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NASCAR Cup Series
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Race Preview
NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4
- Thursday, November 7th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4
Ryan Blaney hopes Championship Race is just as sweet the second time around
Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney smiled and acknowledged that having won a title in NASCAR’s premier series last year helped prepare him for his second shot this weekend.
Should the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford capture another title Sunday, he would be the first driver since Jimmie Johnson’s five-consecutive-championship run from 2006 through 2010 to win back-to-back titles. It would be the third consecutive for team owner Roger Penske, with teammate Joey Logano winning one in 2022.
“We have a chance to bring him (Penske) three in a row on the Cup side, and I’ve always thought internally to myself, ‘How do you make Roger proud?’” the 30-year-old Blaney explained.
“That’s my only goal in my racing life the last 12 years, how do I make Roger proud—because he’s given me my life really and bluntly—it’s to win races and win championships he hasn’t done before.
“And it’s a very small list of things he hasn’t done in motorsports, and we have a chance to do it for him. It’s just great to be in a position to do it for him, and we have two cars that can do it.
“He’s meant a ton to me, and it would mean the world just to keep bringing him things,” Blaney continued. “You can’t buy him anything, so you’ve got to win him championships and races, and that’s really all he cares about. It’s pretty amazing how dedicated he is to motorsports for how long he’s been in it.”
Blaney is coming off a walk-off victory, taking the trophy at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway last weekend, prevailing in a must-win, must-perform situation similar to what he will need to do this weekend at Phoenix to repeat.
A three-race winner this season with 11 top fives, Blaney is the No. 1 seed in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
He is bolstered, he says, by having learned a lot from last year’s experience—his first time racing for a championship. He’s comfortable, smiling and insisting no lucky trinkets or superstitions necessary.
“Mentally, I think it’s been a little bit different because I have some experience being in the Championship 4—last year was my first time and I was just excited to be a part of the Champ 4 and going for a title and still am,” he said. “But I had a lot of unknowns last year. I didn’t know how the week would go. This year, you just have more experience, and you know what to expect.
“I’ve always said, experience is kind of king over everything,” he added. “You just get more comfortable in these positions when you have the reps in it.”
Years of Champ 4 experience have given Joey Logano sanguine perspective
At 34 years old, Joey Logano is competing in his 16th full-time season of NASCAR Cup Series racing, and on Sunday, he’ll try for his third series title in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford is the unrivaled veteran of Championship 4 events, having qualified for a record sixth this season. All his Championship 4 appearances have come in even-numbered years since NASCAR adopted the elimination format in 2014.
It was a relaxed, confident Logano who greeted reporters on NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday at the one-mile flat track. That stood in sharp contrast to the driver who tried for his first title 10 years ago.
“It’s completely different,” said Logano, who shares the lead with Kyle Busch for most championships among full-time active drivers with two. “I remember my first time. How do you not get nervous the first time you sit in here, with all you guys talking.
“You’ve got the thoughts of what the championship would mean to your career, your team—and will you ever get another chance? It’s something you really want to click off and say you’re a NASCAR champion. All this stuff goes through your mind.
“That was something my first time that really… it got to me. I don’t see how it doesn’t, especially when you’re younger. Now you start to get comfortable in the scenario, you start to love the pressure and get excited more than nervous. That’s a big deal.”
A third title would put Logano in elite company, tied with Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Tony Stewart—all NASCAR Hall of Famers. Only seven-time champions Richard Petty, Dale Earnhart Sr. and Jimmie Johnson and four-time champion Jeff Gordon have more.
Logano, however, isn’t concerned with his legacy just yet.
“When it comes to individually, I don’t think about it that much,” said Logano, who won the first of two straight titles for Team Penske in 2022. “I think of it more as a team, because I know what a championship is worth to everybody.
“So I think that matters more. The individual piece, to say you’ve got three of them, I mean that’s great, but I think because I’m still doing it, I don’t look at it that much. But I’d like to see the people that I care about on the race team celebrate.”
In order for the No. 22 team to celebrate, though, Logano will have to beat William Byron, Tyler Reddick and his own teammate, 2023 champion Ryan Blaney.
William Byron is ignoring ‘outside noise’ as title race approaches
William Byron stood anxiously next to his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet last Sunday on Martinsville (Va.) Speedway’s pit lane as NASCAR officials settled a points tiebreaker between Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell—the winner receiving a ticket to the Championship Four, the other forced to wait until next year for a title opportunity.
Byron acknowledged the wait seemed like eternity, but this year’s Daytona 500 winner received the news that he “was in”—thanks to a Bell penalty—and maintains he instantaneously turned his thoughts to winning his first NASCAR Cup Series title as the lone Chevrolet driver among the four title contenders this weekend at Phoenix.
On the drive home from Martinsville to Charlotte, Byron shared that he put his cell phone away and arrived home “kind of excited… it was kind of relaxing.”
The 25-year-old Charlotte native and 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion will benefit from his 14-time-championship Hendrick team being able to focus its massive resources and efforts on his iconic No. 24 Chevrolet.
Byron won at Phoenix in the spring of 2023 and has four top-five finishes through the opening nine races of this year’s Playoffs. He is one top-10 away from tying his personal best of 21 in 2023.
“I haven’t ever felt as bonded to my team as I am now,” said Byron, who finished a career-best third in the 2023 championship standings. “We had a meeting on Sunday night about it, and I feel like we turned the page really, really quickly.
“For me personally, I’ve blocked out a ton of the noise. I haven’t looked at social media. I don’t really care. I’m just trying to focus on getting the 24 car as fast as I can. I think past experiences have probably helped fuel that. I’ve been through enough BS in my Cup career that I know what to focus on and what to block out.
“I just want to do a great job for my team. I feel honestly Sunday night is a huge opportunity for us to go out and win the championship.”
Tyler Reddick is focused on the Championship Race in first attempt at Cup title
If the spring event at Phoenix Raceway is an indication, Tyler Reddick has cause for optimism entering Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at the one-mile track (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Five Toyota drivers combined to lead 298 of 312 laps in that race, with Reddick tying his 23XI Racing team owner, Denny Hamlin, with a race-high 68. Ultimately, Reddick finished 10th behind winner Christopher Bell, who led 50 circuits.
Before this season, Reddick finished third in the spring races of 2022 and 2023, but he says there’s a reason to take his more lackluster results in previous championship races with a grain of salt, given that this is his first time at Phoenix with a chance to win the Cup title.
“I feel like those other years, the season’s just getting rolling (in the spring), and you come here, you go with what you know, and I feel like I’ve ran well. We come back here for Championship Weekend when we haven’t been part of it, that’s our opportunity to try something, to learn something, to take risks with strategy, so it’s not always guaranteed to work out.
“Yeah, it’s been hit-or-miss from that aspect, but certainly when the car’s been very capable, I’ve been able to find ways to get a little bit of speed out of it or just get the speed that the car has out of it and have a potentially good weekend…
“It’s nice to know that when we really focus on this weekend and bring what we know is going to work good, we have speed.”
Reddick comes to Phoenix having qualified for the Championship by winning from the pole Oct. 27 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the same track where he locked up consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series titles in 2018 and 2019.
Reddick is the only Toyota driver to win a Cup race since Bell triumphed at New Hampshire on June 23.
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PREVIOUS RACE RESULTS
NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race
Sunday, November 10th at 3:00pm ET
Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, AZ
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Race Recap
Joey Logano outduels teammate Ryan Blaney …
- Sunday, November 10th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Joey Logano outduels teammate Ryan Blaney for third NASCAR Cup Championship
Joey Logano pulled off a masterful restart and held on for dear life.
Fifty-four laps later, Logano had his third NASCAR Cup Series championship—most among full-time active drivers—by a scant 0.330 seconds over Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.
On the final restart on Lap 259 of 312 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Logano drove like a cannon shot from sixth place past Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and finally race leader and Championship 4 contender William Byron to seize the top spot on Lap 260.
Logano remained out front the rest of the way, though Blaney got as close as 0.167 seconds back over the last 10 laps.
The victory was Logano’s fourth at Phoenix, his fourth of the season and the 36th of his career. As a three-time champion, Logano ties Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Tony Stewart, all NASCAR Hall of Famers.
Only four drivers have more titles: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jimmie Johnson with seven each and Jeff Gordon with four.
The championship was the third straight for team owner Roger Penske, with Logano winning in 2022 and Blaney claiming the crown last year.
“I love the Playoffs, I love it, man,” Logano said. “What a race! What a Team Penske battle there at the end. Had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12 (Blaney). And he had a lot of long-run speed there, and it was all I had there to hold him off.
“Man, three (championships), that’s really special to get that. What a team. To fight through today, we went through a little bit of adversity throughout the race.
“I’ve got the best team. I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team, and together we’re very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most. We’ve got a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters.”
Logano’s team, however, had issues on pit road. The No. 22 Ford lost four spots under caution for the Stage 1 break, and after green-flag stops during the second stage, Patrick Gray from Austin Cindric’s No. 2 team replaced Logano’s jackman, Graham Stoddard, who was ill.
After the final restart, Logano took charge, with considerable help from his spotter.
“Coleman Pressley,” said Logano, who led twice for 107 laps, second to Christopher Bell’s 143. “He was telling me where (Blaney) was. He was up there telling me the best lanes to run. And it’s a balance of putting dirty air on him and running the fastest laps for my Ford. We just got a little too tight there at the end and couldn’t really wrap the bottom as well as I wanted to.
“One-two for Team Penske, three championships in a row since this Next-Gen car (was introduced in 2022). Couldn’t be more proud of everyone at the shop that’s built these things.”
Byron finished third behind Logano and Blaney. Tyler Reddick was last among the Championship 4 drivers in sixth and never was a factor for the win.
After the final restart shook out, Blaney was fourth behind Logano, Byron and Larson. He passed Larson on Lap 277 and Byron on Lap 290. Over the next 22 suspense-filled laps, Blaney got close to Logano’s rear bumper but not close enough to make a move for the lead.
“I had to work really hard to get by the 5 (Larson) and the 24 (Byron). Joey was pretty far away, and I was working really hard to try to get to Joey. I was kind of nervous that if I ended up getting close to him, a lot of my stuff would be burned off of it, and it kind of was. But didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t really wait.
“Yeah, just took too long. The restart didn’t play out for us. I feel like if I came out behind Joey and didn’t have two cars in between us that I had to pass, I would have been able to have a better shot. But just the restart didn’t work out, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
Logano followed a strange path to the championship. He was eliminated from the Playoffs at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, only to get a second life when the Chevrolet of Alex Bowman failed post-race inspection by not meeting minimum weight.
Logano took full advantage, winning at Las Vegas the following week to earn his place in the Championship 4 Round.
Larson and Bell finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Bubba Wallace, Elliott, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez came home seventh through 10th.
The race was not without its share of comic relief. Coming to a restart after the Stage 1 break, the pace car slid into the sand barrels protecting the entrance to pit road, necessitating a 5 minute 47 second red flag period for cleanup.
After the race ended, Logano looked around in bewilderment.
“Where’s my crew?” Logano asked, then realized that his team was hustling from pit stall No. 24 on the backstretch, the stall assigned by NASCAR after Logano’s car failed pre-race inspection twice.
The final race marked a season of endings. Pole winner Martin Truex Jr. finished 17th in his final race as a full-time driver.
Kyle Busch’s record streak of 19 straight years with at least one Cup victory ended in a 21st-place finish. Logano now holds the longest active streak at 13 years.
Stewart-Haas Racing is ceasing to operate after the end of the race, with 12th-place Noah Gragson finishing highest among the four SHR drivers.
Jeff Striegle called his last race in the booth for the Motor Racing Network (MRN). Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing, announced his retirement after 45 years with NASCAR’s exclusive tire maker.
Harrison Burton finished 16th in his final drive for the Wood Brothers. And Fed-Ex sponsored Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the final time.
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NASCAR Xfinity Series
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Race Preview
Justin Allgaier is poised and prepared to …
- Thursday, November 7th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Justin Allgaier is poised and prepared to run for elusive NASCAR Xfinity title
JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier arrives at Phoenix Raceway as the most seasoned NASCAR Xfinity Series driver competing for the 2024 championship.
The 38-year-old Illinois-native will be making his seventh appearance in the Championship 4 Round and third in a row — but will be racing for the first title in a 25-win, 15-year career in the series in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (7 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Allgaier’s two Phoenix wins in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (in 2017 and 2019) are most among the four Championship-eligible drivers, but his best showing in the final championship standings is runner-up last season and in 2020.
This season, Allgaier has 19 top-10 finishes, including a pair of victories (at Darlington, S.C., and Michigan) and has led 705 laps, his second-highest total in the last four years, with a race still remaining.
“I think it’s understated what this team has really accomplished,” Allgaier said Thursday during NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 Media Day at the track. “[Crew chief] Jim Pohlman told me two weeks ago, ‘We’re going to go win Phoenix, it’s just a matter of whether you race for a championship or not. If we’re going to raise a trophy, I’d rather it be the big one rather than the little one.’
“He’s very confident in that, and to have your leader of your group that confident kind of exudes confidence through everybody.”
“The confidence level is high. We’re ready to go,” he added. “When you show up here with a group that you know is capable of executing at a high level, it makes it a lot more fun, knowing everybody’s on the same page.”
Allgaier conceded his experience overall—and specifically at racing for a championship—has played a major role in his approach.
“I feel like in years past, I’ve kind of carried it on my back of like, you have to go here and there, lead every lap, qualify on the pole,” Allgaier said. “You get caught up in that mentality. Last year, I spun out on Lap 5 just trying to get in front of the other Playoff cars. That’s not what we needed to do.
“I’m just looking at this [Championship Race] a lot differently than I have in years past. I don’t feel the pressure of the championship like I have in years past. I come to this weekend, and I think being here as many times as I have and it’s not worked out, you get this sense of peace of like, ‘I’ve been here before and not been able to accomplish it.’ So, with a different mindset we’ll see what happens.”
Cole Custer wants to cap Stewart-Haas career with another title
Cole Custer’s life is about to change again—and he wants it to happen with as much gusto as possible.
The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion is carrying the banner for Stewart-Haas Racing, which will cease to exist at season’s end.
Next year, Custer will return to the NASCAR Cup Series with reconstituted Haas Factory Team, but he would like nothing better than to reward the current ownership and employees at Stewart-Haas with a second straight title in the No. 00 Ford.
“We had a going-away party on Tuesday and seeing all the people that have been there for so long… everybody’s had a part in our team,” Custer said. “We used a lot of notes from the Cup guys (Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson and Josh Berry).
“We asked a lot of questions. A lot of guys have touched that car. It definitely means a ton if we can try to finish this thing out strong… It would mean so much to everybody in that building, but at the same time, I think it would be so cool to see (co-owners) Tony (Stewart’s) and Gene (Haas) names go out on top.”
From a personal perspective, Custer would join an impressive list of consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series title winners that includes Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick.
“It would be huge,” Custer said, “and from another standpoint, just having the shot to win a championship in NASCAR—you don’t get a ton of shots at that, so you want to make every single opportunity at that count.
“So, we’re going to try to make that happen and hopefully have that title again.”
To accomplish the goal, Custer will have to beat veterans Justin Allgaier and AJ Allmendinger, along with Championship 4 newcomer Austin Hill. He’ll also have to deal with a challenging one-mile, irregularly-shaped race track.
“You’re taking a 3,000-pound stock car and trying to make it go around a flat corner,” Custer said. “So, it’s very difficult to make the car do that. The two ends are different, and trying to get the car to work at every single point isn’t easy, because it’s so different.
“(The track is) starting to get some age to it, so the tires are falling off throughout a run, so you have to have a little bit of everything here.”
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PREVIOUS RACE RESULTS
Xfinity Series Championship Race
Saturday, November 9th at 7:30pm ET
Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, AZ
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Race Recap
Justin Allgaier overcomes early mistakes t…
- Saturday, November 9th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Justin Allgaier overcomes early mistakes to win first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship
In one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent memory, longtime fan favorite Justin Allgaier at last claimed the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship trophy Saturday night at Phoenix Raceway – coming from a lap-down mid-race in a back-up car to hoist the shiny hardware.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst’s No. 98 Ford passed Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race win on the last lap of double-overtime for his second win of the season and joined the new series champ Allgaier in twin celebratory burnouts on the front stretch of the mile-track.
“I said all weekend, I don’t know what the plan is, but HE has a reason for everything and tonight is true of that, this is mind-blowing, it really is,” said Allgaier, his voice already hoarse and strained from screaming in happiness, but the smile unshakable as his young daughters came in for a hug for dad.
“This team never gave up. [Crew chief] Jim Pohlman and his leadership skills are second to none. He told me all weekend that we were going to have a chance and we tried to give it away every way we could.”
It was an emotional outcome for the 38-year old Allgaier, who joked that he was just trying to make the race exciting for the fans. He has qualified for the Championship 4 seven times, finishing runner-up twice including last year.
And now he could finally celebrate. Allgaier’s team owners, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller joined Allgaier’s longtime sponsor Rick Brandt on pit road. They were overjoyed to congratulate their driver who overcame a weekend of obstacles to finally claim this historic moment – and it came on a night when the sport observed a moment of silence to honor another great champion, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, who passed away earlier Saturday.
The obstacles Allgaier faced happened well before the race’s green flag. His primary car was destroyed in a crash four laps into Friday’s opening practice session after running over oil on track from another car that ultimately forced four drivers into back-ups for the race. The car swap meant Allgaier started last in the 38th car field Saturday night, but the always upbeat 14-year veteran of the series, had moved into the top 10 by lap 26.
Then, after all that work, Allgaier was called for a re-start violation on Lap 101 and sent down pit road for a penalty … only to be called for speeding on the way out and penalized with another trip down pit road – both penalties served during green flag racing. After the penalties, Allgaier dropped to 35th on-track and was a lap down on Lap 107 of the scheduled 200-lapper.
He got a huge break in fortune with a caution period with 45 laps remaining – opting to stay out and get back on the lead lap. He stayed in the top-10 and worked his way forward – moving from sixth place to second on the first overtime restart. He started on the front row of the second overtime restart, but was passed on the final lap by Herbst for the race win. Allgaier’s second place finish still good enough to land the championship, however.
It marked the third career win for the 25-year old Las Vegas native Herbst, who crossed the line .247-second ahead of Allgaier and led a dominating 167 of the 213 laps.
“I knew we were going to have a fast race car, these guys have been working on this race car and I knew we were going to be really really fast,” said Herbst, whose SHR team is closing at the conclusion of the season. “It’s been a really tough week at the shop, really emotional time. I’m forever grateful to every man and woman at Stewart-Haas Racing they gave me a really fast car today and I can’t thank everyone enough.”
It was actually fellow championship contender – reigning champ Cole Custer – who mounted the most consistent challenge to Herbst. He ran up front for most of the race, just off the pace of his SHR teammate and ultimately finished eighth in the No. 00 SHR Ford – his effort answered last year’s title with a runner-up in this year’s championship standings.
The other two championship contenders, Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill finished ninth and 10th. And as disappointed as the three title contenders were in not claiming the season championship, each conceded the night had a positive ending with their longtime competitor Allgaier finally getting that trophy after 14 years of competition in the series.
“I’m really happy for Justin, that was a long time coming,” said Custer, who will compete in the NASCAR Cup Series fulltime next season. “He’s definitely a deserving champion and they ran a great race, especially there at the end.”
Hill, making his first Championship 4 appearance, agreed with the sentiment.
“Justin Allgaier has been doing this for a really long time and to see him finally get it done, I’m really happy for him and happy for his family,” he said. “He’s a great guy to be around, a great competitor.
“He’s going to be a great champion for the Xfinity Series. I’ve enjoyed racing that 7 team all season long. If I couldn’t have gotten the championship, I’m glad he was the one that got it done.”
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NASCAR Truck Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race
Friday, November 8th at 8:00pm ET
Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, AZ
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Race Preview
Christian Eckes likes his chances in NASCA…
- Thursday, November 7th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Christian Eckes likes his chances in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck title race
Christian Eckes makes his debut in the Championship 4 as an absolute favorite to hoist his first series trophy.
Not only is he coming off a dramatic win in last weekend’s Martinsville (Va.) Speedway race, but he is also the only one among the four title contenders to have a past win at the Phoenix Raceway mile—claiming the trophy last year although he wasn’t part of the Championship 4.
The 23-year-old New York native likes his chances but says he’s kept his week purposely ‘business as usual’ entering Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“We have momentum, but it’s Phoenix, anything can happen,” said the driver of the No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado, who has an amazing 21 top-10 finishes in the 22 races this year, including four wins.
“All you have to do is be good at one race and that’s this weekend. You can be good all year or you can be bad all year, come win this race and you’re a champion. I don’t necessarily look at momentum, but I’d say it was on our side if there was some.”
Further, Eckes says he’s not overly concerned with payback in Friday night’s race following the thrilling finish at Martinsville—a race he dominated but had to come back and make aggressive passes in the closing laps to win. That involved contact with two-time series champion Ben Rhodes and Taylor Gray, who was racing for a Championship 4 position.
“I talked to Ben because I felt like, he hit me first for sure, I hit him and then I hit him again so I was disappointed with the second contact, although it wasn’t intentional,” Eckes said. “I reached out to him because I felt it was warranted. I did not reach out to Taylor, because I didn’t think he wanted to hear what I had to say.
“Same deal though, he hit me before that caution came out, and I hit him back—maybe a little harder than I probably should have—but at the end of the day, I’m happy we won the race and just moving on to Phoenix.”
With new deal for 2025, Corey Heim is focused on NASCAR Truck Championship Race
For Corey Heim, last year’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race fell apart in the final stage—in a big way.
After starting from the pole, finishing second in the first stage and winning the second stage, Heim was collected in an accident on Lap 120 triggered by fellow championship contender Carson Hocevar.
His title hopes gone, Heim retaliated against Hocevar on Lap 147 and took the checkered flag in 18th-place after 29 crash-filled laps of overtime. Ben Rhodes won his second series championship with a fifth-place finish to Grant Enfinger’s sixth.
Heim has learned a lot since then. In 2024, he has six victories to his credit, doubling his total from a year ago, and he comes to the Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway armed with a contract to drive for TRICON Garage full-time for a third straight season.
“I don’t flash back to last year as a redemption by any means, but I’m as motivated as anyone sitting in the room,” Heim said on Thursday during NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship 4 Media Day at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert.
“I certainly learned a lot from last year, just circumstantially and how to handle myself in tough situations, but I feel like every race this year I’ve grown as a driver, and I feel like I’ve done that every race with TRICON ever since I started out with those guys.”
Though the 22-year-old from Marietta, Ga., has won more races this year, he also has been more inconsistent.
“A lot of people talk about how we’ve been more hit-or-miss this year,” Heim said. “Compared to last year, I feel like we were always top five but couldn’t quite close the deal out. This year, it seems like we’re dominating (and) winning, or we’re kind of struggling a little bit.
“I feel like our stuff is as good as anybody’s when we’re on point, and we’ve just got to be on point this weekend.”
As to his future beyond the Championship Race, Heim felt another season with TRICON was his best choice.
“There’s always options on the table,” said Heim, who also has run 13 NASCAR Xfinity Series races for owner Sam Hunt this season. “But I never had a doubt that my development with Toyota Racing has led me to where I am today, and it’ll get me through the future as well—so it wasn’t a hard decision.”
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PREVIOUS RACE RESULTS
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race
Friday, November 8th at 8:00pm ET
Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, AZ
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Race Recap
Ty Majeski wins NASCAR Truck Championship …
- Friday, November 8th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Ty Majeski wins NASCAR Truck Championship Race to secure first series title
All Ty Majeski needed was a green-flag run to finish off his domination of Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race—a victory that earned him his first series title.
Majeski led 132 of 150 laps at one-mile Phoenix Raceway, and when the race-ending 27-lap green-flag run finally came, Majeski pulled away to a 3.945-second victory over Corey Heim, who recovered from a restart violation to finish second.
“I can’t believe it,” said Majeski, who won for the first time at Phoenix, the third time this season at the sixth time in his career. “Huge thank you to (ThorSport Racing team owners) Duke and Rhonda Thorson, (crew chief) Joe Shear Jr.—he’s one bad dude.
“This is so much fun racing with this group. I’m so proud to have the opportunity to drive these great race trucks. There’s a lot of times in my career when this looked like a far dream. Duke and Rhonda really gave me my third opportunity after I had two opportunities that failed—man, I can’t thank them enough.”
The championship was the second for Shear, who guided Johnny Sauter to the title with GMS Racing in 2016. For ThorSport, it was a series-record sixth championship, adding to three with Matt Crafton and two with 2023 champion Ben Rhodes.
ThorSport has won three of the last four Truck Series titles.
Heim restarted 19th on Lap 108 after his penalty and quickly moved forward, but the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota couldn’t overcome the speed in Majeski’s No. 98 Ford.
“I’m really disappointed to come up short like that,” said Heim, who will return for a third season with TRICON next year. “It’s hard to even be upset. I did almost everything right except for that restart violation (changing lanes before the start/finish line).
“But we were able to get our track position back pretty quick and make the most of it. I just had nothing for the 98. All day, he was so fast… We’ll move forward with our heads up high, a six-win season—career highs for myself my team, organization, everybody—just one spot short of the championship.”
Championship 4 drivers Christian Eckes and Grant Enfinger finished third and fifth, respectively, after pitting for fresh tires on Lap 113. Though they were able to move through the field, they had nothing for the race winner.
Before the final green-flag run, three quick cautions—including a six minute, nine second red flag for a nine-truck wreck on the backstretch—interrupted the action at the start of the final stage, bringing the total for yellows to six for 43 laps. After Majeski got away in clean air from a restart on Lap 124, however, the race was over.
Starting from the pole position, Majeski streaked to a lead of more than two seconds, but Heim tracked him down in traffic and passed the No. 98 Ford for the top spot on Lap 39.
Three laps later the Ford of Frankie Muniz spun after contact with William Sawalich’s Toyota, ending the first 45-lap stage under caution.
But Majeski reclaimed the lead, with Eckes advancing to second, after Heim slid past the marks in his pit stall under the caution for the stage break and came out third.
Heim complained on the team radio channel that the concrete pit stall was one of the slickest he had ever experienced.
Majeski flipped the script in Stage 2, passing Heim for the top spot on Lap 71, six circuits after a restart that followed Jack Wood’s hard crash into the Turn 2 wall.
By the end of the stage at Lap 90, Majeski had expanded his advantage to 3.597 seconds. But stage wins were inconsequential to the Championship 4 contenders, who would settle possession of title in the frenetic final segment of the race.
Nick Sanchez finished fourth as the only non-Championship 4 driver to crack the top five. Taylor Gray was fifth, followed by Kaden Honeycutt, Connor Mosack, Rhodes and Layne Riggs.
- Complete Results
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- Pit Stop Performance
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- Draftkings Results
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- Accupredict Results
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- Driver Standings
- Owner Standings