Race Results

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Craftsman150

Phoenix Raceway

November 3rd, 2023

Race #23 of the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 150
- Extended to 179 laps
Miles Raced : 182.9
Time of Race : 02 Hours 27 minutes 32 seconds
Average Speed: 72.797 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.421 seconds
Cautions: 12
Caution Laps: 77
Lead Changes: 10
Cars in Race : 36
Finished On Lead Lap: 21 (58%)

Ben Rhodes celebrates in victory lane after winning the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship — Avondale, Arizona - November 3rd, 2023: Ben Rhodes, driver of the #99 Kubota Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship, finishing first of the Championship 4 drivers in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Craftsman 150 at Phoenix Raceway. Photo by Chris Graythen | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	8	19	Christian Eckes	Chevrolet	51	40	11	5	179	36	4	7	4	Running
2	14	35	Jake Garcia	Chevrolet	37	35	2	0	179	0	0	0	9	Running
3	5	4	Chase Purdy	Chevrolet	43	34	9	0	179	8	1	6	7	Running
4	10	1	Jesse Love	Toyota	33	33	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
5	6	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	32	32	0	0	179	0	0	4	6	Running
6	17	23	Grant Enfinger	Chevrolet	31	31	0	0	179	0	0	9	8	Running
7	15	5	Dean Thompson	Toyota	30	30	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
8	27	2	Kaden Honeycutt	Chevrolet	29	29	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
9	25	15	Tanner Gray	Toyota	28	28	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
10	3	2	Nicholas Sanchez	Chevrolet	33	27	6	0	179	5	1	5	0	Running
11	28	88	Matt Crafton	Ford	26	26	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
12	9	24	Rajah Caruth	Chevrolet	25	25	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
13	31	45	Lawless Alan	Chevrolet	24	24	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
14	2	98	Ty Majeski	Ford	41	23	18	1	179	48	1	1	3	Running
15	23	13	Hailie Deegan	Ford	22	22	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
16	32	22	Christian Rose	Ford	21	21	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
17	34	4	Spencer Davis	Ford	20	20	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
18	1	11	Corey Heim	Toyota	19	19	0	1	179	47	1	2	1	Running
19	35	20	Nick Leitz	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
20	36	56	Tyler Hill	Toyota	17	17	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
21	26	9	Colby Howard	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	179	0	0	0	0	Running
22	19	16	Tyler Ankrum	Toyota	15	15	0	0	178	0	0	0	0	Running
23	12	17	Taylor Gray	Toyota	21	14	7	0	177	0	0	10	5	Running
24	20	52	Stewart Friesen	Toyota	13	13	0	0	175	0	0	0	0	Running
25	4	38	Zane Smith	Ford	29	12	17	0	172	35	2	3	2	Accident
26	21	75	Sean Hingorani	Chevrolet	11	11	0	0	167	0	0	0	0	Accident
27	7	51	Jack Wood	Chevrolet	10	10	0	0	162	0	0	0	0	Accident
28	16	77	Derek Kraus	Chevrolet	9	9	0	0	156	0	0	0	0	Accident
29	13	42	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	146	0	0	8	10	Accident
30	24	25	Stefan Parsons	Chevrolet	7	7	0	0	128	0	0	0	0	Accident
31	11	41	Bayley Currey	Chevrolet	6	6	0	0	128	0	0	0	0	Accident
32	22	43	Daniel Dye	Chevrolet	5	5	0	0	128	0	0	0	0	Accident
33	18	61	Jake Drew	Toyota	4	4	0	0	100	0	0	0	0	Accident
34	29	66	Conner Jones	Ford	3	3	0	0	100	0	0	0	0	Accident
35	33	7	Marco Andretti	Chevrolet	2	2	0	0	54	0	0	0	0	Accident
36	30	30	Chris Hacker	Toyota	1	1	0	0	53	0	0	0	0	Accident

Race Infractions

Craftsman150 at Phoenix Raceway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Stefan Parsons	Pre-Race to the Rear Backup Truck	Tail End	0	0	White
Tanner Gray	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	49	53	Yellow
Nicholas Sanchez	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	52	53	Yellow
Sean Hingorani	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	52	53	Yellow
Marco Andretti	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	56	0	Yellow
Nick Leitz	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	57	64	Yellow
Nicholas Sanchez	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	61	64	Yellow
Sean Hingorani	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	63	64	Yellow
Tyler Hill	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	78	82	Yellow
Rajah Caruth	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	79	82	Yellow
Conner Jones	Unspecified Choose Violation	Tail End	81	82	Yellow
Nicholas Sanchez	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	98	99	Yellow
Bayley Currey	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	104	109	Yellow
Nick Leitz	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	105	109	Yellow
Stewart Friesen	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	120	125	Yellow
Jack Wood	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	122	125	Yellow
Tyler Ankrum	Tire violation	Tail End	123	125	Yellow
Sean Hingorani	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	123	125	Yellow
Derek Kraus	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	124	125	Yellow
Stewart Friesen	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	131	135	Yellow
Stewart Friesen	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	131	135	Yellow
Taylor Gray	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	149	155	Yellow
Lawless Alan	Safety violation	Tail End	151	155	Yellow
Derek Kraus	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	158	162	Yellow
Corey Heim	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	159	162	Yellow
Stewart Friesen	Unspecified Choose Violation	Tail End	161	162	Yellow
Colby Howard	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	169	177	Yellow
Colby Howard	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	169	177	Yellow
Zane Smith	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	169	0	Yellow
Sean Hingorani	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	169	0	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

Phoenix Raceway
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship
Race Winner: Christian Eckes
Age: 22
Team : No. 19 - NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet
Owner: McAnally Hilgemann
Crew Chief: Charles Denike
Christian Eckes won the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship, his fifth victory in 91 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races.
This is his fourth victory and 13th top-10 finish in 2023.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in five races at Phoenix Raceway.
Jake Garcia (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Phoenix Raceway. It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2023.
Chase Purdy (third) posted his first top-10 finish in four races at Phoenix Raceway.
Jake Garcia (second) was the highest finishing rookie.
Ben Rhodes has won the 2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship.
Nick Sanchez wins the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.
Chevrolet has won the 2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Manufacturer's Championship.
CHAMPIONSHIP FAST FACTS
Driver Champion: Ben Rhodes
Team: No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford
Ben Rhodes has won his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship becoming the fifth driver in series history to win multiple titles; joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. (2009, '07, '98, ‘96), Jack Sprague (2001, '99, '97), Todd Bodine (2010, '06) and his ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton (2013, 2014, 2019).
Rhodes is one of 20 different drivers to win the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship all-time.
Rhodes finished fifth the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck season finale at Phoenix Raceway to win the title.
Rhodes finished the 2023 season with 23 starts, one win, seven top fives and 14 top 10s.
During the Playoffs this season, Rhodes has posted three top fives and four top 10s in seven starts.
Rhodes, from Louisville, Kentucky, is the first and only NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion from the state of Kentucky.
Owner Champion: Duke and Rhonda Thorson, ThorSport Racing
This is ThorSport Racing's fifth all-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver championship (Matt Crafton, 2013, 2014, 2019; Ben Rhodes, 2021, 2023) – the most driver titles by an organization in the series all-time.
This is ThorSport Racing's second NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner championship (2021, 2023).
ThorSport Racing is one of 16 different organizations to win NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner championship.
ThorSport Racing has posted 28 wins in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series among seven different drivers – Terry Cook, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Ty Majeski.
Owners Duke and Rhonda Thorson fielded their first truck in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with driver Terry Cook at the Milwaukee Mile Speedway on July 6, 1996.
Crew Chief Champion: Rich Lushes
This is Rich Lushes' second career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship (2012, 2023) – both with driver Ben Rhodes.
Lushes is one of 23 different crew chiefs to win a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship, and the sixth different crew chief to win multiple titles; joining Carl Joiner (2013, 2014, 2019), Dennis Connor (1997, 1999, 2001), Mike Hillman Jr. (2006, 2010), Rick Ren (2007, 2009) and Ryan ‘Rudy' Fugle (2015, 2017).
Lushes has three career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victories – all with driver Ben Rhodes.

Race Recap

Eckes wins thrilling CRAFTSMAN Truck race at Phoenix, Rhodes banks second career championship

November 3rd, 2023

By Holly Cain - NASCAR Wire Service

Cautions, re-starts, retribution, extra laps and high-action marked Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. And that was just the final 50 laps.

In the end, ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes claimed his second series championship in the last three years with a hard-earned fifth-place finish in the No. 99 Ford while McAnally Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes raced to his fourth win of the season by a slight .421-seconds over rookie teammate Jake Garcia in four dramatic overtime periods.

That’s the conclusion to an evening that featured 12 caution periods, 29 laps of overtime competition and plenty of high-stakes racing – especially among the four championship contenders that earned a chance to settle the season title.

Perhaps indicative of the night, Rhodes’ finish and ultimate trophy haul wasn’t secure until the checkered flag with championship runner-up Grant Enfinger giving it his all in the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet coming off Turn 4 in an all-out pursuit to the very end.

Both Rhodes and Enfinger had survived close calls in the overtime laps. Rhodes collided with Zane Smith racing for the lead – hitting Smith’s truck when it appeared Smith missed a shift out front in the second overtime restart. Enfinger had close calls in two of the four extra-lap periods and still was able to pull off that final push forward; ultimately finishing one position behind Rhodes in the standings.

The Regular Season Champion and race polesitter Corey Heim finished 18th after contact from fellow Championship 4 driver Carson Hocevar with 30 laps of regulation remaining in the scheduled 150-lap race.

“I can’t even believe it," the 26-year-old Kentucky native Rhodes said of his dramatic title win. “It’s just so awesome, man. To go 25 laps into overtime, do you know what that feels like? It’s crazy. I didn’t think we were going to make it. I thought we were going to pop a tire, that anything that could have gone wrong was going to go wrong.

“Grant [Enfinger] almost got me. But hats off to him, he ran a great race. I wouldn’t’ want to race against anybody else for the championship. He raced me clean and I respect the heck out of him for it."

“I saw him," Rhodes said of Enfinger’s final push forward in the last corner. “He went for everything, but he ran me clean and I thank him for that. That’s what these championships are all about."

Enfinger, whose GMS Racing team is closing shop at the end of the season, was especially gutted to come so very close to his first championship.

“I don’t know," Enfinger said of doing anything differently on that last lap.

“Obviously we got loose there at the end," he continued. “Maybe if he didn’t have such a good run down the backstretch, we’d be able to make that pass. It’s a shame the championship came down to a race like that with 15 green-white-checkers or whatever it was. I feel like we did everything we could to win this and just got used up."

The other two championship contenders, Heim and Hocevar had a more contentious situation on-track. Heim, whose 47 laps out front in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota were second most laps led on the night, was actually leading the championship-eligible drivers when Hocevar hit him going into Turn 2 with 30 laps remaining. The contact sent Heim’s Toyota into Stewart Friesen’s Toyota which hit the wall and brought out a caution. Hocevar continued on and Heim had to pit for repairs and went down a lap.

Heim viewed the hit as intentional and later in the race, collided with Hocevar bringing out another caution period. Heim insisted his car just wasn’t steering properly at the time, while Hocevar said he had fully expected the payback. It was enough to sideline Hocevar’s No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet which was credited with a 29th-place finish from the garage.

“My only goal was to try slow him down," Hocevar said. “I didn’t want to do that at all. With my track record, I can’t sit here and say I didn’t mean to. I just messed up. I was trying really hard to slow him up and just messed it up.

“I feel bad I robbed him of that and feel sorry for that," an apologetic Hocevar added of Heim’s championship chances. “I just messed up."

The 21-year-old Heim had a streak of 15 consecutive top-10 finishes coming into the race and was considered the favorite by many. He had three wins on the season in only his first fulltime year of competition.

“It was a great year, a phenomenal year for us and our worst finish in like six months," a disappointed Heim said. “Really put together a good race and really hoped the guys would race clean, I have a lot of respect for everybody in the field. But clearly, I don’t anymore. It is what it is, it’s part of racing.

As for the later contact with Hocevar, Heim said it was purely coincidental, “It wasn’t retaliation. I had no side force, he put it on my door and I wrecked [into him]."

“I’ve been racing Carson for a long time, racing since I was eight or nine years-old," Heim said later. “That’s kind of just what he does. He’ll wreck you and apologize and do it again the next week. So that’s not going to be the last time he does it and certainly the first time he’d done it. I’ve known him for a long time. … it is what it is. I completely expected it."

As for his victory, the 22-year-old Eckes tried to reconcile the championship race win with having just been eliminated from Playoff contention. He had a win (at Kansas) and a pair of runner-up finishes (Indianapolis Raceway Park and Bristol, Tenn.) during the Playoff stretch but was eliminated after finished of 19th and 20th in the two races leading into the championship finale.

“Those two races that killed the whole Playoffs pretty much and that’s just kind of the nature of it," Eckes said. “I didn’t do my job last week and really the week before either.

“That gets us out and that puts us in this situation, but it’s motivating for next year and it was motivating for this race too.

“This one kind of stings, I know it’s a win, but the stupid mistakes the last two weeks of a near perfect Playoffs cost us a championship," Eckes added.

“It’s kind of hard to be happy right now, but overall, just super proud of everybody for the year that we’ve had and just ready for 2024.

Chase Purdy, Jesse Love and Rhodes rounded out the top five. Enfinger, Dean Thompson, Kaden Honeycutt, Tanner Gray and Nick Sanchez completed the top 10. It was a career best finish for the runner-up Garcia as well as Love and Honeycutt.