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.
The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford earned his first victory of the 2024 season and the fourth of his career at the 0.686-mile Indiana short track thanks to a rally that included overcoming a restart violation on Lap 50 that sent him to the rear of the field.
Majeski, who swept the stages and led 179 laps in the win last year, was penalized for jumping the restart after the first caution of the race for Ty Dillon’s spin in Turn 3 on Lap 43.
Despite earning no points in Stage 1, Majeski charged to third by the end of the second stage.
“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.”
Twelve laps after the final stage restart, Majeski took the lead for the first time, using Thad Moffitt’s lapped truck as a pick.
Majeski then drove past Eckes through Turns 1 and 2.
Granted Enfinger led 71 laps and finished third.
Tyler Ankrum, Layne Riggs, Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, pole winner Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson, and Nick Sanchez followed. Fenhaus’s seventh-place finish was his best in three Truck Series starts. “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.”
Majeski had already secured a playoff position on points when he claimed the checkered flag, meaning that three spots were still up for grabs in the postseason.
The race at Richmond on August 10 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will determine the final playoff grid.
Tanner Gray moved into the tenth and final playoff-eligible spot on Friday with a 20th-place finish, surpassing Daniel Dye, who finished 27th following an unforeseen pit stop on Lap 81. Come to the final race of the regular season, Dye is five points behind Gray.
After making collision with Eckes’ No. 19, five-time race champion Corey Heim finished 17th, one lap down. On Lap 88, Chevrolet cut his left front tire, sending him into the pits under caution.
Heim, who was forced to utilize his final set of tires early, struggled in the final stage but placed second in Stage 2. Leading the most laps in the race, Eckes claimed, “I just misjudged the straightaway.”
“He’s got every right to be mad.” Eckes continued to lead the series by 50 points over Heim in second place.
NOTE: Majeski was declared the champion of the Truck Series after a flawless post-race technical examination.
One loose lug nut was discovered on Daniel Dye and Thad Moffitt’s nos. 43 and 46, respectively.
Officials from the competition said that three vehicles—the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota driven by Dean Thompson, the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet driven by Grant Enfinger, and the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford driven by Layne Riggs—would be returned to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for additional examination.
By NASCAR Wire Service’s Reid Spencer. exclusive to Field Level Media.
