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For the first time in nearly a month, it’s truck night in America! That’s right; the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is back to complete the regular season with the Clean Harbors 250 at Richmond Raceway. As stated previously, this race was the final race of the regular season before the 10-man playoff field was set. Five points separated Tanner Gray and Daniel Dye for the final spot, while Christian Eckes looked to solidify his regular-season title. He had the best seat in the house as he started on pole position. Who makes it into the playoffs? Who caps off their regular season with a win? Let’s take a look.
Eckes started in the pole position, but it didn’t take long for Majeski to work his way around the No. 19 truck as he took the lead on lap 13 and pulled away to a two-second lead. With 14 laps to go in Stage 1, the first caution of the race came out when Matt Mills went straight into the outside wall with a tire failure. Many trucks came onto pit road, but Majeski stayed out, along with Ankrum and Connor Zillisch, to finish the opening stage. The trio did not stand a chance against the field of fresh tires, as Christian Eckes roared around the outside of Turn 2 to take the lead of the race. Majeski fell outside the top-15 just two laps after the restart after dominating the stage.
Coming onto pit road proved to be the right call as the 98, 18, and 7 fell to 18th-20th at the end of Stage 1. Ultimately, Eckes cruised by to take the Stage 1 win just ahead of a hard-charging Taylor Gray. It was the series-leading eighth stage win of 2024 for the 23-year-old. With the stage win, Eckes clinched the regular season championship, earning an additional 15 playoff points to his collection going into the playoffs. In addition, Taylor Gray clinched his first playoff berth with a second-place run in Stage 1, meaning only two spots were left for grabs going into the final two stages.
After clinching the regular season title, Eckes wasted no time up front as he led the first 45 laps of Stage 2. As he encountered lap traffic, the duo of Enfinger and Taylor Gray marched up to the back bumper of the No. 19 truck before Enfinger cleared Eckes for the lead with 25 laps to go in Stage 2. The battle for the Stage 2 win came down to the No. 9 and the No. 17 trucks, with Gray prevailing on lap 126 and quickly pulling away.
The third caution of the race came out shortly after for Matt Crafton. Battling for a playoff spot, Crafton drove deep into Turn 3 and spun out before clipping the inside wall. Crafton complained that Caden Honeycutt, who he was racing, did not give him enough room, but the replay shows that Crafton had plenty of space between himself and the No. 45 truck. Similar to Stage 1, there was a late-stage caution, with decisions as to whether to stay out or come onto pit road.
Much of the field came to pit. The focus was on the Enfinger and Taylor Gray’s pit crews. The No. 9 crew got him out front to win the race off pit road, with Taylor slotting in second and Eckes holding station in third. Just like Stage 1, three trucks stayed out (Ty Dillon, Bayley Currey, and Stewart Friesen), and just like Eckes, Enfinger roared on the outside four wide to take the lead.
Like in Stage 1, pitting under the caution proved to be the correct call as Enfinger took his first stage win of the season with Eckes right on his back bumper for second. Dillon, Currey, and Friesen all fell outside the top 15, but they would have slightly fresher tires going into the final stage. Enfinger had locked himself in on points before the race but earned his first playoff point and his first stage win since Milwaukee last season.
Trouble struck the field at the start of Stage 3. In the back of the pack, Dean Thompson went around, collecting multiple trucks, including Crafton. The No. 46, No. 02, and No. 22 were some of the other trucks involved in the crash. The caution flew for the fifth time, and Crafton escaped once again to continue to fight for his playoff chances.
Just as the race restarted, Lawless Alan spun in Turn 3, similar to Crafton, to bring out the sixth caution of the race. Unlike Crafton, Alan kept it off the wall and continued on in the race. Crafton came to Pit Road to mix his strategy with the rest of the field, along with Zillisch. The seventh caution of the race came out shortly after Connor Jones lost power on the front stretch as the leaders headed into Turn 1. This kept Zillisch on the lead lap after being called for a restart violation, allowing him to restart at the tail end of the field rather than having a pass-through under the green flag.
After a barrage of cautions, the race found a green flag groove, which was highlighted by the battle between Enfinger and Heim. Heim had slightly fresher tires than Enfinger and used them to track down the No. 9 truck. He had to work quick, however, as Majeski was running the leaders down, going from over five seconds behind to just 2.5 seconds after a handful of laps. Lap after lap, Heim looked to get around Enfinger. He finally got the move done on lap 221 and began to pull away. Heim’s tire advantage was soon erased as the caution came out for Honeycutt and Friesen.
Heim had no fresh tires. His best set was one that was seven to eight laps old. With the rest of the field pitting from fresh tires, he was at a disadvantage in terms of tire wear. Heim restarted fourth and dropped to fifth on the restart, as Majeski took the lead.
With 13 laps to go, the race’s ninth caution came out after Zillisch hit the outside wall. Zillisch had an up-and-down race but would take the car to the garage after Chase Purdy clipped Bret Holmes, sending him into Zillisch.
On the restart it was once again Majeski up front. But he had to earn that spot as Enfinger, Eckes, Taylor Gray, and Lane Riggs were all covered by a blanket for the race lead. Eventually, Majeski claimed the lead and pulled away from the field.
Majeski led over 160 laps in this race one year ago, but a bad pit call cost him the win over Carson Hocevar. This year, it was redemption for Ty as he took the checkered flag for his second win of the season. Majeski went back-to-back after winning at Indianapolis in July, as he heads into the playoffs with the most momentum in the series.
Daniel Dye came in five points behind Tanner Gray for the final playoff spot. All night the No. 43 truck outran the No. 15, and he looked to jump Gray to get into the postseason comfortably. When the late-race cautions came out, Dye’s tires were older than most of the field, causing him to lose spots and Gray to regain his advantage. That all changed with the final caution when Dye took fresh tires and Gray took only two tires. Dye finished eighth while Gray finished 12th, and the final playoff spot went to Daniel Dye for his first playoff appearance.
With that, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoff field is set. 10 drivers will battle it out for a championship for the remaining seven races. Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Ben Rhodes, and Daniel Dye make up the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series playoffs. Caruth, Gray, and Dye will compete in their first playoffs in their careers while Rhodes looks to defend his 2023 title.
That’s it for the regular season for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Now 10 drivers will have a chance to compete for the championship from here on out. As for the race, it has a little bit of everything. Battles for the lead, cautions, strategy, and drama. What a way to end the regular season.
Be sure to tune back in right here at DailyDownforce.com tomorrow for our coverage of the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
