AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ty Majeski returns to Phoenix Raceway as the defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, back in the Championship 4 with a chance to repeat.
He has no plans to relinquish the title Friday night.
MORE: Phoenix schedule | Truck Series standings
The year has been dominated by Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim, winner of a series-record 11 races in 2025 and who sets his sights on his first Truck Series title on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But Majeski is waiting in the wings, winless this season but victorious in last year’s fall finale at Phoenix, leading 132 of 150 laps from pole position to claim the 2024 championship.
The highest finisher of the Championship 4 drivers Friday will win the Craftsman Truck Series title, leaving Heim with little advantage over his trio of contenders. After winning last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Heim acknowledged Majeski is likely his stiffest competition at Phoenix, but also expressed some discontent with the prospects of falling short after a record-setting campaign.
“He’s definitely the guy that I’m looking for, but at the end of the day, you really never know what next week will bring,” Heim said. “You can kind of suck all year and just bring your best truck to Phoenix and you can win the whole championship. It doesn’t matter how good you’ve been all year. Look at them; they’ve not been the best. I don’t think they have a win to their name, but they’re probably the truck to beat along with us next weekend.”
At Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day at Phoenix Raceway, Majeski offered his take as the reigning champion of the Truck Series. Suffice to say, Majeski returns to the 1-mile tri-oval confident.
“I caught an interview that (Heim) did after Martinsville and he was talking a lot about how it would be a shame if we were able to take it from him and how dumb the format is,” Majeski said. “So yeah, I think we’ve got him right where we want him. I think he’s worried about the 98. I don’t think he wanted to race us this weekend, and here we are with another shot at it.”
Majeski doesn’t say that with the intent to take away from what Heim has accomplished in 2025, giving credit to him and his No. 11 Tricon team for compiling an astounding number of wins, laps led and more. But he’s also ready to play spoiler to perhaps the most commanding campaign in Craftsman Truck Series history.
“It’d be great. I mean, social media would just explode, and I’m here for all of it,” Majeski smiled. “I think that would be fantastic. Obviously, there would be a lot of interesting comments, I think. So yeah, I love that. I love stirring the pot a little bit. And, yeah, I’d love to be the guy that did that.”
ThorSport Racing has found its niche at Phoenix, leading the organization to three of the last four Truck Series titles. Majeski typically thrives on tracks like Phoenix — flatter, 1-mile ovals — as he flexed a season ago. But that championship triumph marked his only top-10 finish at Phoenix in four starts. That hasn’t impacted the confidence with which he enters this weekend’s festivities.
“Everything changes year to year, right?” Majeski said. “There’s so many different rules packages, even from last year. The way they’re (inspecting) some of the body stuff, there’s a lot of differences that a lot of people don’t see from the outside looking in. So you’re always chasing. You’re always trying to come up with something new, come up with something better. And right when you think you’re the best is exactly when you get beat. And we’re digging for more.
“I mean, we’re coming back with a similar setup and a similar truck, but we have a lot of plans throughout practice later (Thursday) afternoon to deviate from our comfort zone. So we’re expecting the 11 to be better than last year, and we’re expecting to be better as well.”