Ross Chastain wins wild Darlington Truck race in overtime

Ty Majeski appeared ready to give Ford Performance its first win of the 2024 NASCAR season and had built a more than five-second lead when a late-race caution for a wreck sent the race into overtime.

All the lead-lap trucks elected to pit for new tires and Majeski’s team got him off first to retain the lead. On the ensuing restart, Majeski chose the outside lane while Chastain took the inside, which proved to be the difference.

Chastain and Majeski briefly banged fenders at the start and Chastain was able to clear for the lead as Majeski, Colby Howard and Jake Garcia all got loose and tagged the outside wall. Chastain beat Nick Sanchez by 0.315 seconds to earn his first win of the season in just his third start.

The win is the fifth for Chastain, who competes full-time in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing, and his first in the series since 2022.

“It’s so cool. We won Darlington!” an ecstatic Chastain said after completing his trademark smashing of a watermelon. “A watermelon farmer just won Darlington and for everything this means for Niece Motorsports and five years ago to the day that we won our first race.”

Reigning series champion Ben Rhodes ended up third, Christian Eckes fourth and Majeski was fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Chase Purdy, Howard, Taylor Gray, Ty Dillon and Tanner Gray.

Stage 1

Corey Heim fended off a late charge from Eckes and held on for a 0.421-second win in Stage 1. Majeski was third, Taylor Gray was fourth and Layne Riggs rounded out the top five.

Kyle Busch got loose racing Heim for the lead on lap 2, spun and wrecked into the inside wall, bringing an early end to his race. It was Busch’s first DNF in the Truck Series since 2017.

Stage 2

Heim cruised to the Stage 2 win over Rajah Caruth, who pit midway through the stage for new tires and drove from the rear of the field up to second. Eckes was third, Majeski fourth and Enfinger ended up fifth.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead-lap trucks elected to pit and Enfinger was the first off pit road and led the way with 50 laps remaining in the race.

Majeski powered into the lead shortly after the restart, but the race was put back under caution when a multi-truck wreck erupted off the exit of Turn 2 and down the backstretch.

Several top contenders for the race win were collected in the incident, including Heim, Caruth, Matt Crafton, Jack Wood and Layne Riggs.

Majeski led Eckes and Enfinger when…