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Truckin’ Thursdays: 3 Things to Watch For in the Regular Season Finale

After two weeks off, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action on Saturday (Aug. 10) at Richmond Raceway.

However, it isn’t just any other race. This is the final race before the playoffs begin at the Milwaukee Mile on Aug. 25.

Seven drivers have locked themselves in already, either on wins or on points. However, there’s still a lot to be decided. A regular-season championship is still at stake, while seven drivers can mathematically point their way into the last three playoff spots available.

Meanwhile, the owner playoffs look vastly different from the driver playoffs. So let’s break down three big things to watch for heading into the regular-season finale at Richmond.

Christian Eckes Looks to Put Away Regular Season Title

The battle for the championship is just beginning between Corey Heim and Christian Eckes. The pair have dominated the entire 2024 season, winning eight of the 15 races that have been completed this year.

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Did You Notice?: Corey Heim Leads List of Top NASCAR Prospects

The two have gone tit-for-tat in wins and overall finishes. However Eckes has slowly opened the gap on Heim due to some poor finishes on the latter’s part. One of those finishes was a disqualification from second at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which likely was the dagger in Heim’s regular-season title hopes.

Entering Richmond, Eckes holds a 50-point lead over Heim. As the maximum one can earn in a single race is 60 points, Heim needs a lot of help if he wants any outside chance at the bonus 15 playoff points.

Heim basically needs Eckes to crash out in the first stage, then for himself to go on to sweep the stages and win the race. A low probability, but the unpredictability of NASCAR could lend its hand if it so wanted to.

However, the likely scenario is that Eckes locks up the regular-season title, and its bonus 15 playoff points, following stage one of the 250-lap race.

Thr 15 bonus points will leapfrog Eckes over Heim in playoff standings, and he will start the playoffs as the top seed. Just another layer in the Eckes-Heim rivalry that has become the major storyline in 2024.

Three More Playoff Spots Up For Grabs

Following the Truck Series’ last race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger locked themselves in on points. Add in the five winners we’ve seen this season, and now just three spots remain in the 10-spot field.

Currently occupying the final spots are the brothers Gray, Taylor and Tanner, and Ben Rhodes, who currently separates the brothers in ninth.

The four drivers on the outside looking in are Daniel Dye, Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton and Chase Purdy. Now realistically, Crafton and Purdy are barely hanging on mathematically, sitting 43 and 44 points behind Tanner Gray on the cut line. But if the five in front of them completely collapse at Richmond, Crafton and Purdy could sneak their way into two of the final three spots.

Taylor Gray can lock himself into the playoffs after stage two, as he sits 43 points above his brother. For Tanner, Rhodes, Dye and Friesen, the battle at Richmond ought to be fierce. They’ve spent the last couple of races rotating in and out of playoff spots, so it’s anyone’s guess as to who grabs those final spots.

Now, a new winner could throw the entire points race into chaos. However, realistically, no new winner will likely come from outside the top 10 in points, barring a huge upset.

A Check-In on the Owners Points

It seems like a good time to check out what the owners’ points situation looks like, because there are some differences due to some full-time teams running a rotation of drivers.

Two teams you won’t find in the drivers’ championship are solidly in the owner playoffs. Those two teams are Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 and Niece Motorsports’ No. 45. These two teams utilized several drivers with varying talent levels to climb into the thick of the owner fight.

Both teams have wins courtesy of Kyle Busch (Spire) and Ross Chastain (Niece), and are comfortably in the owners playoffs, barring extreme circumstance.

Taylor Gray’s No. 17 is actually on the cut line now, leading by 26 points over Rhodes’ No. 99. That actually puts a little more emphasis and pressure on the drivers’ battle, because that could determine who gets left out of the chance to win both titles.

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Connor Hall Debuting for MHR at Richmond

Truckin’ Tidbits

Here is all the Truck Series news you may have missed over the Olympic break.

  • The penalty report following the weekend at Indianapolis saw two crew chiefs fined $2,500 for loose lug nuts after the race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Those crew chiefs were Blake Bainbridge (crew chief of the No. 43 of Daniel Dye) and Tyler Young (crew chief/owner of the No. 46 of Thad Moffitt).
  • CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car point leader Connor Hall will make his Truck Series debut at Richmond Raceway, driving the No. 91 for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. The No. 91 has been split between Jack Wood, Zane Smith and Vicente Salas this season.
  • Niece Motorsports has made some personnel shifts, which include Wally Rogers taking over as crew chief of the No. 41 of Bayley Currey the rest of the season. Team general manager Cody Efaw served as Currey’s interim crew chief for three races after the release of Mike Hillman Jr. Rogers originally retired from crew chiefing after the 2023 season, where he was paired at Niece with Lawless Alan. However, he was tabbed to crew chief the part-time No. 44 of Conor Daly in his three starts. Now, with Rogers moving to Currey’s team, team competition director Tom Ackerman will assume those duties for Daly’s final two races and any other races the No. 44 might appear in.
Frontstretch.com

Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.

You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.