LAS VEGAS — Friday evening’s Craftsman Truck Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway looked like it was Ty Majeski’s race to lose. And when he entered pit road on Lap 101, his shot at hoisting the trophy in Victory Lane went awry.
After winning the first two stages and leading 40 laps — the most of the 10 drivers to lead circuits on Friday — Majeski wheel hopped when slowing down to pit road speed at pit entry. He knew immediately that he was nabbed for speeding, as he lost track of his rpm’s.
“You just can’t make those mistakes,” Majeski said. “I tried to get a little bit too much. Had a little bit of wheel hop going into first gear and when that happens, you lose track of your rpm’s. And when it settled down, I knew I was speeding. I didn’t match the revs good enough. It was a little mistake and that was the end of our night. We had a shot to win — great truck.”
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Despite the 2024 campaign being Majeski’s third full-time season with ThorSport Racing, he doesn’t have a plethora of experience when it comes to making green-flag pit stops. The No. 98 truck was the first of a host of trucks that were caught for speeding, including series’ all-time wins leader Kyle Busch and Daytona winner Nick Sanchez.
“I’ve been doing this a while, but it doesn’t happen often,” Majeski said, regarding making a green-flag stop. “That’s not an excuse — I’ve just got to be better than that. When you’re going 180 mph for 20 minutes and you’ve got to get your mind to get back down to 55 or 60 mph, it’s not easy to get your mind right because it feels so slow and you don’t think you have to slow down that much.”
Over the final 30-plus laps of the race, Majeksi powered through traffic and still rounded out the top 10, finishing ahead of three of his ThorSport teammates. It’s the second consecutive top-10 finish for the No. 98 team, and he’s led laps in all three races to begin the season.
Despite the disappointment, Majeski sees the bigger picture in what Friday evening proved. The No. 98 truck could be a force to reckon with throughout the 2024 season, particularly on intermediate tracks.
“We have fast trucks — and I think that’s the biggest takeaway,” Majeski added. “We haven’t shown speed quite like this on an intermediate in a while, so to have this kind of speed bodes well for our future. We’re excited — it’s going to be a really good year for the 98 team.”
The 40 laps led for Majeski is his most on an intermediate track since his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the penultimate race of the 2022 season (67). Majeski sits second in the regular season standings after three races, five points behind championship leader Tyler Ankrum.