Ty Majeski claims NASCAR Truck Series Championship
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
AVONDALE, Ariz. — All Ty Majeski needed was a green-flag run to finish off his domination of Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race—a victory that earned him his first series title.
Majeski led 132 of 150 laps at one-mile Phoenix Raceway, and when the race-ending 27-lap green-flag run finally came, Majeski pulled away to a 3.945-second victory over Corey Heim, who recovered from a restart violation to finish second.
“I can’t believe it,” said Majeski, who won for the first time at Phoenix, the third time this season at the sixth time in his career. “Huge thank you to (ThorSport Racing team owners) Duke and Rhonda Thorson, (crew chief) Joe Shear Jr.—he’s one bad dude.
“This is so much fun racing with this group. I’m so proud to have the opportunity to drive these great race trucks. There’s a lot of times in my career when this looked like a far dream. Duke and Rhonda really gave me my third opportunity after I had two opportunities that failed—man, I can’t thank them enough.”
The championship was the second for Shear, who guided Johnny Sauter to the title with GMS Racing in 2016. For ThorSport, it was a series-record sixth championship, adding to three with Matt Crafton and two with 2023 champion Ben Rhodes.
ThorSport has won three of the last four Truck Series titles.
Heim restarted 19th on Lap 108 after his penalty and quickly moved forward, but the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota couldn’t overcome the speed in Majeski’s No. 98 Ford.
“I’m really disappointed to come up short like that,” said Heim, who will return for a third season with TRICON next year. “It’s hard to even be upset. I did almost everything right except for that restart violation (changing lanes before the start/finish line).
“But we were able to get our track position back pretty quick and make the most of it. I just had nothing for the 98. All day, he was so fast… We’ll move forward with our heads up high, a six-win season—career highs for myself my team, organization, everybody—just one spot short of the championship.”
Championship 4 drivers Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger finished third and fifth, respectively, after pitting for fresh tires on Lap 113. Though they were able to move through the field, they had nothing for the race winner.
Before the final green-flag run, three quick cautions—including a six minute, nine second red flag for a nine-truck wreck on the backstretch—interrupted the action at the start of the final stage, bringing the total for yellows to six for 43 laps. After Majeski got away in clean air from a restart on Lap 124, however, the race was over.
Starting from the pole position, Majeski streaked to a lead of more than two seconds, but Heim tracked him down in traffic and passed the No. 98 Ford for the top spot on Lap 39.
Three laps later the Ford of Frankie Muniz spun after contact with William Sawalich’s Toyota, ending the first 45-lap stage under caution.
But Majeski reclaimed the lead, with Eckes advancing to second, after Heim slid past the marks in his pit stall under the caution for the stage break and came out third.
Heim complained on the team radio channel that the concrete pit stall was one of the slickest he had ever experienced.
Majeski flipped the script in Stage 2, passing Heim for the top spot on Lap 71, six circuits after a restart that followed Jack Wood’s hard crash into the Turn 2 wall.
By the end of the stage at Lap 90, Majeski had expanded his advantage to 3.597 seconds. But stage wins were inconsequential to the Championship 4 contenders, who would settle possession of title in the frenetic final segment of the race.
Nick Sanchez finished fourth as the only non-Championship 4 driver to crack the top five. Taylor Gray was fifth, followed by Kaden Honeycutt, Connor Mosack, Rhodes and Layne Riggs.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 23
Race Results for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship - Friday, November 8, 2024
Phoenix Raceway - Avondale, AZ - 1. - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 150 Laps - 150. Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 11/8/2024 @ 10:21 PM Eastern
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 98 Ty Majeski (P) Road Ranger Ford 150 2 1 40 Running 4 132 6
2 2 11 Corey Heim (P) Safelite Toyota 150 1 2 35 Running 2 16 1
3 4 19 Christian Eckes (P) NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 150 3 5 34 Running
4 7 2 Nick Sanchez Gainbridge Chevrolet 150 4 4 47 Running
5 5 9 Grant Enfinger (P) Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet 150 5 7 32 Running 2 2
6 14 17 Taylor Gray Mobil 1 Toyota 150 8 34 Running
7 8 45 Kaden Honeycutt AutoVentive/Precision Chevrolet 150 30 Running
8 9 7 Connor Mosack Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet 150 7 6 38 Running
9 20 99 Ben Rhodes TPSORT Trucks Ford 150 10 29 Running
10 11 38 Layne Riggs # Love's Travel Stops Ford 150 8 3 38 Running
11 15 15 Tanner Gray Dead On Tools Toyota 150 26 Running
12 10 77 Chase Purdy Bama Buggies Chevrolet 150 25 Running
13 19 71 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 150 24 Running
14 27 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 150 23 Running
15 6 5 Dean Thompson MCM Transportation Toyota 150 6 27 Running
16 24 4 Brett Moffitt Victory Custom Trailers Chevrolet 150 21 Running
17 13 66 Conner Jones # TSPORT/Lung Cancer Awareness Ford 150 9 22 Running
18 3 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 150 10 9 22 Running
19 22 88 Matt Crafton Black Label Bacon/Menards Ford 150 18 Running
20 25 25 Dawson Sutton Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 150 17 Running
21 18 41 Bayley Currey DQS Chevrolet 150 16 Running
22 29 56 Timmy Hill Coble Enterprises/UNITS Toyota 150 15 Running
23 23 44 Stefan Parsons Popsells.com Chevrolet 149 14 Running
24 16 43 Daniel Dye NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet 149 13 Running
25 28 42 Matt Mills J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet 148 12 Running
26 33 02 Nathan Byrd Sonesta Chevrolet 147 11 Running
27 34 46 Thad Moffitt # Pristine Auction Chevrolet 147 10 Running
28 30 76 Spencer Boyd SoCalX Chevrolet 146 9 Running
29 32 22 Keith McGee NuggetTrap.com Ford 146 8 Running
30 35 33 Lawless Alan AUTOParkit Ford 146 7 Running
31 26 04 Andres Perez de Lara Group 1001/CarQuest Chevrolet 99 6 Accident
32 17 1 William Sawalich Starkey/Soundgear Toyota 98 5 Accident
33 12 18 Tyler Ankrum LiUNA! Chevrolet 98 4 Accident
34 31 27 Frankie Muniz More Core Diamond Drilling Ford 95 3 Accident
35 21 91 Jack Wood Mongoose Chevrolet 58 2 Accident
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 44 Mins, 19 Secs. Average Speed: 86.276 MPH Margin of Victory: 3.945 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 11, 98, 19, 2, 9, 5, 7, 38, 66, 52
Stage 2 Top 10: 98, 11, 38, 2, 19, 7, 9, 17, 52, 99
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 6 for 43 laps; Laps: 43-54 (#1, 27 Incident Turn 3 / Stage 1 Conclusion [43]); 60-64 (#91 Incident Turn 2 [44]); 92-98 (Stage 2 Conclusion [13]); 100-107 (#44, 18, 27, 46, 1, 7, 52, 76, 04 Incident Backstretch [Red Flag 00:06:09] [4]); 112-117 (#66 Spin Turn 2 [5]); 119-123 (#2, 38 Incident Turn 2 [25]).
Lead Changes: 7 among 3 drivers; T. Majeski (P) 1-38; C. Heim (P) 39-48; G. Enfinger (P) 49; T. Majeski (P) 50-64; C. Heim (P) 65-70; T. Majeski (P) 71-93; G. Enfinger (P) 94; T. Majeski (P) 95-150.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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FINAL NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES STANDINGS
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 11/8/2024 @ 11:25 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. Ty Majeski (P) 98 23 2 4040 0 0 3 7 0
2. Corey Heim (P) 11 23 2 4035 -5 5 6 10 0
3. Christian Eckes (P) 19 23 -1 4034 -6 1 4 11 0
4. Grant Enfinger (P) 9 23 -3 4032 -8 2 2 3 0
5. Nick Sanchez 2 23 0 2280 -1760 1752 2 1 0
6. Taylor Gray 17 23 0 2247 -1793 33 0 0 0
7. Rajah Caruth 71 23 0 2213 -1827 34 1 1 0
8. Tyler Ankrum 18 23 0 2183 -1857 30 0 2 0
9. Ben Rhodes 99 23 1 2150 -1890 33 0 0 0
10. Daniel Dye 43 23 -1 2141 -1899 9 0 0 0
11. Layne Riggs # 38 23 0 595 -3445 1546 2 0 0
12. Stewart Friesen 52 23 0 557 -3483 38 0 0 0
13. Tanner Gray 15 23 0 550 -3490 7 0 1 0
14. Matt Crafton 88 23 0 524 -3516 26 0 0 0
15. Chase Purdy 77 23 0 513 -3527 11 0 0 0
16. Dean Thompson 5 23 0 469 -3571 44 0 0 0
17. Jake Garcia 13 23 0 459 -3581 10 0 0 0
18. Bayley Currey 41 23 0 392 -3648 67 0 0 0
19. Kaden Honeycutt 45 14 1 384 -3656 8 0 1 0
20. Bret Holmes 20 -1 360 -3680 24 0 0 0
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