How they began
A cold night was had in Martinsville, Virginia for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The Long John Silver’s 200 began with Ty Majeski on the pole and alongside him, Christian Eckes. Only two hundredths of a second separated them in qualifying.
Majeski looked to improve from his impressive third place finish at the road course of Circuit of the Americas in Austin. The stage lengths for the race were 50 laps for the first two stages and 100 for the final stage. Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, and Nick Sanchez joined Majeski and Eckes in the top five.
Flash
The race for a grandfather clock began with extra pace laps as the No. 20 truck of Blake Lothian had dropped fluids. Once green, Eckes strong-armed the lead from Majeski and Heim was able to slide into third. Riggs quickly responded by taking third back from Heim.
Tyler Ankrum got onto the inside of the track and bounced into Dean Thompson. Thompson was still able to pass Ankrum, but at the same time, Nick Sanchez made slight contact with Ben Rhodes as he completed the pass. Unfortunately for his team, Lothain went behind the wall early in the first stage. Meanwhile, Kaden Honeycut pounced on the struggling Rajah Caruth.
Then, the first caution came out for Thad Moffit on lap 31. Once the racing resumed, Eckes had a great restart and was able to get back into the lead. However, Jack Wood did not have the same luck. He had some trouble off the bumper of Matt Crafton and lost several spots on the restart.
In the closing laps of the opening stage, Honeycut put the bump and run on Sammy Smith. Christian Eckes led every lap and won the first stage. Majeski, Riggs, Heim, and Sanchez finished in the top five.
Same Ole Song and Dance
While Riggs had a slow stop in the pits, Eckes stayed out of the pits and kept the lead. The first few laps after the restart were chaos filled from third on back. Tanner Gray got help from Matt Crafton to bring out the next caution as Tan. Gray ended up turned around. Crafton took ownership of the mistake and cited steering issues.
Eckes nailed the restart to pull out in front again while Ankrum and Chase Purdy gave it their all for second, racing side by side.
Riggs getting spun around by S. Smith brought out the fourth caution. Eckes took advantage of the restart and was out front after the restart. Purdy was passed by Ankrum for second. Makeski started to move back to the front, passing Thompson for sixth place, and Jake Garcia for fifth.
Then, Daniel Dye put the bumper to Spencer Boyd and Riggs got collected in the mess. That caution brought the green, white, checkered flag to end the second stage. Eckes led the first hundred laps and won the first two stages. He finally had to pit for tires and fuel and give up the lead.
Neverending Story
Eckes restarted in 19th after pitting. Majeski and William Sawalich restarted on the front row. Majeski snagged the lead quickly and Taylor Gray moved into second. Sanchez got by Sawalich for third. However, Sawalich could not get to the bottom of the track, which was the preferred line, and fell to fifth. Behind him, Caruth worked his way up to eighth.
Eckes, with the fastest truck on the track, made quick work of the field. He made his way to Heim’s bumper and was not afraid to use the chrome horn. Majeski caught the rear of the field with around seventy to go.
Honeycutt was trying to get by Dye but ended up spinning himself out to bring out the next caution.
Majeski and Sanchez restarted the race with 60 laps to go, and Majeski was able to scoot out in front. Eckes moved into fourth and set his sights on the leader. Grant Enfinger, with help from Rhodes, slid through turn 1 and into Thompson which brought out the seventh caution.
Majeski and Sanchez resumed on the front row. Eckes chose the outside line behind Sanchez. Eckes pushed Sanchez out front upon the green flag. Majeski passed Sanchez for the lead.
Then, Justin Carroll and Bret Holmes collided, bringing out another caution.
Final 40 Laps
Majeski and Sanchez again restarted the race with 36 to go. Eckes dove low on Sanchez to complete the pass. Wood, Dye, Jake Garcia, Lawless Alan, Cam Waters, visiting from an Australian supercars series, brought out another caution.
On the restart, Eckes chose the outside with Majeski again on the front row. Eckes completed the pass with nothing short of contact on Majeski.
Once again, Riggs brought out another caution. In the midst of the chaos, Waters ran into the back of the truck in front of him which ended his day.
The next restart, saw Eckes shoot out in front. Sanchez followed him to second. Enfinger spun with Stewart Friesen to bring out the next caution.
In an entertaining turn of events, Matt Mills’ hood came up, covering his entire windshield. His team tried to tape the hood down, but with the cold weather, the tape would not adhere. They ended up cutting the hood off.
With three to go they got the race restarted. Eckes drove quick out to the lead. After many cautions in the third stage, Eckes lead the most laps and ultimately won the race at Martinsville.
Majeski, Purdy, Sanchez, and Ankrum completed the top five.
Marvin’s Thoughts:
Bad racing in the third stage lead to too many cautions. Between no respect among the drivers in the series and the talent not as plentiful, poor shows are the result.
