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  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Majeski rallies to win regular-season finale at Richmond for second consecutive Truck victory of 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 70 laps led

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

    3. Taylor Gray, five laps led

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

    5. Layne Riggs

    6. Tyler Ankrum

    7. Ben Rhodes

    8. Daniel Dye

    9. Ty Dillon, four laps led

    10. Connor Hall

    11. Stefan Parsons

    12. Tanner Gray

    13. Jake Garcia

    14. Kaden Honeycutt

    15. Matt Crafton

    16. Corey Heim, six laps led

    17. Rajah Caruth

    18. Lawless Alan

    19. Timmy Hill

    20. Chase Purdy

    21. Bret Holmes

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

    23. Bayley Currey, one lap down

    24. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

    26. Mason Massey, three laps down

    27. Justin Carroll, three laps down

    28. Mason Maggio, four laps down

    29. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident

    30. Nick Sanchez – OUT, Clutch

    31. Conner Jones – OUT, Electrical

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    34. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

    35. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    36. Jerry Bohlman – OUT, Too Slow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

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

    2. Daniel Dye

    3. Corey Heim

    4. Rajah Caruth

    5. Tyler Ankrum

    6. Grant Enfinger

    7. Ben Rhodes

    8. Matt Mills

    9. Ty Majeski

    10. Jake Garcia

    11. Stewart Friesen

    12. Conner Jones

    13. Nick Sanchez

    14. Tanner Gray

    15. Ty Dillon

    16. Jack Wood

    17. Clint Bowyer

    18. Dawson Sutton

    19. Brenden Queen

    20. Dawson Cram

    21. Chase Purdy, one lap down

    22. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    23. Matt Crafton, two laps down

    24. Lawless Alan, two laps down

    25. Layne Riggs, two laps down

    26. Stefan Parsons, two laps down

    27. Timmy Hill, three laps down

    28. Dean Thompson, four laps down

    29. Bayley Currey, four laps down

    30. Akinori Ogata, six laps down

    31. Frankie Muniz, 20 laps down

    32. Mason Massey – OUT, Brakes

    33. Kaden Honeycutt, 66 laps down

    34. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

    35. Mason Maggio – OUT, Mechanical

    36. Bret Holmes – OUT, Accident

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

  • 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.

  • Corey Heim records dominant Truck victory at Kansas

    Corey Heim records dominant Truck victory at Kansas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Results. 

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

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

    3. Christian Eckes, 11 laps led 

    4. Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led 

    5. Brett Moffitt 

    6. Nick Sanchez, one lap led 

    7. Tanner Gray 

    8. Dean Thompson 

    9. Daniel Dye, four laps led 

    10. Matt Crafton 

    11. Bayley Currey 

    12. Grant Enfinger 

    13. Rajah Caruth 

    14. Bret Holmes 

    15. Ty Dillon, one lap down 

    16. Ben Rhodes, one lap down 

    17. Jake Garcia, one lap down 

    18. Layne Riggs, one lap down 

    19. Cam Waters, one lap down 

    20. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down 

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

    22. Timmy Hill, two laps down 

    23. Matt Mills, two laps down 

    24. Thad Moffitt, two laps down 

    25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down 

    26. Lawless Alan, two laps down 

    27. Taylor Gray, three laps down 

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

    29. Mason Maggio, three laps down 

    30. Connor Mosack, three laps down 

    31. Spencer Boyd, five laps down 

    32. Jennifer Jo Cobb, six laps down 

    33. Ty Majeski – OUT, DVP 

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

  • Eckes fends off Busch to capture his first Truck Series victory at Bristol

    Eckes fends off Busch to capture his first Truck Series victory at Bristol

    Six months after having a victory at Bristol Motor Speedway slip from within his grasp after a dominant performance, Christian Eckes settled his score with the Last Great Coliseum with a redemptive victoryWeather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 16, following a late battle against former team owner Kyle Busch. 

    It was his first win of the season, his first at Bristol, and his sixth career victory.

    “Oh, man, it’s so sweet,” Eckes said. “There’s just so much behind this win from last year, missing out on the Championship 4 and losing the race with (six) to go.

    “To come back and redeem ourselves was our number one goal, and not only that, but the first three races (of this season), how terribly they’ve gone. We had a lot of issues, and to come back and run really good just shows the resilience of the team.”

    The 23-year-old Eckes from Middletown, New York, led twice for a race-high 144 of 250-scheduled laps in his No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Racing Silverado after starting on the pole and leading the first 52 laps before Busch overtook him. After spending most of the event trailing Busch, Eckes seized an opportunity during a restart period with 98 laps remaining to make contact with Busch. A heated battle for the lead ensued and two laps later Eckes overtook Busch to reclaim the lead.

    Then during a late caution period with 32 laps remaining, Eckes, who retained the lead over Busch and Matt Crafton amid lapped traffic, capitalized on the final restart period. With 24 laps remaining, he drove away from the field and beat Busch to the finish line by a tenth of a second to claim his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season. 

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, Eckes captured his first Truck pole position of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 126.888 mph in 15.122 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Nick Sanchez, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 126.212 mph in 15.203 seconds. 

    Prior to the event, Mason Maggio dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments on his entry. 

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Eckes rocketed ahead of Sanchez and Kyle Busch for the lead through the first two turns. With Sanchez getting loose in Turn 3 and nearly stacking up the field, Eckes led the first lap over Busch. Eckes would retain the lead over Sanchez and Busch through the first five scheduled laps. l

    On the sixth lap, the event’s first caution period occurred after Matt Mills spun on the frontstretch, though he proceeded without sustaining any significant damage to his Niece Motorsports entry. 

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 12, Eckes used the outside lane to his advantage for a second time as he muscled away from Sanchez through the first two turns while Taylor Gray tried to follow suit. Gray overtook Sanchez for the runner-up spot during the following lap as Busch, Rajah Caruth and Ty Majeski followed suit. Amid the early battles, Eckes stretched his advantage to six-tenths of a second by the Lap 15 mark and to a second by the Lap 20 mark, over Gray. 

    Through the first 30 scheduled laps, Eckes led by nearly a second over Gray with Sanchez, Busch and Majeski completing the top five. Zane Smith was in sixth place followed by Tyler Ankrum, Kaden Honeycutt, Rajah Caruth and Ben Rhodes while Grant Enfinger, Chase Purdy, Corey Heim, Daniel Dye and Connor Jones were running in the top 15 ahead of Jake Garcia, Tanner Gray, Matt Crafton, Bayley Currey and William Sawalich. 

    Fourteen laps later, the caution flew after Stefan Parsons made contact with Keith McGee entering the backstretch resulting in McGee making contact with runner-up Taylor Gray before he spun toward the bottom of the track. The incident occurred as both McGee and Parsons were lapped by Eckes. During the caution period, some of the drivers pitted, including Jake Garcia, Tanner Gray, Bayley Currey, Layne Riggs, Sawalich and Ty Dillon while the rest of the field, led by Eckes remained on the track. 

    During the following restart period on Lap 52, Kyle Busch used the inside lane to his advantage as he managed to overtake Eckes through the backstretch to assume the lead. Then, Eckes was challenged by Sanchez for second place. Busch retained the lead during the Lap 55 mark and the Lap 60 mark. 

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 65, Busch captured his second stage victory of the 2024 Truck season. Eckes settled in second followed by Sanchez, Majeski and Zane Smith while Taylor Gray, Ankrum, Rhodes, Honeycutt and Enfinger were scored in the top 10. 

    Under the stage break, some including Taylor Gray, Caruth, Corey Heim, Connor Jones and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Busch remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Caruth, who slid through his pit box, was issued an improper driver assist. 

    The second stage period started on Lap 76 as Busch and Eckes occupied the front row. Busch retained the lead as Eckes was being pressured from behind by Sanchez and Majeski. As teammates Ankrum and Zane Smith battled for fifth place in front of Ben Rhodes, Busch slowly started to stretch his advantage just past the Lap 80 mark. 

    Just past the Lap 100 mark, Busch was leading by two-tenths of a second over Eckes followed by Sanchez, Majeski, Ankrum, Zane Smith, Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Crafton and Riggs as Honeycutt, Enfinger, Purdy, Daniel Dye and Sawalich pursued in the top 15. 

    Ten laps later, Busch retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Eckes while Sanchez, Majeski and Zane Smith were running in the top five. Busch would continue to lead by four-tenths of a second over Eckes by the Lap 120 mark. 

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 130, Busch, who was mired in lapped traffic, captured his second stage victory of the night and the third of his part-time Truck campaign. Sanchez prevailed in a late battle over Eckes for second while Majeski, Zane Smith, Ankrum, Friesen, Crafton, Rhodes and Riggs were scored in the top 10. 

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Busch pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Busch retained the lead over the field after he exited pit road first. Amid the pit stops, Sawalich was penalized for speeding on pit road while Caruth was deemed to have pitted outside of his pit box. In addition, Sanchez would pit his Rev Racing entry for a second time as he was mired towards the rear of the field. 

    With 108 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Busch and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Busch moved in front of Eckes as he transitioned from the outside to the inside lane to retain the lead. Eckes fended off teammate Ankrum as he pursued Busch for the lead. Another lap later, however, the caution returned. Majeski, who was battling Ankrum for third place, got loose and spun entering the backstretch before he was hit by teammate Ben Rhodes, with both ThorSport Racing competitors making contact with the inside wall while the rest of the field scattered and slammed on the brakes to avoid the chaos. 

    The next restart period came with 98 laps remaining and featured Busch and Eckes briefly battling for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Busch cleared Eckes entering the frontstretch. Eckes, however, fought back on the inside lane and attempted to overtake Busch through Turns 3 and 4. Then, Eckes slipped sideways and made contact with Busch, sending Busch nearly sideways entering the frontstretch. Busch, however, recovered and kept the lead.  

    With 92 laps remaining, however, Eckes drove his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST past Busch’s No. 7 Group 1001 Chevrolet Silverado RST entering the backstretch, to regain the lead. Shortly after, Matt Crafton would draw his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 close to Busch’s entry in a battle for the runner-up spot, all while Eckes stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second with 85 laps remaining.  

    With 75 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Busch as Crafton, Zane Smith and Ankrum were running within less than five seconds of one another in the top five. Behind, Enfinger was in sixth place while Heim, Riggs, Friesen and Taylor Gray were in the top 10. 

    Fifteen laps later, Eckes stretched his advantage to more than a second over Busch while Crafton trailed in third place by less than two seconds. Eckes’ advantage, however, shrank to half a second over Busch with less than 45 laps remaining.  

    Then with 32 laps remaining, the caution flew after Sanchez and Friesen, who were running in the top 10, made contact entering the frontstretch amid pressure by Busch and Crafton for the lead.    

    With 24 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Eckes drove away from Busch on the outside lane to retain the lead. Amid the late battles ensuing behind, Eckes would maintain his advantage with 20 laps remaining and with 10 laps remaining.  

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Eckes continued to lead by less than seven-tenths of a second over Busch, who was trying to narrow the gap. 

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes, who was mired in lapped traffic, remained as the leader by three-tenths of a second over Busch. Despite Busch cutting the deficit to a tenth of a second for a final circuit around Bristol, the late momentum was not enough as Eckes was able to fend off Busch at the finish line to claim the checkered flag. 

    With the victory, Eckes, who conquered his first victory at Bristol, achieved his sixth career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series and his first since winning the 2023 finale at Phoenix Raceway as he became the fourth winner through the series’ first four events of the 2024 schedule. He also recorded the first victory of the season for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. 

    “It’s so sweet,” Eckes said on FS1. “There’s just so much behind this win, from last year, missing out on the Championship 4 and losing the race with five [laps] to go. To come back and redeem ourselves is our number one goal. Not only that, but the first three races, how terribly they’ve gone. We’ve had a lot of issues and to come back and run really good, it shows the resilience of this team. Just super pumped. Ready for the next 19 races.” 

    Busch, who led 105 laps, settled in second place in his third Truck event of the 2024 season. His next series’ start of the season will occur at Texas Motor Speedway on April 12 followed by Darlington Raceway on May 10. 

    “We tightened [the truck] all day and obviously, I don’t think we were as tight as [Eckes] at the end, but, you know, just track position,” Busch said. “I let [Eckes] go early in that run to just go burn his stuff off and track position at the end, just aero effects. [I] Didn’t have enough rubber on the road to outduel him.” 

    Zane Smith came home in third place in his second Truck start of the 2024 season as Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum finished in the top five. Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger and rookie Layne Riggs settled in the top 10 in the final running order. 

    There were four lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 50 laps. In addition, 17 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap. 

    Following the fourth event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Tyler Ankrum continues to lead the regular-season standings by 17 points over Corey Heim, 22 over Rajah Caruth, 29 over Ty Majeski and 32 over Christian Eckes. 

    Results. 

    1. Christian Eckes, 144 laps led 

    2. Kyle Busch, 105 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner 

    3. Zane Smith, one lap led 

    4. Matt Crafton  

    5. Tyler Ankrum 

    6. Corey Heim 

    7. Taylor Gray 

    8. Rajah Caruth 

    9. Grant Enfinger 

    10. Layne Riggs 

    11. Bayley Currey 

    12. Kaden Honeycutt 

    13. Daniel Dye 

    14. Jake Garcia 

    15. Tanner Gray 

    16. Ben Rhodes 

    17. Nick Sanchez 

    18. Stefan Parsons, one lap down 

    19. Connor Jones, one lap down 

    20. Ty Dillon, one lap down 

    21. William Sawalich, two laps down 

    22. Stewart Friesen, two laps down 

    23. Dean Thompson, three laps down 

    24. Timmy Hill, three laps down 

    25. Matt Mills, three laps down 

    26. Thad Moffitt, four laps down 

    27. Lawless Alan, four laps down 

    28. Mason Massey, five laps down 

    29. Mason Maggio, six laps down 

    30. Spencer Boyd, eight laps down 

    31. Bret Holmes, eight laps down  

    32. Keith McGee, 12 laps down 

    33. Chase Purdy, 22 laps down 

    34. Ty Majeski – OUT, Engine 

    35. Trey Hutchens – OUT, Suspension 

    36. Justin Carroll – OUT, Brakes 

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the fourth annual running of the XPEL 225 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 23, and air at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1. 

  • Nick Sanchez scores first Truck career victory at Daytona amid dramatic overtime shootout

    Nick Sanchez scores first Truck career victory at Daytona amid dramatic overtime shootout

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

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

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

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

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

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

    Results.

    1. Nick Sanchez, 26 laps led

    2. Corey Heim

    3. Rajah Caruth, one lap led

    4. Bret Holmes, 13 laps led

    5. Spencer Boyd

    6. Stefan Parsons

    7. Matt Crafton

    8. Timmy Hill

    9. Bryan Dauzat

    10. Christian Eckes, one lap led

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

    12. Jason White

    13. Bayley Currey

    14. Stewart Friesen

    15. Ty Majeski, six laps led

    16. Tanner Gray, one lap led

    17. Grant Enfinger, two laps led

    18. Jack Wood

    19. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident

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

    21. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident

    22. Cory Roper – OUT, Accident

    23. Codie Rohrbaugh – OUT, Accident

    24. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    25. Mason Massey, one lap down

    26. Matt Mills, two laps down

    27. Tony Breidinger, four laps down

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

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

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

    31. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

    32. Lawless Alan – OUT, Overheating

    33. Layne Riggs – OUT, DVP

    34. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident

    35. Ty Dillon – OUT, Accident

    36. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

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

  • Moffitt triumphs in Truck Series return at Talladega amid overtime shootout

    Moffitt triumphs in Truck Series return at Talladega amid overtime shootout

    With his racing plans for next season undetermined, Brett Moffitt made the most of a one-race NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series return for Front Row Motorsports by winning the Love’s RV Stop 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, September 30, amid an overtime shootout.

    The 2018 Truck Series champion from Grimes, Iowa, led five times for 22 of 99 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started 31st before methodically drafting his way towards the front amid a total of 23 lead changes for 11 different leaders, eight caution periods and late on-track chaos that ensued and collected a host of competitors and Playoff contenders. Leading for the first time on Lap 63, Moffitt lost the lead at the start of overtime to Christian Eckes and Chandler Smith but was quick to cross underneath Eckes and shove Eckes out of the draft at the start of the final lap to muscle ahead from Smith with drafting help from Parker Kligerman through the backstretch. For the final two turns, Moffitt fended off late challenges from Kligerman, Smith and Ben Rhodes through the tri-oval to claim his first checkered flag in the Truck Series in three years and serve as the spoiler for winning the Truck Series Playoff event at Talladega as a non-title contender.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Chase Purdy notched his second Truck pole position of this season and of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 179.433 mph in 53.368 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Nick Sanchez, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 178.480 mph in 53.653 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Dean Thompson and Greg Van Alst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective trucks. Byan Dauzat also dropped to the rear of the field for missing driver introductions. Soon after, rookie Jake Garcia, who qualified third, took his truck to the garage due to a mechanical issue.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Purdy quickly transitioned from the outside to the inside lane in front of Sanchez entering the first turn while teammate Jack Wood was trying to keep pace on the outside lane. With the field quickly fanning out to three lanes through the backstretch, Purdy maintained the lead ahead of Sanchez and Ben Rhodes led a charge from the outside lane followed by teammate Matt Crafton while Wood was falling back after losing the draft. With rookie Rajah Caruth igniting another drafting lane towards the outside wall, Purdy proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Sanchez, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar and Corey Heim. By then, Wood was penalized for pulling out of line before the event’s start and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty through pit road.

    Through the second to fifth lap, Purdy maintained the lead from the inside lane ahead of Sanchez while Caruth was the lead competitor on the outside lane in sixth place. As Chandler Smith tried to form a third drafting lane, Purdy transitioned from the outside to the inside lane to maintain the lead amid the draft. Not long after, Caruth challenged Purdy for the lead on the outside lane, but Purdy rocketed ahead to maintain it on the inside lane. Then as Purdy tried to block Caruth, which he was too late to do so, he got stuck in the middle lane, allowing Sanchez to muscle ahead on the inside lane. With Sanchez leading Majeski, Hocevar, Caruth and Heim, Purdy fell back into the top 10 and towards the middle of the pack that fanned out to three lanes and continued to jostle for early positions.


    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and as the field continued to battle amid two tight-packed lanes, Sanchez maintained the lead ahead of Majeski, Hocevar, Parker Kligerman and Heim while Purdy, David Gilliland, Jake Drew, Bret Holmes and Dean Thompson were in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes and Zane Smith were running in the top 16 while Ben Rhodes was back in 24th.

    By Lap 15, Sanchez continued to lead ahead of Majeski, Hocevar, Kligerman and Purdy while Heim, David Gilliland, Thompson, Holmes and Enfinger were jostling and battling within the top 10 along with the rest of the field. Behind, Eckes was in 12th, Zane Smith was in 14th and Rhodes was in 20th.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Sanchez, who came into the event 22 points below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off the stacked field to notch his third Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Hocevar trailed in second while Heim, Majeski, Holmes, Colby Howard, Kligerman, Tanner Gray, Gilliland and Thompson were in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Zane Smith, Rhodes, Enfinger and Eckes were in the top 20 while 32 of 36 starters were scored on lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Sanchez pitted for the first time as mixed strategies ensued with some taking two tires while the rest opted for four fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Playoff contender Zane Smith slid his truck sideways while trying to enter his pit stall as he ended up clipping his tire carrier, which sent the tire carrier and two tires the carrier was carrying flying, with the tires rolling out of the pit stall, as Smith ended up having his truck serviced backward in the pit stall.

    The second stage started on Lap 27 as Sanchez and Kligerman occupied the front row. At the start, Sanchez received a strong push from Majeski to muscle ahead of Kligerman and retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. With the field quickly fanning out to three stacked lanes, Sanchez continued to lead until Kligerman received drafting help from Gilliland to assume the top spot in his No. 75 Tide Chevrolet Silverado RST through the frontstretch and back to the start/finish line.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Kligerman was leading ahead of Hocevar followed by Gilliland, Sanchez and Holmes while Thompson, Majeski, Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Wood were in the top 10.  In the midst of the battles towards the front, Playoff contenders Enfinger, Eckes and Heim were running 16th to 18th. Meanwhile, Zane Smith, who sustained damage to the right-rear quarter panel of his truck amid his pit road incident, was mired a lap down in 35th after he had reported his No. 38 Love’s Ford F-150 was jumping out of gear.

    Five laps later, Hocevar, who assumed the lead three laps earlier, was leading ahead of Majeski followed by a hard-charging Kligerman, Rhodes and Sanchez while Holmes, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray, Thompson and Heim were mired in the top 10 and amid the stacked pack. Behind, Eckes was in 14th and Enfinger was back in 27th while Zane Smith took his truck to the garage.

    Then with two laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Eckes made contact with Stewart Friesen, which resulted in Friesen clipping Tyler Ankrum before Friesen’s No. 52 GearWrench Toyota Tundra TRD Pro went dead straight towards the Turn 3 outside wall and wrecked hard as David Gilliland was also collected. As a result of the multi-truck incident, the second stage period that was scheduled to end on Lap 40, instead, concluded under caution as Kligerman claimed the stage victory. Sanchez settled in second followed by Playoff rivals Hocevar, Majeski and Rhodes while Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray, Holmes, Thompson and Heim were scored in the top 10. By then, Eckes and Enfinger were mired in the top 20, Rhodes was scored outside the top 20 and Zane Smith was in the garage amid his mechanical issues.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Kligerman returned to pit road as various pit strategies again occurred with Colby Howard opting for fuel only to his truck and select names including Tanner Gray, Purdy, Heim, Enfinger, Tyler Hill and Dean Thompson changing two tires while the rest opted for four fresh tires.

    With 48 laps remaining, the final stage started as brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Tanner Gray muscled his No. 15 Sport Clips Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead on the inside lane while the field quickly fanned out to three lanes through the first two turns and through the backstretch. As the field made its way back to the tri-oval to reach the halfway mark on Lap 47, Tanner Gray maintained the lead ahead of Howard, Heim, Sanchez and Tyler Hill while Thompson, Taylor Gray, Purdy, Holmes and Wood were in the top 10. In the process and amid the stacked racing, Eckes was in 12th, Rhodes was back in 15th followed by Enfinger in 17th, Majeski was strapped in 20th and Hocevar was back in 22nd.

    Four laps later, the caution returned after Taylor Gray got turned sideways off the front nose of Bayley Currey entering the backstretch, which resulted in Gray spinning and clipping Ankrum, who also clipped Crafton in the process, as Playoff contender Enfinger was also involved as he spun sideways and emerged with damage to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST. During the caution period, select names that included Lawless Alan, Currey, Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Cory Roper, Ryan Vargas, Hailie Deegan and Garrett Smithley pitted while the rest led by Tanner Gray remained on the track.

    During the proceeding restart with 38 laps remaining, Tanner Gray and Sanchez dueled for the lead ahead of the stacked pack through the first two turns and the backstretch. Gray and Sanchez would remain in a dead heat for the lead for the next two laps until the caution returned as Currey and Enfinger made the slightest of contact through the frontstretch that got Enfinger loose and turned Currey into the path of Tyler Hill as Currey ended up hitting the inside wall. With Enfinger initially being in the position of cycling back on the lead lap due to being the first competitor a lap down when the carnage ensued, he lost the benefit due to being involved in the incident.

    Amid the incident, the field led by Sanchez returned to pit road for service and mainly for fuel. Following the pit stops, Sanchez retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Purdy, Moffitt, Tanner Gray, Chandler Smith and Hocevar.

    With the event restarting under green with 33 laps remaining, Sanchez and Holmes battled for the lead entering the first two turns until Sanchez muscled ahead from the outside lane. Then as Sanchez moved to the inside lane and regained drafting momentum, Brett Moffitt muscled his way into the lead after receiving drafting help from Chandler Smtih as Hocevar followed suit. Soon after, Sanchez steered his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST to pit road and served a pass-through penalty for a restart violation as a result of hanging back on the restart. Amid the penalty, Moffitt retained the lead ahead of a long line of competitors with 30 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Moffitt continued to lead ahead of Purdy, Chandler Smith, Rhodes and Jake Drew while Crafton, Heim, Hocevar, Lawless Alan and Holmes were in the top 10. Behind, Eckes fell back to 11th, Majeski was back in 20th and both Sanchez and Enfinger were in 25th and 26th.

    Two laps later, the caution flew after the hood off of Jack Wood’s No. 51 TrueTimber Chevrolet Silverado RST came loose and disintegrated through the backstretch. The caution occurred after teammate Purdy had reassumed the lead with 27 laps remaining.

    During the ensuing restart with 19 laps remaining, trouble struck for Purdy, who started alongside Moffitt on the front row but stacked up the inside lane and dropped off the pace due to a power issue to his No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST. With Purdy dropping out of the racing groove, Moffitt assumed the lead until Crafton challenged on the outside lane with drafting help from Bret Holmes.

    Then with 16 laps remaining, the caution returned after Caruth and Ryan Vargas made contact through the frontstretch, which resulted in Vargas hitting the outside wall and Caruth spinning just past the start/finish line while Playoff contender Hocevar barely dodged the incident.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Moffitt rocketed ahead on the inside lane with drafting help from Rhodes, who moved to second through the backstretch before Eckes regained the momentum and assumed the lead through the backstretch with drafting help from Chandler Smith. As Eckes and Smith moved in front of Moffitt, Rhodes and the field entering the frontstretch, the caution quickly returned when Colby Howard and Purdy made contact as Purdy turned Howard before both veered towards the outside wall, with Purdy slapping the wall and damaging his pole-winning truck while Howard spun across the track, the tri-oval grass and down pit road as the field scattered to avoid the carnage. The incident and leaked fluid across the tri-oval would be enough to place the event in a red-flag period for more than five minutes as the on-track safety crew proceeded to clear the carnage.

    Once the red flag lifted and the race restarted under green with three laps remaining, Eckes and Moffitt dueled for the lead through the first two laps as Eckes had Chandler Smith drafting him while Moffitt had drafting help from Rhodes. Then as the field approached the tri-oval, the caution returned and the event was sent into overtime after Sanchez made contact with Crafton, who rammed into Bret Holmes and clipped Tanner Gray, with a multi-truck wreck ensuing that collected Caruth, Enfinger, Hocevar, Garrett Smithley, Majeski, Cory Roper and Van Alst, who impacted the outside wall head-on. Amid the carnage, Eckes retained the lead ahead of Moffitt while the event was sent into a second red flag period that spanned for more than five minutes.

    Once the red flag lifted and the event restarted in overtime, Moffitt and Eckes dueled for the lead exiting the frontstretch until Moffitt received a shove from Rhodes, Thompson and Kligerman to muscle ahead through the first two turns. With Moffitt briefly losing the draft through the frontstretch, Eckes and Chandler Smith responded back amid a two-truck draft as Smith drafted Eckes into the lead through the frontstretch.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes was leading ahead of Chandler Smith as the rest of the field regained their momentum to catch the two leaders. With Eckes and Smith getting separated, this allowed Moffitt to jump to the outside lane and close in on Eckes for the lead through the first two turns. Eckes then moved his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST up to try to block Moffitt, but Moffitt crossed his No. 34 Fr8Auctions Ford F-150 underneath Eckes. This resulted in Eckes losing momentum and falling out of the draft while Moffitt and Smith dueled for the lead ahead of two stacked lanes through the backstretch. Moffitt then started to muscle back ahead with the lead followed by Kligerman as both managed to move in front of Smith and Rhodes through Turns 3 and 4. Then as Kligerman tried to make his move to Moffitt’s outside, Smith and Rhodes remained with Moffitt on the inside lane while Kligerman started to lose the draft entering the tri-oval. Smith and Rhodes then tried to fan out and gain a final lap run on Moffitt, but the momentum for both was not enough as Moffitt managed to retain the lead and win by 0.089 seconds over Rhodes.

    With the victory, Moffitt notched his 13th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series, his first both at Talladega and on a superspeedway venue, and his first since winning at Kansas Speedway in October 2020, which marked his latest full-time stint in the series. In addition to achieving his first Truck victory driving a Ford, Moffitt also recorded the eighth Truck career victory for Front Row Motorsports and the first for FRM’s No. 34 entry in the entry’s debut.

    With Moffitt being a former winner and champion in the Truck Series but competing this season on a full-time basis for AM Racing in the Xfinity Series, this season marks the eighth consecutive season where the Truck’s Talladega Playoff event was won by a non-Playoff contender, which extends the streak of non-Playoff competitors winning at Talladega and preventing the current seven Playoff contenders from winning and earning an automatic berth to this year’s Championship 4 field.

    “It’s pretty awesome,” Moffitt, whose racing plans for 2024 remain undetermined, said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I’ve notably struggled at superspeedways in the past and dreaded coming to them, but this was all “pressure off” situation that Front Row [Motorsports] gave me, Fr8Auctions to come here and just go out there and try to help a teammate. Obviously, that didn’t work out for that group, but to come here and have a shot at a win and to do it is pretty amazing. Reminds me of the good old days that I wanna get back to doing this on a regular basis, so we’ll see what happens.”

    Playoff contender Ben Rhodes was the highest-finishing Playoff contender on the track as he settled in the runner-up spot for a second consecutive year at Talladega while Dean Thompson tied his career-best result of third place. Chandler Smith, who was piloting Rackley W.A.R.’s No. 25 Chevrolet Silverado RST, came home in fourth place while Corey Heim, who is already guaranteed a spot for this year’s Championship 4 finale after winning at Bristol Motor Speedway, finished fifth.

    Rookie Daniel Dye, Nick Sanchez, Hailie Deegan, Kligerman and Lawless Alan completed the top 10 on the track. Notably, Hocevar and Enfinger finished 11th and 13th while Eckes drifted all the way back to 19th. In addition, Majeski retired in 21st while Zane Smith capped off his long afternoon in 32nd.

    There were 23 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 19 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Brett Moffitt, 22 laps led

    2. Ben Rhodes

    3. Dean Thompson

    4. Chandler Smith

    5. Corey Heim

    6. Daniel Dye

    7. Nick Sanchez, 25 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    8. Hailie Deegan

    9. Parker Kligerman, 10 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    10. Lawless Alan

    11. Carson Hocevar, five laps led

    12. Rajah Caruth

    13. Grant Enfinger

    14. Jack Wood

    15. Garrett Smithley

    16. Bret Holmes, three laps led

    17. Ryan Vargas

    18. Taylor Gray, one lap led

    19. Christian Eckes, eight laps led

    20. Jake Drew, one lap down

    21. Ty Majeski – OUT, Accident

    22. Cory Roper – OUT, Dvp

    23. Colby Howard – OUT, Accident

    24. Matt Crafton – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    25. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident, 12 laps led

    26. Greg Van Alst- OUT, Accident

    27. Jason M. White, 11 laps down

    28. Chase Purdy – OUT, Accident, 11 laps led

    29. Jake Garcia, 20 laps down

    30. Tyler Hill – OUT, Accident

    31. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident

    32. Zane Smith, 44 laps down

    33. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident

    34. Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident

    35. David Gilliland – OUT, Accident

    36. Bryan Dauzat – OUT, Handling

    *Bold indicates Playoff contenders

    Playoff standings

    1. Corey Heim – Advanced

    2. Carson Hocevar +23

    3. Christian Eckes +9

    4. Nick Sanchez +3

    5. Grant Enfinger -3

    6. Ben Rhodes -5

    7. Ty Majeski -19

    8. Zane Smith -36

    The Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on October 22, where the Championship 4 field will be determined. The event’s coverage is set to commence at noon ET on FS1.