [team owner] Bob Jenkins, [general manager] Jerry Freeze for letting me drive this [No. 38] truck. I mean, it’s been no surprise that we’ve had a terrible year. It’s been an awful year. I’ve learned so much, though, and I went through my rookie season. After the start, I thought there’s no way we were going to get a win. We do the best we can, but we’re just learning for next year. I knew in practice, this [truck] was pretty awesome. [Me and my team] have a good time together and we’re a family now.”

    “[My shoulder] hurts like a mug, but hey, it was worth it,” Riggs jokingly added. “It’s not the first time it’s happened to me, but it ain’t going to slow me down.”

    Behind Riggs, Ty Majeski, the pole winner who led 45 laps and was a local hero of the venue as a native of Seymour, Wisconsin, settled in second place as he fell short of winning three races in a row in recent weeks while Eckes, the 2024 Truck Series Regular Season Champion who led a race-high 71 laps, came home in third place for his ninth top-three result of the 2024 season.

    Amid the disappointments of not winning the Playoff opener and automatically transferring into the second Playoff round, both Majeski and Eckes continue to set their sights on transferring to this year’s Championship 4 round at Phoenix Raceway and contending for their first series championship.

    “I think the fact that we missed [the setup] as bad as we did and we were as close as we were is super encouraging,” Majeski, who is 44 points above the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, said. “That means we have a lot of speed in our trucks. It’s just up to us to hit the package right. [Crew chief] Joe [Shear Jr.] and I put our heads together to come up with our Phoenix [Raceway] package and come up with some changes to it, to try and make it better for Phoenix. [I] Don’t know that we got there quite yet, but super proud of the run we’ve had the last three races. We’re hitting on all eight cylinders right now and super proud of everybody. Everybody back at the shop has been working hard over the course of the Olympic break, into Richmond and into Milwaukee here to get our trucks better. We’re seeing that improvement and I feel good about where we’re at. We’re poised to make a pretty good run here, so we got to keep it going.”

    “I was leading on the bottom [lane] and [the truck] bottomed out for the first time all day,” Eckes, who leads the Playoff standings and is 60 points above the cutline, added. “It shot up the racetrack and just couldn’t recover. I was way too tight. [I] Felt like it was going to build tight and it did and we just weren’t aggressive enough on adjustments. Proud of everybody, but definitely a pretty big missed opportunity. We’ll see what happens, but disappointed in that.”

    Nick Sanchez rallied from a late retirement at Richmond Raceway two weeks ago by finishing in fourth place while Taylor Gray muscled his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to a strong fifth-place result.

    Playoff contenders Tyler Ankrum, Corey Heim, Daniel Dye and Ben Rhodes finished sixth through ninth, respectively, while Matt Crafton came home in 10th place.

    Notably, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger ended up in 13th place behind Kaden Honeycutt while Playoff rookie Rajah Caruth capped off his long afternoon in 17th place behind Sammy Smith.  

    There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured two cautions for 22 laps. In addition, 20 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Layne Riggs, 53 laps led

    2. Ty Majeski, 45 laps led

    3. Christian Eckes, 71 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    4. Nick Sanchez

    5. Taylor Gray

    6. Tyler Ankrum

    7. Corey Heim

    8. Daniel Dye

    9. Ben Rhodes

    10. Matt Crafton

    11. Tanner Gray

    12. Kaden Honeycutt

    13. Grant Enfinger

    14. William Sawalich

    15. Jack Wood

    16. Ty Dillon, six laps led, Stage 1 winner

    17. Sammy Smith

    18. Rajah Caruth

    19. Dean Thompson

    20. Stewart Friesen

    21. Jake Garcia, one lap down

    22. Conner Jones, one lap down

    23. Chase Purdy, two laps down

    24. Matt Mills, two laps down

    25. Timmy Hill, two laps down

    26. Bret Holmes, two laps down

    27. Mason Maggio, two laps down

    28. Spencer Boyd, three laps down

    29. Bayley Currey, three laps down

    30. Dexter Bean, three laps down

    31. Marco Andretti, five laps down

    32. Thad Moffitt, six laps down

    33. Matthew Gould, six laps down

    34. Justin Carroll, eight laps down

    35. Lawless Alan – OUT, Suspension

    36. Jayson Alexander – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Christian Eckes +60

    2. Ty Majeski +44

    3. Corey Heim +41

    4. Nick Sanchez +34

    5. Taylor Gray +13

    6. Tyler Ankrum +13

    7. Daniel Dye +9

    8. Grant Enfinger +2

    9. Ben Rhodes -2

    10. Rajah Caruth -4

    With the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs underway, the next event on the schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, for the UNOH 200, which will serve as the second Round of 10 event. The event is scheduled to occur on September 19 and air at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Corey Heim rallies for fourth Truck victory of 2024 at Gateway

    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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Nick Sanchez, nine laps led

    2. Stewart Friesen

    3. Grant Enfinger

    4. Matt Mills

    5. Ben Rhodes

    6. Jake Garcia

    7. Kaden Honeycutt

    8. Connor Mosack

    9. Dean Thompson

    10. Christian Eckes, 37 laps led

    11. Connor Jones

    12. Taylor Gray

    13. Chase Purdy, five laps led

    14. Bret Holmes

    15. Brett Moffitt

    16. Rajah Caruth

    17. Tanner Gray, 11 laps led

    18. Mason Massey

    19. Daniel Dye

    20. Spencer Boyd

    21. Jack Wood

    22. Timmy Hill

    23. Ty Majeski

    24. Ty Dillon

    25. Stefan Parsons

    26. Bayley Currey

    27. Mason Maggio

    28. Layne Riggs, one lap down

    29. Memphis Villarreal, three laps down

    30. Lawless Alan – OUT, Brakes

    31. Matt Crafton, 15 laps down

    32. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident

    33. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    34. Keigh McGee – OUT, Accident

    35. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

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

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