The Final Four
A long season came to an end in Phoenix. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship saw Ty Majeski, Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, and Grant Enfinger battling to go down in the history books. One hundred and fifty laps were divided into three stages with stages one and two being 45 laps and the final stage being 60.
Majeski started the race on the pole and Heim started on the outside pole. Eckes started in fourth with Enfinger starting in fifth. The long and winding season all came down to this.
Heim Time?
Majeski had a great jump at the drop of the green flag and shot out into the lead. He took off from the field quickly. Heim and Eckes settled into third and fourth. Enfinger fell to eighth at the start but did improve to sixth.
Majeski caught the back of the field with a second-and-a-half lead over second. Heim made up a lot of time as Majeski caught more lapped traffic. The lead was cut down to just over half a second. The lapped trucks slowed Majeski enough for Heim to make the pass for the lead with seven to go in the stage. However, Majeski did not give up.
The first caution came out when Frankie Muniz got spun off of the nose of William Sawalich. It happened right in front of the leaders with Heim having a very close call. Heim tried to avoid the slower Muniz but almost ran into him. That caution ended the stage giving the win to Heim!
The Little Things Matter
Majeski won the race off of pit road so he restarted in first. Heim had an issue in the pits so he fell back to third. Eckes restarted the race in second.
On the restart, Majeski retook his lead. Heim scampered past Eckes for second and set his sights on the leader. Enfinger slipped down to seventh early in stage two. Then, Jack Wood brought out the second caution after he backed his truck into the wall. He got loose on the inside of Bayley Currey.Â
Heim took the lead on the restart, but Majeski did not give up. He snagged his lead back when he made the pass on the outside as they raced into turn three. Meanwhile, Dean Thompson was hit with a restart violation.
As soon as he took the lead, Majeski built his lead to over a second and a half. With 10 to go, Majeski had his lead at over two seconds. He kept building his lead until he got the stage win! Majeski won stage two by over four seconds to Heim.
The Laps Winding Down
Majeski restarted the race on the outside with Nick Sanchez on the inside. Sanchez tried to take the lead but Majeski was able to pass on the outside. Before the race could really get restarted, Connor Mosack smacked the wall and started “The Big One.”
Mosack hit the wall and came down the track which bottled up the field and caused the action. Muniz, Thad Moffitt, Tyler Ankrum, and Stefan Parsons all got severe damage. NASCAR red-flagged the field so they could clean up the mess where fluids were dumped onto the track. Heim was assessed a penalty after a restart violation and had to drop to the rear on the restart.
That restart came with 43 laps left in the NCTS Championship Race. Majeski and Sanchez were on the front row. Eckes passed Sanchez on the bottom but lost it out of turn two. Majeski retook his lead. Conner Jones brought out the fifth caution. He spun around after battling with Jake Garcia and getting loose. Enfinger and Heim pitted during the yellow.
Ty, Ty, Ty!
Majeski restarted on the front row with 33 laps to go. Heim got back into the top ten after his penalty. After pitting, Enfinger and Eckes restarted in 15th and 16th. Heim moved from eighth to third on the restart. Before they could get up to speed, Layne Riggs slid up into Sanchez and turned around. That brought out the sixth caution. Enfinger and Eckes moved up to 12th and 14th.
Majeski and Sanchez restarted on the front row. While Majeski resettled into his lead, Heim was on the chase. Eckes got into the top five on the restart and dove on the apron to pass Sanchez and move into the top three. Daniel Dye was given a drive-through penalty for a restart violation.
With 20 to go Majeski had a two-second lead over Heim and he continued to flex his muscles. Eckes’ new tires got him into the top three but he could not make ground past that. Enfinger made it into the top five but stalled out.
Majeski caught some lapped traffic but that did not affect him. He was the truck to beat from the drop of the green flag and took the white flag and the checkered to win his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship!
Heim finished in second with Eckes in third and Enfinger in fourth.
Marvin’s Minute
I did not expect Ty Majeski to win it, but boy did he. He was easily the fastest truck all night. His lead was over two seconds more than it wasn’t (I made that stat up, but it is probably true).
He dominated the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship from start to finish. What a race by the Cheese head. He got ThorSport their sixth championship. What a great truck season. I hope to recap the series next season. Thank you to everyone who kept up with my recaps all year! Check back for some offseason thoughts and articles we post at the Pit Pass Network. Thank you!
