The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race NASCAR TRUCK Series qualifying results feature the drivers' lap times, positions, and who secured pole position at Phoenix Raceway.
Friday, November 8th, 2024
Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, AZ
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.”
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.
GRP | RNK | # | DRIVER | TEAM | MAKE | TME | SPD | LAP # | # LAPS | BHND |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 98 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 26.053 | 138.180 | 1 | 1 | 0.000 |
1 | 2 | 11 | Corey Heim | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 26.083 | 138.021 | 1 | 1 | 0.030 |
1 | 3 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 26.314 | 136.809 | 1 | 1 | 0.261 |
1 | 4 | 19 | Christian Eckes | McAnally Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 26.380 | 136.467 | 1 | 1 | 0.327 |
1 | 5 | 9 | Grant Enfinger | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.403 | 136.348 | 1 | 1 | 0.350 |
1 | 6 | 5 | Dean Thompson | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 26.480 | 135.952 | 1 | 1 | 0.427 |
1 | 7 | 2 | Nicholas Sanchez | Rev Racing | Chevrolet | 26.481 | 135.947 | 1 | 1 | 0.428 |
1 | 8 | 45 | Kaden Honeycutt | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.487 | 135.916 | 1 | 1 | 0.434 |
1 | 9 | 7 | Connor Mosack | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.491 | 135.895 | 1 | 1 | 0.438 |
1 | 10 | 77 | Chase Purdy | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.492 | 135.890 | 1 | 1 | 0.439 |
1 | 11 | 38 | Layne Riggs | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 26.502 | 135.839 | 1 | 1 | 0.449 |
1 | 12 | 18 | Tyler Ankrum | McAnally Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 26.576 | 135.461 | 1 | 1 | 0.523 |
1 | 13 | 66 | Conner Jones | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 26.627 | 135.201 | 1 | 1 | 0.574 |
1 | 14 | 17 | Taylor Gray | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 26.654 | 135.064 | 1 | 1 | 0.601 |
1 | 15 | 15 | Tanner Gray | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 26.654 | 135.064 | 1 | 1 | 0.601 |
1 | 16 | 43 | Daniel Dye | McAnally Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 26.658 | 135.044 | 1 | 1 | 0.605 |
1 | 17 | 1 | William Sawalich | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 26.677 | 134.948 | 1 | 1 | 0.624 |
1 | 18 | 41 | Bayley Currey | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.700 | 134.831 | 1 | 1 | 0.647 |
1 | 19 | 71 | Rajah Caruth | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.719 | 134.736 | 1 | 1 | 0.666 |
1 | 20 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 26.798 | 134.338 | 1 | 1 | 0.745 |
1 | 21 | 91 | Jack Wood | McAnally Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 26.802 | 134.318 | 1 | 1 | 0.749 |
1 | 22 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 26.863 | 134.013 | 1 | 1 | 0.810 |
1 | 23 | 44 | Stefan Parsons | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26.905 | 133.804 | 1 | 1 | 0.852 |
1 | 24 | 4 | Brett Moffitt | Hettinger Racing | Chevrolet | 26.932 | 133.670 | 1 | 1 | 0.879 |
1 | 25 | 25 | Dawson Sutton | Rackley W.A.R | Chevrolet | 26.943 | 133.615 | 1 | 1 | 0.890 |
1 | 26 | 04 | Andres Perez de Lara | Roper Racing | Chevrolet | 26.952 | 133.571 | 1 | 1 | 0.899 |
1 | 27 | 13 | Jake Garcia | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 27.198 | 132.363 | 1 | 1 | 1.145 |
1 | 28 | 42 | Matt Mills | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.343 | 131.661 | 1 | 1 | 1.290 |
1 | 29 | 56 | Timmy Hill | Hill Motorsports | Toyota | 27.395 | 131.411 | 1 | 1 | 1.342 |
1 | 30 | 76 | Spencer Boyd | Freedom Racing Enterprises | Chevrolet | 27.650 | 130.199 | 1 | 1 | 1.597 |
1 | 31 | 27 | Frankie Muniz | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | 27.951 | 128.797 | 1 | 1 | 1.898 |
1 | 32 | 22 | Keith McGee | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | 28.092 | 128.150 | 1 | 1 | 2.039 |
1 | 33 | 02 | Nathan Byrd | Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.450 | 126.538 | 1 | 1 | 2.397 |
1 | 34 | 46 | Thad Moffitt | Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.487 | 126.373 | 1 | 1 | 2.434 |
1 | 35 | 33 | Lawless Alan | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | 39.108 | 92.053 | 1 | 1 | 13.055 |