After battling hard side-by-side for nearly two laps, Majeski passed leader Christian Eckes on lap 145 of 200 to take the lead for the first time in the race. He led the final 55 laps and cruised to a 4.129-second win over Eckes to earn his first win of the 2024 season.
A year ago, Majeski led 179 of 200 laps in his dominating win at the short track. This time, Majeski once again had a competitive truck but was penalized for a restart violation in Stage 2. He was running third by the time the final stage began.
The win is the fourth of Majeski’s career. Earlier in the race, he had already clinched a spot in the playoffs based on points.
“This was huge,” Majeski said. “Obviously, I made a little bit of a mistake. It was probably a close call on that restart. I had to pony up and get it back. When you make a mistake as a driver, you drive a little bit harder to make up for it.
“It’s been an up and down year. We’ve had the speed to win, just haven’t been able to it together. So proud of this group.”
After the race Corey Heim and Eckes engaged in a heated discussion on pit road over an incident on the track earlier in the race that left Heim with a flat tire.
Watch: Corey Heim gets a flat tire, bumps Eckes
Grant Enfinger finished, Tyler Ankrum fourth and Layne Riggs completed the top five. Both Enfinger and Ankrum clinched spots in the playoffs based on points.
Completing the top 10 were Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson and Nick Sanchez.
Stage 1
Eckes passed Enfinger with four laps remaining and held him off by 0.526 seconds to take the Stage 1 win. Heim was third, Ankrum fourth and Caruth was fifth.
Stage 2
Eckes beat Heim – who battled back from a flat tire – by 2.175 seconds to take the Stage 2 win, his series-leading seventh of the 2024 season. Majeski was third, Matt Crafton fourth and Ankrum fifth.
On lap 86, Heim fell off the pace with a flat tire and shortly after he slowed IndyCar veteran Conor Daly also had a tire go down, which brought out a caution.
During the caution, Heim drove up and banged fenders with Eckes to express his displeasure with how Eckes had raced him prior to the incident.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap trucks all pit with Eckes first off pit road. Eckes led Heim and Majeski when the race resumed with 71 laps remaining.
After a hard side-by-side battle, Majeski worked his way around Eckes to take the lead for the first time in the race on lap 145.
With 45 laps to go, Majeski reported said he felt a vibration in his No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford but only when under braking. Majeski did not appear to be losing any ground on the track, however.
With 30 laps remaining, Majeski had built up a more than 2.7-second lead over Eckes as Enfinger ran fifth, almost five seconds behind the leader.
Majeski maintained a sizeable 2.5-second lead over Eckes with 10 laps to go and Heim – once a contender for the win – fell a lap down.