Ty Majeski dominated at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park last season, leading 179 laps on his way to a victory.
His effort at a repeat wasn’t as dominant and flawless, but he and ThorSport Racing got the desired result.
Majeski picked up his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of the season in the TSport 200 on July 19 after a restart violation penalty nearly upended his night.
NASCAR ruled that Majeski jumped ahead of leader Grant Enfinger on a late stage one restart and handed down a pass-through penalty. Majeski managed to stay on the lead lap and restarted stage two in 16th. Majeski worked his way back to the front, taking the lead from Christian Eckes on lap 145 and never looking back.
“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 No. 98 Ford was already locked into the playoffs on points. Majeski now has four career wins, including three on short tracks, recording the first win of the season for any ThorSport driver.
“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 won both stages and finished second. After the race, Eckes was confronted by Corey Heim after contact on a stage two restart led to Heim cutting a tire and bringing out a caution.
Heim rebounded to finish third in the stage but faded to a 17th-place finish. Eckes now holds a 50-point lead over Heim at the top of the Truck Series standings.
“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.”
Enfinger led 71 laps on his way to a third-place finish while Tyler Ankrum took fourth. Both drivers locked themselves into the playoffs on points with their performances.
Layne Riggs started mid-pack and worked his way up to fifth. Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson and Nick Sanchez rounded out the top 10.
An unscheduled pit stop in stage two…
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