Ty Majeski mounts successful defense of victory at Indianapolis short track
Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Ty Majeski’s victory in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park wasn’t the sort of dominating performance he enjoyed last year—until the final stage of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race.
Majeski overcame a restart violation on Lap 50 that sent him to the rear of the field but rallied to defend his 2023 victory at the 0.686-mile short track. The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford earned his first victory of the season and the fourth of his career.
Majeski, who swept the stages and led 179 laps in last year’s win, was penalized for jumping the restart after the first caution of the race for Ty Dillon’s spin in Turn 3 on Lap 43. He scored no points in Stage 1, but by the time the second stage ended, Majeski had charged to third.
Sixteen laps after the restart for the final stage, Majeski took the lead for the first time, using the lapped truck of Thad Moffitt as a pick and charging past Eckes through Turns 1 and 2.
The Seymour, Wisconsin, driver led the final 56 of 200 laps and took the checkered flag 4.129 seconds ahead of Eckes.
“It’s huge,” Majeski said. “Obviously, I made a little bit of a mistake. It was probably a little bit of a close call on that restart. I had to pony up and get it back. Obviously, when you make a mistake as a driver, you drive a little bit harder to make up for it, but these guys had my back—awesome pit stops.
“It’s been an up-and-down year. We’ve had the speed to win. Just haven’t been able to put it together, had some bad luck along the way, some of it self-inflicted. But, man, so proud of this Road Ranger group.”
Grant Enfinger finished third after leading 71 laps. Tyler Ankrum was fourth, followed by Layne Riggs, Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, pole winner Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson and Nick Sanchez.
Fenhaus’ seventh-place result was his best in three Truck Series starts.
By the time he took the checkered flag, Majeski already had clinched a Playoff spot on points, leaving three berths still available in the postseason, with the Aug. 10 race at Richmond left to decide the final Playoff grid.
With a 20th-place finish on Friday, Tanner Gray took over the 10th and final Playoff-eligible position from Daniel Dye, who came home 27th after an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 81. Dye trails Gray by five points entering the last regular-season race.
Five-time race winner Corey Heim finished 17th, a lap down, after contact from Eckes’ No. 19 Chevrolet cut his left-front tire and forced him to the pits under caution on Lap 88. Forced to use his last set of tires prematurely, Heim finished second in Stage 2 on the fresh rubber but faded in the final stage.
“I just misjudged the straightaway,” said Eckes, who led a race-high 73 laps. “He’s got every right to be mad.”
Eckes retained the series lead by 50 points over second-place Heim.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 15
Race Results for the TSport 200 - Friday, July 19, 2024
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park - Indianapolis, IN - 0.686 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 137.2 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 7/19/2024 @ 10:41 PM Eastern
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 4 98 Ty Majeski Road Ranger Ford 200 3 48 Running 1 56 5
2 6 19 Christian Eckes NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 200 1 1 55 Running 2 73 2
3 2 9 Grant Enfinger Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet 200 2 43 Running 2 71
4 3 18 Tyler Ankrum LiUNA! Chevrolet 200 4 5 46 Running
5 17 38 Layne Riggs # Long John Silver's Ford 200 7 36 Running
6 12 7 Sammy Smith(i) Golden Harvest Chevrolet 200 9 0 Running
7 14 66 Luke Fenhaus Soda Sense Ford 200 30 Running
8 1 71 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 200 5 9 37 Running
9 19 5 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 200 8 8 34 Running
10 11 2 Nick Sanchez Gainbridge Chevrolet 200 7 10 32 Running
11 16 45 Ross Chastain(i) Alliance Highway Safety Chevrolet 200 6 6 0 Running
12 26 1 William Sawalich Starkey/Soundgear Toyota 200 25 Running
13 10 77 Chase Purdy Bama Buggies Chevrolet 200 24 Running
14 22 41 Bayley Currey Niece Chevrolet 199 23 Running
15 23 91 Jack Wood Children's Museum Indianapolis Chevrolet 199 22 Running
16 13 17 Taylor Gray JBL Toyota 199 21 Running
17 9 11 Corey Heim Safelite Toyota 199 3 2 37 Running
18 20 25 Ty Dillon Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 199 19 Running
19 25 56 Timmy Hill Units Storage Toyota 199 18 Running
20 21 15 Tanner Gray Bucket Boss Toyota 199 17 Running
21 15 99 Ben Rhodes Campers Inn RV Ford 199 16 Running
22 34 42 Matt Mills J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet 199 15 Running
23 28 16 Johnny Sauter AISIN Toyota 199 14 Running
24 5 88 Matt Crafton Dutch Boy/Menards Ford 199 4 20 Running
25 29 04 Marco Andretti Group 1001 Chevrolet 199 12 Running
26 30 32 Bret Holmes Best Value Carriers Chevrolet 199 11 Running
27 7 43 Daniel Dye Bettenhausen Automotive Chevrolet 198 10 11 Running
28 24 33 Lawless Alan AUTOChargit Ford 198 9 Running
29 35 44 Conor Daly(i) Power Plus Chevrolet 197 0 Running
30 18 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 197 7 Running
31 31 22 Tyler Tomassi Levrack Ford 197 6 Running
32 33 46 Thad Moffitt # Tasty Duck Chevrolet 195 5 Running
33 8 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 194 4 Running
34 32 76 Spencer Boyd KIR Ammo.com Chevrolet 164 3 Running
35 27 02 Mason Massey BRUNT Chevrolet 44 2 Accident
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 40 Mins, 6 Secs. Average Speed: 82.238 MPH Margin of Victory: 4.129 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 9, 11, 18, 71, 45, 2, 5, 7, 43
Stage 2 Top 10: 19, 11, 98, 88, 18, 45, 38, 5, 71, 2
Caution Flags: 4 for 27 laps; Laps: 44-49 (#25 Spin Turn 3 [56]); 62-68 (Stage 1 Conclusion [16]); 87-92 (#44 Incident Turn 1 [None]); 122-129 (Stage 2 Conclusion [04]).
Lead Changes: 5 among 3 drivers; R. Caruth 0; G. Enfinger 1-55; C. Eckes 56-68; G. Enfinger 69-84; C. Eckes 85-144; T. Majeski 145-200.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: August 10, 2024 - Richmond Raceway
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