Ty Majeski celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Ty Majeski took a big step to solidify himself as the championship favorite with a victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The race served as the Playoffs Round of 8 finale to set the Championship 4 field for the 2022 title race in two weeks.
The Wisconsin native led a race best 67 of 134 laps, crossing the finish line a convincing 4.524-seconds ahead of Zane Smith.
Behind Majeski, it was a tight and valiant rush to the checkered flag to set the four-driver Playoff field. Stewart Friesen finished third, but ultimately missed making the Championship 4 by a single point, as reigning series champion Ben Rhodes turned in a sixth place run to secure that position.
Majeski, Zane Smith, Talking Rock, Georgia’s Chandler Smith, and Rhodes will now race for the title on November 4 at Phoenix Raceway.
Saturday’s work at the 1.5-mile Homestead oval marked Majeski’s series’ best second win of the Playoffs and second win of his career. He makes the Championship Four in only his first year competing fulltime in the series and smiled, saying he doubted if anyone had him penciled in for the championship round.
Majeski said he had no idea what the points situation was behind him. “I knew it was close,” he said, adding that he holds a lot of confidence in his ThorSport team for the upcoming season finale.
“We certainly have momentum on our side winning two of the last three,’’ Majeski said. “I can’t really say who the favorite is and who isn’t. But I really like my chances going to Phoenix.”
Zane Smith, the regular season champion, is a three-race winner this season and will be making his third run at the championship – the most Final Four appearances among the 2022 title-eligible drivers.
Chandler Smith, a three-race winner on the year, finished 10th on Saturday and will be making his debut in the Championship 4. He is the defending Phoenix race winner.
Rhodes, who won at the Bristol dirt track, will be defending his title. It’s only the second time he’s advanced to the Playoffs’ final round and it was a tense afternoon.
“Fighting with my teammates really hard there for the last few laps,’’ Rhodes said. “Every spot matters and we got in by one point. I’m just really happy we had a good showing for this Toyota Tundra.
Ryan Preece finished fourth, followed by Corey Heim. Rhodes, his teammate and fellow Playoff competitive Christian Eckes, former series champion Matt Crafton, Parker Kligerman and Chandler Smith rounded out the top 10.
Friesen, Eckes, Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek were the four drivers who did not advance to the Playoff’s final round. Enfinger essentially needed to win the race to move on, but he suffered a tire problem midway through the race and never recovered, ultimately finishing 14th.
Nemechek also had a long, rough afternoon. He hit the wall and had to pit two different times for cut tires that ultimately left him six laps down. He finished 35th among the 36 cars.
“Frustrating day, just can’t recover two, three laps,” Nemechek said. “On me. But proud of all the guys at KBM. It’s been an up-and-down season, but overall we’ve been in contention almost every week. Proud of them and grateful for the opportunity.
“Sucks we won’t be racing for the championship,” he added. “But one last race to go win with this bunch and hopefully we can go get it done.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Baptist Health 200 – October 22, 2022
1. (18) Ty Majeski (P), Toyota, 134.
2. (6) Zane Smith (P), Ford, 134.
3. (9) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 134.
4. (1) Ryan Preece, Ford, 134.
5. (19) Corey Heim #, Toyota, 134.
6. (2) Ben Rhodes (P), Toyota, 134.
7. (5) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 134.
8. (20) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 134.
9. (8) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 134.
10. (4) Chandler Smith (P), Toyota, 134.
11. (11) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 133.
12. (22) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 133.
13. (14) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 133.
14. (23) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 133.
15. (12) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 133.
16. (10) Chase Purdy, Toyota, 133.
17. (7) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 133.
18. (16) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 133.
19. (3) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 133.
20. (21) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 133.
21. (31) Max Gutierrez, Chevrolet, 133.
22. (26) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 132.
23. (27) Dean Thompson #, Chevrolet, 132.
24. (35) Brennan Poole, Toyota, 132.
25. (25) Tanner Gray, Ford, 132.
26. (29) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 132.
27. (15) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 132.
28. (33) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 131.
29. (36) Tyler Hill, Toyota, 131.
30. (30) Chad Chastain, Chevrolet, 131.
31. (24) Jack Wood #, Chevrolet, 130.
32. (34) Mason Maggio, Toyota, 129.
33. (17) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 129.
34. (28) Lawless Alan #, Chevrolet, 129.
35. (13) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 128.
36. (32) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 124.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 133.137 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 30 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 4.524 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 2 for 10 laps.
Lead Changes: 8 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Rhodes (P) 1-32;Z. Smith (P) 33-36;B. Rhodes (P) 37-41;Z. Smith (P) 42-63;R. Preece (P) 64-65;T. Majeski (P) 66-99;T. Hill 100-101;T. Majeski (P) 102-134.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Ty Majeski (P) 2 times for 67 laps; Ben Rhodes (P) 2 times for 37 laps; Zane Smith (P) 2 times for 26 laps; Timmy Hill 1 time for 2 laps; Ryan Preece (P) 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 99,38,52,66,23,98,18,88,75,17
Stage #2 Top Ten: 38,66,17,52,99,98,23,91,51,18
Playoff Standings: 1. Ty Majeski – 4000 (2 Wins); 2. Zane Smith – 4000 (3 Wins); 3. Ben Rhodes – 4000 (1 Win); 4. Chandler Smith – 4000 (3 Wins).
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (P) Playoff driver
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