Practice #1 : Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

• Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park
• TSport 200
• Pole Winner: Christian Eckes
• Age: 22
• Team : No. 19 - NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet
• Owner: Bill McAnally
• Crew Chief: Charles Denike
• Christian Eckes won the Pole Award for the TSport 200 with a lap of 22.884 seconds, 107.918 mph.
• This is his fifth pole in 85 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races.
• This is his second pole and 12th top-10 start in 2023.
• This is his first pole in two races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
• Ty Majeski (second) posted his 14th top-10 start of 2023 and his second in two races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
• Corey Heim (third) posted his second top-10 start at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. It is his 11th in 16 races this season.
• Rajah Caruth (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Friday, August 11th, 2023
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Ty Majeski dominates NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff opener

Ty Majeski’s timing was impeccable.

Winless this season before Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Majseki put an old-fashioned beating on the rest of the field in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff opener.

The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford cemented a spot in the Playoffs’ Round of 8 in dominating fashion, leading 179 of 200 laps, sweeping the first two stages of the race and beating pole winner and runner-up Christian Eckes to the finish line by 3.422 seconds.

That was the smallest margin Majeski held at the end of any stage. He held a 3.904-secodn advantage over eventual eighth-place finisher Corey Heim at the finish of Stage 1. He was up by six seconds over Heim before the second stage ended under caution for Chris Hacker’s spin on the backstretch.

Clearly, the short-track ace was in his element at the .686-mile speedway.

“I’m proud of the effort, but this is just the start of our Playoff run,” said Majeski, who failed to win with the fastest truck two weekends ago at Richmond.

In that race, Majeski sped on pit road, and his team failed to cover a late green-flag pit stop by race winner Carson Hocevar. In contrast, the effort of the entire No. 98 team was impeccable on Friday night.

“Mistakes really cost us (at Richmond),” Majeski said. “We learned from those. Obviously, tonight we were in a really similar situation, and we were able to execute on all fronts. The pit crew was great, (crew chief) Joe (Shear Jr.) made great calls, and I felt like I executed pretty good on the restarts.

“We put it all together as a race team tonight, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

Hocevar came home fourth behind non-Playoff driver Layne Riggs. Reigning series champion Zane Smith was fifth after starting from the rear of the field because of unapproved adjustments to his No. 38 Ford.

William Sawalich was a career-best sixth in his fourth Truck Series start, followed by fellow non-Playoff driver Rajah Caruth. Heim in eighth was penalized for too many men over the wall late in the race. Three-time series champion Matt Crafton and Matt DiBenedetto completed the top 10.

The race also was a triumph for another driver who never led a lap and finished 19^th in the first car one lap down. Shane Van Gisbergen, who took the NASCAR world by storm by winning the Chicago Street Race in his only Cup start, avoided all trouble and got plenty of seat time in his first trip around an oval.

“It was awesome,” said the New Zealander. “With 10 to go, I finally dropped off the lead lap. “I had a ball. It was awesome racing with people, a lot of fun… I’m living the dream, it was really cool, and everyone was respectful. It was awesome.”

Heim, the regular-season champion, retained the series lead by three points over Majeski.

After the next two races—at the Milwaukee Mile (Aug. 27) and Kansas Speedway (Sept. 8)—the Playoff field will be cut from 10 drivers to eight. The two drivers currently below the cut line are Crafton and DiBenedetto, who trail eighth-place Nick Sanchez by two points and three points, respectively.

• Drivers Entered: 39 (3 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 22
• Laps Actual: 200 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 03.422 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 49 Minutes 39 Seconds
• Average Speed: 75.075
• Cautions: 5 for 41 laps
• Lead Changes: 3
• Green Flag Passes: 1,100 (6.9 passes per green flag lap)

• Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park
• TSport 200
• Race Winner: Ty Majeski
• Age: 28
• Team : No. 98 - Road Ranger Ford
• Owner: Mike Curb
• Crew Chief: Joe Shear Jr.
• Ty Majeski won the TSport 200, his third victory in 60 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races.
• This is his first victory and 12th top-10 finish in 2023.
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
• Christian Eckes (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2023.
• Layne Riggs (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
• Rajah Caruth (seventh) was the highest finishing rookie.
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 3 points over Ty Majeski.