As the Cup Series makes its highly anticipated return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval this weekend, the truckers of the Craftsman Truck Series made their return across town to the old, abrasive, multi-grooved surface of the short track at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
It’s been a two-horse race between Christian Eckes and Corey Heim all season long.
Caruth led the field to green, but the 2023 Truck Series runner-up wasted no time jumping to the lead, diving into turn one beneath Caruth, and making short work of the Spire Motorsports driver.
A spin from Ty Dillon and hard contact with the outside wall of turn two from Mason Massey would bring out the first caution of the night, sending leader Enfinger to pit and bringing most of the leaders with him with 16 to go in the first stage. An intense battle would ensue between Enfinger and Majeski in the closing laps before Majeski was black-flagged for a restart violation and would be forced to serve a pass-through penalty. Eckes was able to track down and put an end to the Enfinger dominance of stage one with 5 to go in the stage.
After it looked like Enfinger was going to lead flag to flag, a late charge from points-leader Eckes put an end to it as the 23-year-old McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver collected his sixth stage win of the season. As expected, the season-long battle between Eckes and rival Corey Heim would continue. The two made slight contact in the closing laps, with the Tricon Garage driver finishing closely behind in third and Enfinger second.
The earlier contact with Eckes caused slight damage to the left front of Heim’s #11 Toyota, likely causing a left front tire to go down, which brought out the second caution of the night. Heim wasted no time showing his displeasure with Eckes, cutting the #19 off under caution.
Eckes made easy work of Stage Two, cruising to an easy stage win, his seventh of the season. An epic four-way battle for second play between Ross Chastain, Tyler Ankrum, Majeski, and Heim would ensue in the last 5 laps of the stage, with the #45 of Chastain, who was strong all stage falling back to sixth. Heim, who was in the 17th position at the restart after his caution earlier in the stage, made a furious rally to finish second, right behind championship leader Eckes.
As the final stage got underway, it didn’t take long for Heim to fade. After making his furious charge through the field on fresher tires to end Stage Two after an off-sequence pit stop due to the damage sustained earlier in the race, Heim fell through the field quickly when on equal tires with the other leaders. While Heim fell down the scoring pylon, Majeski showed his might, tracking down Eckes’ dominant truck and taking the lead. The driver of the #98 ThorSport Ford locked himself into the playoffs in Stage 2 but was still on the hunt for his first win of the 2024 season and more playoff points to boot.
After points leader Christian Eckes absolutely dominated the first two stages at IRP, Majeski’s F150 came to life in the final stage, and after tracking down Eckes for the lead with 56 laps to go, the #98 never looked back and was able to capture his and manufacturer Ford’s first Truck Series win of the 2024 season, and the fourth of Majeski’s career.
What did you think of the TSport 200 at IRP? Share your thoughts with us on our social channels at The Daily Downforce, and stick with us this weekend for all the updates from NASCAR’s weekend in Indianapolis, including the Cup Series return to the oval at IMS, and the rest of the season!
