Ty Majeski dominated at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park last season, leading 179 laps on his way to a victory.
His effort at a repeat wasn’t as dominant and flawless, but he and ThorSport Racing got the desired result.
Majeski picked up his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of the season in the TSport 200 on July 19 after a restart violation penalty nearly upended his night.
NASCAR ruled that Majeski jumped ahead of leader Grant Enfinger on a late stage one restart and handed down a pass-through penalty. Majeski managed to stay on the lead lap and restarted stage two in 16th. Majeski worked his way back to the front, taking the lead from Christian Eckes on lap 145 and never looking back.
“It’s huge,” Majeski said in a postrace interview with Fox Sports 1. “I made a little bit of a mistake and it was probably a little bit of a close call on that restart. I had to pony up and get it back. Obviously when you make a mistake as a driver, you drive a little bit harder to get it back. These guys had my back with awesome pit stops.”
The No. 98 Ford was already locked into the playoffs on points. Majeski now has four career wins, including three on short tracks, recording the first win of the season for any ThorSport driver.
“It’s been an up and down year,” Majeski said. “We have had the speed to win but just haven’t put it all together and had some bad luck along the way. Some of it is self-inflicted.”
Eckes won both stages and finished second. After the race, Eckes was confronted by Corey Heim after contact on a stage two restart led to Heim cutting a tire and bringing out a caution.
Heim rebounded to finish third in the stage but faded to a 17th-place finish. Eckes now holds a 50-point lead over Heim at the top of the Truck Series standings.
“He’s got a right to be mad,” Eckes said. “I just misjudged the straightaway and he acted like I went to the wall but I didn’t. I tried to leave him a lane, I just misjudged it on my end. That’s on me, I apologize to all the 11 guys. I’d probably be mad too.”
Enfinger led 71 laps on his way to a third-place finish while Tyler Ankrum took fourth. Both drivers locked themselves into the playoffs on points with their performances.
Layne Riggs started mid-pack and worked his way up to fifth. Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson and Nick Sanchez rounded out the top 10.
An unscheduled pit stop in stage two followed soon after by a caution trapped Daniel Dye a lap down for most of the night, leading to him finishing 26th. Tanner Gray finished 20th and now has an eight-point advantage over Dye for the final playoff spot with one regular season race to go.
Enfinger took the lead from polesitter Caruth at the jump and led the first 55 laps. The No. 9 Chevy looked to have run away with a stage one win until a Ty Dillon spin on lap 48 brought out the caution.
After Majeski was taken out of the equation with a penalty, Eckes made his move on Enfinger with five laps to go in the stage. Eckes won stage one with Enfinger, Heim, Ankrum and Caruth receiving top-five stage points finishes.
On the restart, Enfinger drove off while Eckes and Heim made contact. Shortly after Eckes retook the lead, the damage from earlier contact finally bit Heim as he cut a left front tire to bring out the caution. Heim took a swipe at Enfinger under caution but wasn’t penalized, in fact awarded a lap back after it was ruled the caution came out before he went a lap down.
Eckes won stage two with Majeski fighting his way back to second and Heim working through the field to third. Ankrum and Caruth rounded out the top five at the stage break.
Majeski and Heim battled it out on the restart for second with Majeski winning out in the end. The No. 98 Ford cut down a 1.3-second lead in a matter of just 10 laps, ultimately using the lapped car of Thad Moffitt as a pick to pass Eckes for the lead with 55 laps to go.
Majeski lapped all the way up to 13th place over the final caution-free stage. Chase Purdy finished as the last car on the lead lap.
Truck Results From IRP
The final race of the regular season is next month at Richmond Raceway. The Clean Harbors 250 airs on Saturday, Aug. 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with of football, music, anime and video games.