Pit Stops : Richmond Raceway

• Richmond Raceway
• Worldwide Express 250
• Pole Winner: Ty Majeski
• Age: 28
• Team : No. 98 - Road Ranger Ford
• Owner: Mike Curb
• Crew Chief: Joe Shear Jr.
• Ty Majeski won the Pole Award for the Worldwide Express 250 with a lap of 22.689 seconds, 119.000 mph.
• This is his fifth pole in 59 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races.
• This is his second pole and 13th top-10 start in 2023.
• This is his second pole in two races at Richmond Raceway.
• Corey Heim (second) posted his 10th top-10 start of 2023 and his first in two races at Richmond Raceway.
• William Sawalich (third) posted his first top-10 start at Richmond Raceway. It is his second in three races this season.
• Jake Garcia (12th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Saturday, July 29th, 2023
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Carson Hocevar wins at Richmond after late-race pass

Carson Hocevar’s race started in the pits with a flat tire even before the green flag for Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and ended with a celebration in Victory Lane.

The 20-year-old driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet passed the night’s most dominant driver Ty Majeski with only three laps remaining thanks to pit road strategy and a fast Chevy Silverado to claim his third win of the season by 2.308-seconds over Majeski.

“We didn’t come here to run second," Hocevar said, adding, “I knew we had to do something different and new tires prevailed."

Corey Heim officially secured the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2023 regular season championship with a third-place finish in the opening stage. The 21-year old driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota will start the seven-race Playoff portion of the season with an important 15-point bonus thanks to an incredible run to the regular season title that included a pair of wins. He finished sixth on Saturday – his series best 13th Top-10 finish in 16 races.

“It really means a lot," Heim said. “With TRICON Garage and Toyota Racing coming such a long way from the beginning of the year. I really felt like we had a lot of progress to make in the first four or five weeks and we’ve really been improving ever since.

“Tonight, it was a rough night at Richmond. It is kind of a unique race track. On the normal tracks, we’ve been really consistent. Still a good finish for us, but definitely want to do better leading into the Playoffs.”

After earning his second pole position of the season, Majeski absolutely dominated so much of the race, sweeping both stage wins for the first time in his career and leading a dominating 168 of the 250 laps in the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford. His truck was so good Saturday that he even overcame a mid-race pit stop speeding penalty to regain the lead late race and try to hold off Hocevar. Majeski stayed out while Hocevar pit for tires with 40 laps remaining, however,and was ultimately unable to hold off the fresh tires in the closing laps.

“Just didn’t have enough there," a frustrated Majeski said. “Obviously made a mistake there, speeding on pit road but we had a chance to win even with the penalty. It’s just so disappointing. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dominant vehicle that much faster than the field and to not win with it is so hard.

“But we have fast race trucks and we’ll make a run at the Playoffs,"he added.

The Playoff field – in points order – includes Heim, the 2022 series champion Zane Smith, who finished third at Richmond, Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Majeski, 2021 series champion Ben Rhodes, rookie Nick Sanchez, Matt DiBenedetto and three-time series champion Matt Crafton.

Stewart Friesen came into the race ranked 11th, trailing Crafton by nine points, but Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Chevrolet had a disappointing qualifying run – 23rd – and never really mounted a challenge forward on Saturday. He finished 27th.

“We brought a dull knife to a gunfight tonight," a disappointed Friesen said.

Hocevar led 64 laps on the evening – moving into the lead position while Majeski was recovering from his pit road penalty.

“We passed every single truck here, the 98 (Majeski) was the class of the field but I thought we were second and won with the second best truck because I have the first best pit crew and first best crew chief on the box," Hocevar said.

“I just love it," he added.

Rookie Jake Garcia and Matt Mills rounded out the Top-5 at Richmond. Heim finished sixth, followed by Crafton, Sanchez, Enfinger and 16-year old William Sawalich making only his third series start.

• Drivers Entered: 38 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 250
• Margin of Victory: 02.308 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 59 Minutes 32 Seconds
• Average Speed: 94.116
• Cautions: 4 for 27 laps
• Lead Changes: 9
• Green Flag Passes: 1,187 (5.3 passes per green flag lap)

• Richmond Raceway
• Worldwide Express 250
• Race Winner: Carson Hocevar
• Age: 20
• Team : No. 42 - Worldwide Express Chevrolet
• Owner: Al Niece
• Crew Chief: Phil Gould
• Carson Hocevar won the Worldwide Express 250, his third victory in 70 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races.
• This is his third victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2023.
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Richmond Raceway.
• Ty Majeski (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Richmond Raceway. It is his 11th top-10 finish in 2023.
• Zane Smith (third) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at Richmond Raceway.
• Jake Garcia (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie.
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 51 points over Ty Majeski.