It’s almost time for the NASCAR Truck Series Playoffs which means Ty Majeski and Joe Shear Jr. are bringing their best pieces to the track, winning the race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the second year in a row.
The box score will not show how dominant of a performance it was because Majeski was hit with a restart violation near the end of the first stage but stayed on the lead lap despite having to drive down pit road to serve his penalty.
Majeski drove through the field over the second stage, from 16thto second, taking the lead from Christian Eckes on Lap 145 and controlled the remainder of the race.
“It’s huge,” Majeski said in a postrace interview with Fox Sports 1. “I made a little bit of a mistake and it was probably a little bit of a close call on that restart. I had to pony up and get it back. Obviously when you make a mistake as a driver, you drive a little bit harder to get it back. These guys had my back with awesome pit stops.”
The win is the fourth of his career in the third-tier division and first of the season, cementing his place in the playoffs, which start after the next race on August 10 at Richmond Raceway. Technically, Majeski locked into the playoffs on points earlier in the race but the win provides him five key playoff points towards his attempts to return to his first championship race since 2022.
“It’s been an up and down year,” Majeski said. “We have had the speed to win but just haven’t put it all together and had some bad luck along the way. Some of it is self-inflicted.”
Eckes swept the first two stages and held on to finish second but was confronted after the race by Corey Heim over an incident between the two championship favorites earlier in the race. It cut a tire on Heim’s No. 11 and forced him to drive back through the field too.
“He’s got a right to be mad,” Eckes said. “I just misjudged the straightaway and he acted like I went to the wall but I didn’t. I tried to leave him a lane, I just misjudged it on my end. That’s on me, I apologize to all the 11 guys. I’d probably be mad too.”
Heim ultimately finished 17th.
“He said he misjudged his exit a little bit and I basically had to turn away from the wall to not knock the fence down,” Heim said. “There was minimal contact but it was just detrimental to our night so I wanted to talk to him. I don’t think he meant to, we’ve always raced clean but he’s also raced me tight. I told him to have some common courtesy and just give me an extra lane next time.”
Grant Enfinger continues to show pace in the second half of the regular season with his third place run ahead of Tyler Ankrum as both also locked themselves into the Truck Series playoffs on championship points.
Realistically, the final playoff spots are going to come down to Ben Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Daniel Dye and Stewart Friesen. Keep in mind that anyone below the cutline could still win their way into the playoffs, a group of drivers that also includes Layne Riggs, Ty Dillon, Dean Thompson or Jake Garcia.