Ty Majeski opened the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs by taking the checkered flag Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The TSport 200 victory was the first of the season for the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford and locks Majeski into the Round of 8.
Majeski dominated the race, leading 179 of the 200 laps after starting on the front row. Notably, all three of his Truck Series wins have come in the postseason as he won at both Bristol Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway last year.
“We’re peaking at the right time. This is exactly when we peaked last year, and it looks like we’re trending in the same direction,” Majeski said. “Hopefully this is just the start of our playoff run. We want to go and win Milwaukee, right? That’s my home race. Go win Kansas. We’ve had great trucks at all those places. Obviously, Milwaukee we’re going back to for the first time but Kansas, it’s been a good track for us.
“Bristol and Homestead we’ve won, and Phoenix we’re in the mix to the end,” Majeski continued. “That’s the end goal. Hopefully we can get Road Ranger, Soda Sense and all our supporters back to Phoenix. That would be pretty special.”
Polesitter Christian Eckes finished second, followed by Layne Riggs, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith.
The third-place result was the first podium finish for Riggs in the Truck Series. His previous best finish was seventh, which he earned at IRP last year. Piloting the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Riggs made the best of his seventh career series start on Friday night.
Sixth-place William Sawalich also logged a career-best finish.
“We fired off a little tight in stage one, but we fixed it. We had a really fast pit stop — I think we picked up five spots, so I was really happy with that,” Sawalich said. “Once it cooled off, the track definitely picked up grip — especially front grip.”
The 16-year-old has now earned top-10 finishes in three of his four Truck Series starts.
Rajah Caruth, Corey Heim, Matt Crafton and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10.
Heim rebounded to a top-10 finish after suffering a safety violation on pit road that put him at the rear of the field. The regular series champion led 18 total laps in his No. 11 TRICON Garage entry during Friday’s race.
Shane van Gisbergen finished 19th in his Truck Series debut, driving the No. 41 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet.
There were five caution flags during the TSport 200, with incidents prematurely ending the night for Greg Van Alst, Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson and Spencer Boyd.