Ty Majeski Wins First Truck Series Title

Ty Majeski lifting the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship trophy at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Not too long ago, it looked like Ty Majeski’s career in NASCAR was not in the cards.

Now, Majeski is a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion.

Majeski dominated the race after starting on pole. He led 132 of 150 laps and was the best of the Championship 4 drivers on Friday night, earning his third victory of the season, a new career high.

“This is so much fun racing with this group,” said Majeski. “So proud to have the opportunity to drive these great race trucks. There’s (been) a lot of times in my career where this looks like a far dream, and (ThorSport owners) Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) really gave me my third opportunity after I had two opportunities that failed. I can’t thank them enough.”

After the opportunities at both Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2018 and Niece Motorsports in 2020 did not go Majeski’s way, his time in the top three levels of NASCAR began to look bleak until he joined ThorSport Racing in 2021.

Ty Majeski doing a burnout after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)

Working as an engineer for the team while making four starts throughout the season, Majeski earned a full-time gig for the 2022 season and the rest is history.

“It’s been a long road here,” Majeski said. “These people behind me, everybody at Ford, really gave me another opportunity when my career looked like it could have ended, and they brought me on as an engineer in 2021 with a few races and turned into a full-time deal. We made our first Championship 4 in (20)22, and now we’re sitting here as champions.”

It was the second consecutive championship for ThorSport Racing, backing up Ben Rhodes‘ title from a season ago, and the team’s sixth NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series title. ThorSport Racing duplicated their feat in 2013-14 when they won back-to-back titles in the series since they did it with Matt Crafton.

Corey Heim, who led the series with six wins throughout the season, finished second. Despite failing to win the championship, Heim felt that he did everything right aside from a restart violation penalty on Lap 99.

Corey Heim (11) racing Ty Majeski (98) at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)

“I’m really disappointed to come up short like that,” Heim said. “It’s hard to even be upset. I did almost everything right except for that restart violation.”

After the violation, Heim charged back through the field, regaining all of his lost track position. However, Majeski and the No. 98 team proved to be too much.

“We were able to get our track position back pretty quick and make the most of it,” said Heim. “I just had nothing for the (No.) 98 all day. He was so fast. We’ll move forward with our heads up high, a six-win season — career highs for myself, my team, organization, everybody, just one spot short of the championship.”

Heim returns to TRICON Garage to drive the No. 11 Toyota Tundra in 2025 with the hopes that the third time is the charm for winning the Truck title.

Christian Eckes finished in third place after running there for the majority of the night. Eckes and his No. 19 team just did not have the speed that Majeksi or Heim had. Even after a Hail Mary at the end of the race to put fresh tires on, it was not enough.

Christian Eckes during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)

“Just didn’t have enough today, the (No.) 98 and (No.) 11 were stronger than us today, so we threw a Hail Mary with tires,” Eckes told FOX NASCAR Sports reporter Todd Bodine after the race. “I thought for a second we’d be able to catch them, we just didn’t have enough.”

It was a career season for Eckes, winning four races, finishing inside of the top 10 in 22 of the 23 races, having an average finish of 5.4 and leading over 1,000 laps.

Eckes turned his career around with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing over the past two seasons and in what was his final full-time start for the team as he will be moving up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time with Kaulig Racing in 2025.

“These were the best two years of my life,” said Eckes. “I wish we could’ve finished it off with a championship, just came up a little short.”

The fourth and final finishing Championship 4 driver was Grant Enfinger, who finished in fifth place. Enfinger, who was in his first season with CR7 Motorsports, had a good season, delivering the team its first two wins and playoff appearance.

“Really proud of this CR7 Motorsports group and all that we’ve overcome this year,” Enfinger told FOX NASCAR reporter Regan Smith post-race. “I feel like we came here with the right mindset, gameplan and honestly execution for the stuff in our control, we just flat-out didn’t have the speed tonight.”

Grant Enfinger racing at Phoenix Raceway during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)

Enfinger acknowledged the growth and accomplishments that his No. 9 team had throughout 2024 and knew that there is still a ways to go to get the team to the promised land.

“I’m really proud of kind of the growth we’ve had all year, the buying-in from everybody we’ve had all year,” said Enfinger. “We still have a long way to go from an organization to get it to kind of what me and Jeff (Stankiewicz) and (CR& Motorsports general manager Michael) Shelton all envisioned and Codie (Rohrbaugh, CR7 Motorsports team owner).”

“Proud of how far we have come. I feel like we earned our spot here.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Corey Heim
2. Ty Majeski
3. Christian Eckes
4. Nich Sanchez
5. Grant Enfinger
6. Dean Thompson
7. Connor Mosack
8. Layne Riggs
9. Conner Jones
10. Stewart Friesen

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Ty Majeski
2. Corey Heim
3. Layne Riggs
4. Nick Sanchez
5. Christian Eckes
6. Connor Mosack
7. Grant Enfinger
8. Taylor Gray
9. Stewart Friesen
10. Ben Rhodes

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Finishing Results