Majeski Grabs Richmond Win; Truck Playoff Field Set

Ty Majeski celebrates in victory lane Saturday night at Richmond Raceway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

RICHMOND, Va. – For the second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in a row, Ty Majeski wasn’t about to let a mid-race penalty keep him out of victory lane.

Three weeks after a restart violation forced Majeski to fight from deep to win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Majeski overcame an uncontrolled tire penalty at the first stage break of Saturday night’s Clean Harbors 250 at Richmond Raceway, leading the final eight laps en route to the win.

The Seymour, Wis., native’s decisive move came on a lap-243 restart, spurred by Connor Zilisch’s late crash which brought out the ninth and final caution flag at the three-quarter-mile oval.

Majeski launched from the outside groove, and after contact with race-long rival Grant Enfinger entering turn three, gained control of the regular season finale and never looked back.

He drove off to a .936-second victory over Christian Eckes, who clinched the regular season championship with a second-place finish after winning stage one.

Saturday night marked the fifth win of Majeski’s Truck Series career and positions him as the third-seeded driver heading into the opening round of the playoffs.

“This feels good,” said Majeski, who laid to rest the demons of last year’s Richmond Truck race, when he led the most laps only to be passed by Carson Hocevar with four to go.

“We’ve had great ThorSport trucks here at Richmond the last two years, but found different ways to lose [the races] and tried to do it again tonight,” he admitted. “We really need to clean that stuff up, but getting the job done still feels good and is a testament to the work this team puts in.”

Though Eckes wrapped up his first regular season title with ease, earning his series leading eighth stage win in the process, he couldn’t sew up a fourth win on the year in the final laps.

“My confidence is high, for sure,” Eckes admitted after the race. “I feel like we’re in a better position now than we were last year, and I thought we were in a pretty good position then too. Real proud of this team. We didn’t quite have what we needed today, but we’re ready to go to work and get these next seven [playoff] races underway.”

After locking up a playoff berth on points midway through the race, Taylor Gray charged late to finish third, ahead of stage-two winner Grant Enfinger and rookie Layne Riggs, who was in a must-win situation to make the postseason field.

Tyler Ankrum and defending series champion Ben Rhodes were sixth and seventh, respectively, with Daniel Dye crossing eighth and becoming the first driver in the playoff era to race his way into championship contention from below the elimination line in the regular season finale.

Dye ended up 12 points clear of Tanner Gray, who took on fresh tires during the final caution but could only get back to 12th after spending a portion of the race one lap down to the leaders.

Ty Dillon and rookie Connor Hall, who was making his Truck Series debut, closed the top 10.

Nine cautions slowed the race for 69 laps, with the full distance completed in two hours, 25 minutes, and 18 seconds at an average speed of 77.426 mph.

The 10-driver playoff field sees five-time season winner Corey Heim enter as the top seed, followed by Eckes, Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Enfinger, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Rhodes, and Dye.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will take a week off before beginning the seven-race playoffs at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile with the running of the LiUNA 175.

Broadcast coverage of the Truck Series’ playoff opener is slated for Sunday, Aug. 25 at 4 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.