Ty Majeski wins second straight Truck Series race at IRP

(Photo credits: Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)

CLERMONT, Indiana — Ty Majeski’s victory in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park wasn’t the kind of dominant performance he displayed last year, until the final stage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

Majeski overcame a restart violation on lap 50 that dropped him to the back of the field, but he rallied to defend his 2023 victory at the 0.686-mile Indiana short track. The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford earned his first victory of the 2024 season and fourth of his career.

Majeski, who won last year’s stages and led 179 laps, was penalized for missing the restart after the race’s first caution due to Ty Dillon’s spin in Turn 3 on Lap 43. He scored no points in Stage 1, but by the time Stage 2 ended, Majeski had stormed to third place.

Sixteen laps after the restart for the final stage, Majeski took the lead for the first time, using Thad Moffitt’s backed-up truck as a middleman and passing Eckes in Turns 1 and 2.

The driver from Seymour, Wisconsin, led the final 56 of the 200 laps and crossed the checkered flag 4.129 seconds ahead of Eckes.

“It’s huge,” Majeski said. “Obviously I made a little mistake. It was probably a little bit of a sticky situation on that restart. I had to make amends and get it back. When you make a mistake as a driver, you obviously drive a little bit harder to make up for it, but these guys had my back — great pit stops.

“It’s been a year of ups and downs. We had the speed to win. We just didn’t get it done, had some bad luck along the way, some of it self-inflicted. But man, so proud of this Road Ranger group.”

Grant Enfinger was 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 was his best result in three Truck Series appearances.

By the time he crossed the checkered flag, Majeski had already secured a spot in the playoffs on points, leaving three spots open in the playoffs. The Aug. 10 race at Richmond (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will determine who will make the final starting grid for the playoffs.

With a 20th-place finish on Friday, Tanner Gray took over the 10th and final playoff position from Daniel Dye, who finished 27th after an unscheduled pit stop on lap 81. Dye trails Gray by five points going into the final race of the regular season.

Five-time race winner Corey Heim finished 17th, a lap down, after Eckes’ No. 19 Chevrolet blew out his left front tire, forcing him to pit under a caution on Lap 88. Forced to use his final set of tires prematurely, Heim finished second in Stage 2 on the fresh rubber, but he fell back on the final stage.

“I just misjudged the straight,” said Eckes, who led a race-high 73 laps. “He has every right to be angry.”

Eckes retained the lead in the series with a 50-point advantage over second-placed Heim.

NOTE: The Truck Series’ post-race technical inspection was completed without incident, confirming Majeski as the race winner. The Nos. 43 and 46 cars of Daniel Dye and Thad Moffitt were each found to have one loose wheel nut. Race control ordered that three cars be returned to the NASCAR Research Development Center for further inspection: the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota of Dean Thompson, the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet of Grant Enfinger and the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Layne Riggs.

–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.