Practice #1 : Richmond Raceway

• Wednesday, August 7th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Richmond is set to decide the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff field

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action in Saturday night’s Clean Harbors 250 at Richmond Raceway – the last regular season race of the year and one that will formally set the 10-driver 2024 Playoff field and crown the Regular Season Champion.

Five drivers have earned Playoff positions with victories this year – including Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Nicholas Sanchez, Ty Majeski and Rajah Caruth. Five other drivers are currently “In” Playoff position via points – Tyler Ankrum (+85), Grant Enfinger (+77), Taylor Gray (+48), defending series champion Ben Rhodes (+22) and Tanner Gray (+5).

Daniel Dye (-5) and Stewart Friesen (-16) are just below the cutoff line and within reasonable distance to challenge for a Playoff position in the right race circumstances Saturday night. Three-time series champion Matt Crafton is just behind Friesen in the standings, 43 points back.

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Eckes holds a 50-point advantage on TRICON Garage’s Heim for the regular season title despite Heim’s series best five-win tally. The 23-year-old Eckes could clinch the Regular Season Championship by scoring 11 or more points on Saturday – the regular season title includes the all-important 15-point bonus Playoff points to carry throughout the seven-race postseason. If Eckes claims that title, he would be the eighth different driver to do so.

Enfinger, driver of the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet, is the only fulltime driver in the field that has a previous win at Richmond, claiming the 2020 victory in the series’ first race back at the three-quarter miler after a 15-year break. And Enfinger’s 5.5 average finish (four top-10s in as many races) is best among those with at least four starts at the track.

Carson Hocevar – now a rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series – won the Richmond truck race last year by more than 2-seconds over Majeski, who led a race best 168 of the 250 laps. Among the four drivers closest to the cutoff mark, Rhodes was 12th last year, Tanner Gray was 16th, Dye was 21st and Friesen was 27th.

Of that foursome, Rhodes boasts the best average finish of 10.0 in his four Richmond starts with a pair of top-10s and 79 laps led. Tanner Gray has never scored a top-10 at Richmond with a best showing of 16th-place in three of his four starts there. Dye has just one previous race at the track and Friesen has one top-10 in his four starts – 10th place in 2020 – and has never led a lap.

Highly-touted young ARCA Menards Series drivers Connor Zilisch, 18, and William Sawalich, 17, will be on the starting grid this Saturday. Zilisch will drive the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet making his second of five scheduled starts on the season. Sawalich will be making his make his fourth start this season driving the No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra. He scored a season best 12th-place finish at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in the last race. He finished 10th at Richmond last year.

• Clean Harbors 250
• Pole Winner: Christian Eckes
• Age: 23
• Team : No 19 - Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet
• Owner: Bill McAnally
• Crew Chief: Charles Denike
• Christian Eckes won the Pole Award for the Clean Harbors 250 with a lap of 22755 seconds, 118655 mph
• This is his ninth pole in 107 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his third pole and 14th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in four races at Richmond Raceway
• Ty Majeski (second) posted his 14th top-10 start of 2024 and his third in three races at Richmond Raceway
• Grant Enfinger (third) posted his fourth top-10 start at Richmond Raceway It is his 10th in 16 races this season
• Layne Riggs (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, August 10th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Majeski wins second consecutive race in regular season finale; Truck Playoff field set

Ty Majeski took the lead on a restart with eight laps remaining in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season finale Clean Harbors 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway to hoist his second consecutive race trophy.

Majeski’s No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford led Christian Eckes’ No. 19 Chevy across the finish line by a slight .936-seconds to earn the win and vindicate a gut-wrenching loss at the three-quarter mile Richmond track from a year ago when he dominated the race only to lose the lead with four laps remaining.

That tough loss was still very much on the mind of the 29-year old Wisconsin native this weekend. And he nearly gave this one away too after receiving a pit road penalty when a tire got loose on his first pit stop during the Stage 1 break.

“This feels good, we’ve had great ThorSport trucks here at Richmond the last two years, but found different ways to lose them (races) and tried to do that again tonight ’’ said Majeski, who now has five career wins in the series.

“We really need to clean that stuff up.’’

Eckes, driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet officially claimed the regular season championship in winning Saturday night’s opening stage – his series best eighth stage victory of the season.

“Confidence is high for sure,’’ said Eckes, a three-race winner in 2024. “I feel like we’re in a better position than we were last year and I thought we were in a pretty good position last year too. Real proud of the team. We didn’t have quite what we needed today but proud of everybody and ready to get these next seven races underway.”

For the first time in the modern Playoff format, a driver raced his way into championship contention in the last cutoff race. Daniel Dye, 20, finished eighth in the No. 43 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet – good enough to put him in the Playoffs by 12-points over TRICON Garage Racing’s Tanner Gray, who finished 12th.

“Just all the hard work these guys have put in and it’s really good to validate myself and the work I’ve put in to change up what I’ve been doing,’’ Dye said. “It’s so cool to have our 43 in the Playoffs.

Tanner Gray stood by his car, understandably frustrated with the night.

“We just weren’t good enough,’’ Tanner Gray said. “Didn’t have the speed, didn’t have the balance and I didn’t do a good enough job, so I’m really frustrated.”

His younger brother Taylor Gray finished third Saturday night, followed by veteran Grant Enfinger and rookie Layne Riggs. The third-place finish was enough to secure Gray’s position in the 10-driver Playoff field and comes in his first full-time season. Fourth-place finisher Enfinger led the most laps – 98 of the 250 – and earned the Stage 2 win; his first stage victory since last season.

Tyler Ankrum, defending series champion Ben Rhodes, Dye, Ty Dillon and rookie Connor Hall rounded out the top-10 in Saturday’s race.

The 10-driver Playoff field will include TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim, a five-race winner who holds a three-point advantage on Eckes to start the seven-race Playoff run. Majeski goes into the Playoff run ranked third, followed by fellow race winners this season, Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth.

Enfinger is seeded sixth followed by Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Rhodes and Dye.

The Playoff opener, the LiUNA 175, is Aug. 25 at the Milwaukee Mile Speedway (4 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“These are my first two wins outside of the playoffs and they’re right on the cusp of the playoffs, so this team just seems to click right around playoff time,’’ Majeski said. “Between that and a lot of these racetracks are just our bread and butter. [Crew chief] Joe [Shear] and I, I feel like we’re pretty good at these last two racetracks and we’re going to another familiar one in Milwaukee and the way that this playoff schedule lays out is pretty good for our team. I’m excited to get going.”

• Drivers Entered: 38 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 250
• Margin of Victory: 0.936 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 25 Minutes 18 Seconds
• Average Speed: 77.426
• Cautions: 9 for 69 laps
• Lead Changes: 12
• Green Flag Passes: 1,254 (6.9 passes per green flag lap)

• Clean Harbors 250
• Race Winner: Ty Majeski
• Age: 29
• Team : No 98 - Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford
• Owner: Mike Curb
• Crew Chief: Joe Shear Jr
• Ty Majeski won the Clean Harbors 250, his fifth victory in 82 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his second victory and 10th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in three races at Richmond Raceway
• Christian Eckes (second) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at Richmond Raceway It is his 15th top-10 finish in 2024
• Taylor Gray (third) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Richmond Raceway
• Layne Riggs (fifth) was the highest finishing rookie
• Christian Eckes leads the point standings by 74 points over Corey Heim