Pit Stops : Kansas Speedway

• Wednesday, September 25th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Truck Series Playoff field will be cut to eight at Kansas Speedway

Three drivers occupy comfortable positions, and two are in peril as the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series visits Kansas Speedway for Friday’s Kubota Tractor 200 (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Based on their respective performances in the first two events of the series Playoffs, Christian Eckes, Corey Heim and Nick Sanchez already have clinched berths in the Round of 8.

On the other hand, both defending series champion Ben Rhodes and Playoff newbie Daniel Dye face elimination if they can’t erase 12- and seven-point deficits, respectively, to the current cut line for the next round.

Heim, Eckes and eighth-place Grant Enfinger are the three most recent Kansas winners. Heim dominated the 2024 spring race, winning the first stage, finishing second in Stage 2 and beating Zane Smith to the finish line by 1.088 seconds.

The remarkable aspect of the Playoffs so far doesn’t involve a Playoff driver. Rookie Layne Riggs, driving the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, won his first two NCTS races in the Playoff events at the Milwaukee Mile and Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 22-year-old from Bahama, N.C., goes for a sweep of the round on Friday.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling of what this team and I have accomplished these past two races,” said Riggs, son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs. “It stings a little that we’re not in the Playoffs, but that pushes us even more.

“I’m a rookie driver with a rookie crew chief (Dylan Cappello). It wasn’t going to be easy, but things are starting to click, and I’m proud of the progression we’ve made as a group.”

• Kubota Tractor 200
• Pole Winner: Ty Majeski
• Age: 30
• Team : No 98 - Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford
• Owner: Mike Curb
• Crew Chief: Joe Shear Jr
• Ty Majeski won the Pole Award for the Kubota Tractor 200 with a lap of 30853 seconds, 175023 mph
• This is his 10th pole in 85 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his fifth pole and 16th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in eight races at Kansas Speedway
• Connor Mosack (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2024 and his second in two races at Kansas Speedway
• Christian Eckes (third) posted his seventh top-10 start at Kansas Speedway It is his 17th in 19 races this season
• Layne Riggs (13th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Friday, September 27th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Corey Heim completes season sweep at Kansas in NASCAR Truck elimination race

Corey Heim won Friday night’s Kubota Tractor 200 in the fastest truck, but he needed help from fellow Playoff driver Ty Majeski to secure the victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Round of 10 elimination race at Kansas Speedway.

Majeski ran out of fuel approaching the white flag while leading, allowing Heim to surge past in his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota and claim his sixth victory of the season in a race that saw reigning series champion Ben Rhodes and Playoff rookie Daniel Dye eliminated from title contention.

Under the third and final caution on Lap 78 of the 134-lap race, Majeski came to pit road for tires and fuel, along with ThorSport Racing teammate Rhodes and eventual fourth-place finisher Kaden Honeycutt.

Heim, runner-up Layne Riggs and third-place finisher Christian Eckes stayed on track during the caution and made green-flag pit stops within the final 30 laps. Heim, who started the race from the rear of the field after hitting the outside wall and cutting a tire in practice earlier in the day, was chasing Majeski when the latter ran out of fuel.

Majeski, who had clinched a berth in the Round of 8 with his win in Stage 1, rolled home in 15th, the last driver on the lead lap.

“We were the best truck all night—it’s my favorite track, I love coming here,” said Heim, who won at the 1.5-mile speedway in the spring. “I look forward to this. I had a smile on my face all week coming to this place.

“I just thought we could sweep the year here. It’s an awesome place to come. I certainly thought we had it lost there to the 98 (Majeski), almost making it on fuel, but it just shows my team made the right call.”

The victory was Heim’s second at Kansas and the 11th of his career. He led a race-high 64 laps in an event that featured 10 lead changes among three drivers.

Heim, Eckes and Nick Sanchez had clinched spots in the Round of 8 in the second race of the Round of 10 at Bristol. Majeski, seventh-place finisher Rajah Caruth, ninth-place Grant Enfinger, 14th-place Tyler Ankrum and 18th-place Taylor Gray advanced on points Friday night.

In the closing laps, there was real suspense regarding the fortunes of two-time series champion Rhodes and Enfinger. Rhodes was on the same strategy as Majeski and ran as high as third as the race neared its conclusion.

But Enfinger gained positions as Rhodes lost them in the late going, and the die was cast when Rhodes ran out of fuel.

“We qualified fourth, and at the start of the race—massive changes with the truck,” said Rhodes, who won titles in 2021 and 2023. “We could not get it tightened up… Still kind of unacceptable. If we’d have gotten our stage points, it would have taken care of itself.”

Rhodes came home 22nd after running out of fuel and fell 25 points short of Enfinger for the final spot in the Round of 8.

“It was definitely a little bit stressful, definitely too close for comfort there,” Enfinger said. “This is a round we want to forget. We snuck through here, and now we’re looking forward to going to Talladega next week (for the first race in the Round of 8).”

Dye scraped the outside wall twice during the first stage and made multiple pit stops, falling three laps down. He finished 27th and, like Enfinger, was 25 points away from advancing to the next round.

Riggs, who didn’t qualify for the Playoffs in his rookie season, added the runner-up finish to his two victories in the previous two races.

Dawson Sutton ran fifth, followed by Tanner Gray, Caruth, Bayley Currey, Enfinger and Connor Mosack.

• Drivers Entered: 34
• Laps Scheduled: 134
• Margin of Victory: 07.638 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 35 Minutes 50 Seconds
• Average Speed: 125.843
• Cautions: 3 for 20 laps
• Lead Changes: 10
• Green Flag Passes: 1,382 (12.1 passes per green flag lap)

• Kubota Tractor 200
• Race Winner: Corey Heim
• Age: 22
• Team : No 11 - Safelite Toyota
• Owner: Johnny Gray
• Crew Chief: Scott Zipadelli
• Corey Heim won the Kubota Tractor 200, his 11th victory in 60 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his sixth victory and 15th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in six races at Kansas Speedway
• Layne Riggs (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Kansas Speedway It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2024
• Christian Eckes (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in ten races at Kansas Speedway
• Layne Riggs (second) was the highest finishing rookie
• Christian Eckes leads the point standings by 8 points over Corey Heim