Ty Majeski Dominates at IRP, Advances in Playoffs

Ty Majeski won his first NASCAR NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of the season Friday (Aug. 11) night in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The win locks him into the Round of 8 in the playoffs. It is the third win of his truck series career.

Pole-sitter Christian Eckes finished second to Majeski 3.422 seconds behind, his best finish at IRP.

Layne Riggs earned his best career finish of third. His previous best finish of seventh place came last year at IRP.

Richmond winner Carson Hocevar finished fourth while 2022 Truck Series champion Zane Smith finished fifth after starting at the rear of the field for adjustments to his truck.

William Sawalich earned his best Truck finish with a sixth-place result, ahead of Rajah Caruth who also had his second-best career finish of seventh and was the highest finishing of the GMS Racing drivers.

Playoff drivers Corey Heim, Matt Crafton, and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10.

Of the remaining playoff drivers, Nick Sanchez finished 11th, Grant Enfinger crossed the line 12th and Ben Rhodes finished lowest of the playoff trucks in 16th.

Shane van Gisbergen, making his Truck Series debut, finished as the first truck one lap down in 19th.

Eckes started on the pole and held off the field until lap 4 where he lost the lead to Majeski.

The first caution came out on lap 14 where Hailie Deegan, Landon Lewis and Greg van Alst were involved in a wreck.

During the caution, Tyler Ankrum’s truck broke down. He had to move to a back-up truck before the race after receiving damage to his truck during practice.

On the first restart of the race, on lap 22, Heim made a three-wide move to take the lead from Majeski. The two stayed close together running sometimes running side-by-side until Majeski retook the lead on lap 40.

Majeski pulled a gap to Heim and won stage one. Eckes was third followed by Riggs and Jake Garcia who rounded out the top five.

Three more drivers in the playoffs earned stage points for stage one: Hocevar in sixth, Enfinger in seventh and Smith in 10th.

Majeski controlled the entirety of stage two where it ended five laps prematurely thanks to Chris Hacker spinning off of turn 2. Majeski swept the stages just as he did at Richmond Raceway.

The top five at the end of the second stage were all playoff drivers with Heim, Enfinger, Eckes and Hocevar following Majeski to the flag.

The remaining playoff drivers who earned stage points in stage two were Smith in seventh and Sanchez in 10th. DiBennedetto, Crafton, and Rhodes did not earn stage points.

During pit stops at the end of the stage, Heim was given a penalty for a safety violation that put him at the tail of the field and Enfinger had to come in to pit road twice to re-tighten lug nuts.

Majeski maintained the lead at the start of stage three, but on lap 130, Dean Thompson and Spencer Boyd were involved in a heavy crash on the backstretch.

The race restarted with 60 laps to go, and Majeski went ahead after a good push from Smith until the caution flew the next lap for Deegan crashing out after getting paid back by Lewis.

The next restart came with 52 laps to go with another masterclass defensive drive by Majeski after Eckes tried to make a move on the outside, but couldn’t make the pass. Majeski drove away from the field leading the remaining laps and won the race.

The Truck Series will host the second race of the Round of 10 at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, Aug. 27. This will be the Truck Series’ first race at Milwaukee since 2009. Coverage for the race will be provided by FOX Sports 1, beginning at 4 p.m. ET.