Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Championship 4 Media Day — Phoenix Raceway
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Ty Majeski, driver of the No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, is trying to provide Ford Racing with its fourth straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and become the first to repeat since Matt Crafton in 2013-14. Majeski answered questions about tomorrow’s championship race as part of today’s media day activities at Phoenix Raceway.
TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 – YOU ARE THE DEFENDING CHAMP. HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING BACK HERE ONE YEAR LATER? “It feels great, honestly. I think there’s some pressure to get that first one. My wife, Ali, and I were talking about it. You want to come here and compete and win at a high level, but I think the disappointment if you aren’t able to accomplish it on Friday is a lot less than maybe what it would have been if you didn’t have one. I’m hungry for another and I’m excited to be here. I feel good, very calm. I feel like a lot less pressure than last year for that reason, so I’m ready to go.”
WHAT IS THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL LIKE AFTER WINNING HERE LAST YEAR? “Very high. The places that we’ve been good at in the past, we’ve been good this season. We were very dominant at Richmond, which I think is probably the closest to this racetrack. I think if we can replicate what we did last year, we’re gonna be really tough Friday night.”
DO YOU FEEL THE SEASON COREY HAS HAD HAS OVERSHADOWED YOU AS THE DEFENDING CHAMPION? “I think he’s overshadowed everybody when you have a season like that and you win 11 races. He’s overshadowed the entire series and credit to them, but we’re here in Phoenix and none of that matters anymore. He’s not carrying any of those playoff points. I caught an interview that he 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, so 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.”
WHAT MAKES YOU AND JOE SHEAR SO GOOD AT THESE TYPE OF TRACKS? “I think anytime you take Joe and I to a flat short track that’s where we’ve made a living. That’s where he’s been so dominant over the years. Myself on the late model side. This type of racetrack just fits my style, fits his style and us together we’re very potent on this type of racetrack, so I’m excited to see what we’ve got on a flat short track. I like our chances.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO TAKE DOWN SOMEBODY WHO HAS HAD AS DOMINANT OF A SEASON AS THAT TEAM? “It would be great. Social media would just explode and I’m here for all of it. I think that would be fantastic. Obviously, there would be a lot of interesting comments. I love that. I love stirring the pot a little bit, and I’d love to be the guy that did that.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS FORMAT AND THE FACT A TRUCK THAT HAS WON 11 TIMES MAY NOT WIN IT? “The fact of the matter is you play to the format. If it was a season long format or an eight-race long format, you’re gonna react differently and you’re gonna play your cards differently based on whatever format you’re playing to. This year, it’s one race, winner-take-all. I’m not saying that we didn’t want to win throughout the year. We did. We tried as hard as we could throughout the season, it just hasn’t panned out. Like I said, the fact of the matter is we’re all here with an even slate with an even shot at winning a title and I’m excited about that.”
THORSPORT HAS HAD A LOT OF SPEED AT THESE FLAT SHORT TRACKS. HOW HAVE YOU SEEN THE COMPETITION GET CLOSER, IF THEY HAVE? “I feel like everything changes year to year. There are so many different rules packages. Even from last year with the way they’re attacking some of the body stuff, there are 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. We’re digging for more. We’re coming back with a similar setup and a similar truck, but we have a lot of plans throughout practice later this afternoon to deviate from our comfort zone. We’re expecting the 11 to be better than last year and we’re expecting to be better as well.”
WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM TODAY’S PRACTICE AND APPLY TO THE RACE? “I think quite a bit. I think a lot of things that maybe are being overlooked this year is our race is two hours earlier and the temperature is about 20 degrees warmer than last year, so there’s gonna be changes. It’s gonna be different conditions. A lot of our race is gonna be in the daylight. Although we’re probably end at night, it’s gonna be a lot warmer than last year, so having that same start time, I think we start practice just about the same time the green flag drops tomorrow, so I think you’re gonna be able to take a lot from it, especially once the track gets rubbered in later in the session. It’s gonna be very important to understand the balance of your truck.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU COME HERE TO PHOENIX? “We had dinner last night up in Cave Creek with Duke and Rhonda and the other drivers. It’s the same thing we do every Wednesday night when we all fly in. We have dinner with the rest of the team and it kind of kicks off the fun weekend.”
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THESE FLAT TRACKS THAT SUIT YOUR STYLE AND JOE’S STYLE? “I think we just come from similar backgrounds. There are those types of race tracks all over Wisconsin, so we have similar backgrounds on the racetracks we grew up at together. He was obviously maybe 30 years before me, but we learned and cut our teeth at the same places, and I just feel like we can correlate a lot of those racetracks to the racetracks we go to on this schedule and it makes us very difficult to beat.”
YOU SAID AGE DIFFERENCE, BUT IT’S ALMOST LIKE YOU’RE EQUAL BY COMING FROM THE SAME BACKGROUND. “That Wisconsin slang in racing has kind of got its own little deal up there, so, yeah, we speak the same language. He worked on the same cars that I’m racing now on the late model side and we talk about all that type of stuff and how we can correlate different things from different race tracks that we grew up racing at, and, like I said, it’s made us very potent on these flat short tracks.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE UNDER THE RADAR THIS WEEKEND? “Yeah, I think the rest of the three should. Corey’s won 11 races and he’s had probably the best season in series history, so that’s great, but the fact of the matter is we’re all coming into this weekend and none of that matters anymore. We’re all coming in and we might as well all have zero wins. We each have the same amount of chance of winning the championship and it’s up to us to go and take it from him.”
WHAT PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR THE OFFSEASON? “We’re gonna go down to the All-American 400 next weekend. We’ll be down there for that and then we’ll do the Big Lou Memorial Race Thanksgiving weekend and then the Snowball Derby the following weekend.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES IN THOSE? “Great. Anytime we go to the racetrack in a late model I feel like I have a chance to win, no different than the Truck Series. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to drive great race trucks and great race cars and have a shot to win every time I step in a race vehicle. That’s something not a lot of people can say, so I’m very thankful for that.”
WHAT MAKES YOU SO GOOD AT THESE KIND OF RACES? “I think Joe and I come from similar backgrounds and understand what it takes to go fast on these types of racetracks. We can correlate racetracks that we both grew up racing at and take some things from those places and apply it to some of the tracks we go to on the NASCAR circuit. I think that’s one of the things that makes us so potent on the short tracks is just having a lot of that experience. Although we’ve come from different eras, we’ve raced at the same places growing up, and I think that is a lot of the reason why we’ve been so successful on these types of places.”
WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE ENTIRE FIELD AND HOW YOU GUYS HAVE RACED EACH OTHER THIS YEAR? “I think it’s actually been very good this year. We haven’t had many races that I can think of that really turned into big messes, so that’s good obviously. We’ve seen the Truck Series at times do that in the past, and I feel like this group is honestly really respectful for the most part. We race each other hard and there are certain guys out there that you know are gonna race you harder than others, but that’s in any series, so, overall, I thought this year has been very respectful. All of the rookies have done a great job at earning respect throughout the field, and I don’t expect this race to be any different.”
IF IT COMES DOWN TO A FINAL RESTART OR A TWO-LAP SHOOTOUT, DO YOU WANT TO BE ON THE INSIDE OR OUTSIDE? “Great question. I think it depends on who it is and what the situation is, of course. You definitely probably want to be on offense more than you are on defense, especially if there’s somebody that close to you, so I’d like to be in the driver’s seat on the bottom, probably, if I had the choice.”
YOU ARE THE ONLY FORD DRIVER WITH A CHANCE TO WIN A DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR. IS THERE ANY ADDITIONAL PRESSURE TO TRY TO BRING A TITLE HOME TO FORD? “Honestly, I haven’t really thought about that. It’s just business as usual for the 98 team. I’m proud to be carrying the Ford flag this weekend and having their only shot at a driver’s championship, but it’s business as usual. We’ve prepared for this race the same as we do all the others, probably even more into this. This truck has been in the windtunnel and was brand new at New Hampshire, so I feel like we have a good piece for this weekend and hopefully we can carry that flag for Ford.”
DO YOU EVER HAVE TO PINCH YOURSELF AND REALIZE THAT YOU’RE A CHAMPION IN ONE OF NASCAR’S TOP SERIES? “Yeah. I think about that quite often. It’s crazy what I’ve gone through in my career. I know a lot of guys have had hardships like I have, and I think the difference between myself and others is I haven’t had a way to pave another path. I’ve had to earn those other opportunities. I haven’t been able to land a huge sponsor or come from a lot of money, where I can like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go try this next year.’ It’s always been, ‘what door can I possibly open and land something else to keep my career moving.’ Yeah, there are a couple of key people that have helped me in important parts of my career when it could have easily been over that kind of bridged the gap to the next opportunity, and I’m thankful for those opportunities and was able to make the most of them at the right time and propel myself into this opportunity with ThorSport.”
DOES THIS YEAR FEEL ANY DIFFERENT BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE A WIN YET OR DOES THAT REALLY MATTER? “In my mind, it doesn’t. Obviously, Corey has had a great season with 11 wins, but we’re coming in with a clean slate, nothing matters, it’s winner-take-all. I think maybe on paper Corey is probably the favorite, but in my mind we’re the favorites. We’re coming off a championship and a dominating win here, and I really do feel like we’re the ones to beat even after the season the 11 has had.”
HAS THORSPORT MADE GAINS ON THEIR SHORT TRACK AND FLAT TRACK PROGRAM? “Honestly, I feel like that’s been our strong suit all season. We’re doing very similar stuff to what we’ve done the last two or three years. Nothing has really changed that much, so I feel as confident as I ever have going into a race. We were able to replicate pretty well at Richmond, had a dominant truck there, and this track is probably most similar to Richmond. For that reason, I feel really good about this weekend.”
YOU ARE THE ONE CHAMPION HERE AT THIS MEDIA DAY. DOES THAT GIVE YOU AN EDGE PSYCHOLOGICALLY? “I don’t know. I was talking about that with my wife, and I feel like you always want that first championship. Your goal as a young racer is to be a champion, and I feel like we’ve checked that box off and we’re here again, and I feel like there’s a lot less pressure that I feel on my shoulders this weekend. I feel real, loose, calm, collected. I’ve been here before, done this, and I think that experience will pay off in high-pressure situations on Friday.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR FIRST TIME NASCAR FANS ON WHAT THEY SHOULD EXPERIENCE HERE? “First of all, this facility is just fantastic. I think this is one of the nicest racetracks and facilities we go to on the circuit, so try to experience everything. The Fan Zone inside the infield is awesome, especially on race day. The atmosphere is just up-tempo here and that’s one thing I like about it.”
