Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Qualifying | Saturday, November 4, 2023
FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd – Kevin Harvick
9th – Chris Buescher
12th – Ryan Preece
14th – Todd Gilliland
15th – Ryan Blaney
17th – Joey Logano
19th – Michael McDowell
25th – Harrison Burton
26th – Chase Briscoe
27th – Austin Cindric
28th – Aric Almirola
30th – Ryan Newman
31st – Cole Custer
34th – JJ Yeley
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang – WHAT DID YOU NEED ON THAT QUALIFYING RUN? “I needed about another tenth-and-a-half – I don’t know. I mean, the car didn’t feel bad, just not as much speed as everyone else. I think our race car is good for tomorrow. So, we’ll see what happens.”
HOW WAS THE CAR IN PRACTICE DURING THE LONG RUNS YESTERDAY? “Yeah, I thought we were pretty decent – long runs, race runs. It’s going to be a lot different from where it was yesterday, just being hotter, slicker. I think that’s kind of better for our group, so we’ll see where we’re at. I think the change we made overnight was positive. Just didn’t quite have the speed getting going. I feel good about the race tomorrow.”
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Harvick Ford Mustang – HOW HAS THE TRACK CHANGED FROM PRACTICE TO QUALIFYING? “Yeah, I mean it’s definitely got more grip with everything for qualifying and everything that you do there. We were just a little bit too loose in the second round. All good.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang – WHAT WERE SOME STRONG POINTS FROM QUALIFYING? “It was a great start for us in our Fastenal For Mustang. It’s a racetrack that I haven’t shied away from saying that it’s not my best – I said that about Richmond last year too. We’ve come a long way and this just shows it. It’s more of everyone around me getting better – giving me fast race cars makes it easier for me to go out there and have a strong run. So, it’s a great way for us to start in ninth. Just didn’t have the cleanest second lap. The first lap was really good, really strong in practice – completely different conditions and like three quarters of a second faster. Pretty wild, but we were pretty happy in practice too. Great mid to long run speed. The fire-off actually didn’t seem that good, so I’m happy this looked like that, so cool. It’s a good start for us.”
WHAT’S YOUR MINDSET GOING INTO THE SEASON FINALE, AND WHAT IS THE GOAL? “Win a race. Figure it out. That’s where we’re at. We’re not in any kind of points battle anymore. I guess at the end of the day points are always on the line, but for us – let’s go win a race. Top 10 starting spot puts us in a good spot, good pit selection. It’s a good beginning for us.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN IN RYAN’S GROWTH THAT HAS PUT HIM IN HIS FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP 4? “I think everyone knows Ryan is fast. He’s been fast his whole career. What I’ve seen this year is that he’s learned how to finish races. He’s learned how to run the race. He’s become a lot smarter behind the wheel and I think that’s why you see him in the Championship 4 now. He’s paired some raceability with the insane amount of speed that he has and that’s really what’s put him in contention every week and it’s all kind of seems to be clicking here in the last six weeks. It’s really worked for him.”
RYAN SAID YOU GAVE HIM SOME ADVICE ON HOW TO HANDLE THIS WEEK. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON ANY OF THAT? “We didn’t talk much. He kind of knows what he’s got to do at this point and everybody finds their own way. I found my way of dealing with the pressure and dealing with championship week, whether it’s media day or showing up for practice, qualifying here in a minute. The pressure is real. There’s way of hiding from it. I’ve always gone full tack on it and that’s what works for me, but I can’t say that’s the same for everybody, so I think you just have to find your way of doing it and the only way you know how to do it is repetition and trying different things. It’s not just for the driver, but the whole team is dealing with a tremendous amount of pressure this week. All four teams are, whether it’s the road crew, the guys at the shop, the pit crew when it comes down to it. It’s real pressure. It’s the real thing. It’s everything that you’ve worked for all season long to earn the opportunity to be here. The last thing you want to do is not win. You’ve come this far. Second place stings a lot. Third hurts too that you’ve come this far and didn’t get it done, so that pressure, to me, was always a real thing and you have to learn to embrace it.”
WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT TEAM PENSKE THAT FORD HAD THIS ROCKY KIND OF YEAR BUT STILL MANAGED TO GET A CAR IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP? “It says a lot that we’ve been able to find some speed and the 12 team has done a tremendous job in the playoffs – all the way through it. They’ve survived long enough to where they do have the speed now and now they can race for wins and now they’re in the Championship 4 because of it. I look at them as a great team right now because they’ve made some stuff happen, but I also look at Team Penske as a whole of being able to find speed when it matters the most. We just got knocked out too with the couple wrecks. I wish I was still in.”
DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE HAD THAT SPEED? “We would have had a chance, for sure. It’s hard to say what with ifs and ands and buts, but I would have liked to have gotten to the next round and as our cars have gotten faster here recently and had a chance, but it’s not in the cards.”
ROGER WILL BE BACK THIS WEEK. WHAT KIND OF LIFT DO YOU GUYS GET WHEN HE’S HERE? “It’s great to have him here. I just saw him a few minutes ago and he’s doing great. We love having Roger around. He brings a lot of intensity with him, which is already here this weekend, but it’s also fun to see the joy in his eyes when we succeed. There’s nothing like winning when the boss is here. That definitely adds something to it.”
YOU HAVE WON CHAMPIONSHIPS FOR HIM. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S LIKE FOR BLANEY GETTING ADVICE FROM THE CAPTAIN? “I mean, it is what it is. I don’t really know what to say. You have an opportunity to win a championship for Roger Penske and put your name on a list of legends that have won championships for Roger. It’s a huge opportunity. It’s a huge honor to be part of that.”
SO IT MEANT SOMETHING TO YOU? “Absolutely. To me, it wasn’t just winning a championship in NASCAR that meant something to me, it was doing it for Roger and adding my name to that list because, let’s be honest, Penske is the most decorated American motorsports team, period. And when you look at the list of drivers that have won for him, it’s pretty cool to be on that list. It’s a really big deal.”
No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R starts third but incurs penalty that curtails run to top
SAKHIR, Bahrain (Nov. 4, 2023) – Cadillac Racing’s inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship season concluded Saturday with a disappointing finish in the Eight Hours of Bahrain but heads held high for an overall positive year.
Prospects for another podium finish were dashed in Turn 1 of Lap 1 when, with the front of the Hypercar field tightly bunched, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R made light rear contact and spun the front row-starting No. 7 Toyota.
Both cars continued – the hybrid Cadillac, with driver Earl Bamber reporting the front wheels locked up under hard braking under pressure from the trailing Ferrari, dropping to seventh from its season-high third-place qualifying position. The Cadillac Racing entry incurred a 60-second stop-and-hold penalty for causing contact and eventually dropped off the lead lap.
The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R displayed good pace the remainder of the race on the challenging 5.412-kilometer (3.36-mile), 15-turn Bahrain International Circuit, but the deficit was too much to recover and challenge for its second podium finish of the season.
The pole-sitting No. 8 Toyota won the 249-lap race and earned the Hypercar championship.
Following the 11th-place result, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R team took away positives from the season overall and the seventh race that included the qualifying effort, topping the time chart in free practice for the first time, pit stop performance and more data acquired to mount a championship challenge in 2024.
Additionally, Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook have greatly contributed to the development of the LMDh platform that features the brand-new 5.5-liter DOHC V8 engine developed by GM’s Performance and Racing propulsion team for Hypercar and IMSA Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) competition.
The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing, started the season with top-five finishes at Sebring, Portimão and Spa ahead of its third-place finish in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The podium at the endurance classic was the first for Cadillac Racing, which returned to Circuit de la Sarthe after a 21-year absence.
“To see what we were able to achieve in both (WEC and IMSA), knowing that a lot of things were brand new, I’m so proud of the team and everything they have accomplished,” GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser said.
The sister IMSA program swept the GTP regular season and endurance manufacturer championships along with driver/team class and endurance titles.
Following off-season testing for the programs on opposite ends of the Atlantic Ocean, the eight-race 2024 WEC kicks off March 2 at Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. The nine-race IMSA GTP season begins Jan. 27-28 with the Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
What they’re saying
Earl Bamber: “Tough start to the race. I was actually not trying to pass anyone; I was just braking. Then, in the middle of the brake zone, both front tires just locked up. I tried to avoid the left-hand side bit just clapped the Toyota. I feel bad we affected their race and we obviously affected our own. Still, there are a lot of positives this weekend and for our first season. Third at Le Mans and there is a lot to hold our heads up high.”
Alex Lynn: “It wasn’t our day today, but any time on the track is about learning and important as we build this program. Now it’s about regrouping and having a strong off-season and already turning our attention to 2024. Still so many positives we can take from this weekend and year and go ago next season. We’ve got some good speed in this car, but we have to continue to work hard because no one else is slowing down. We know what we need to do and improve to challenge for the podium.”
Richard Westbrook: “We had high hopes after Alex (Lynn) did a great job in qualifying and the car was really good in practice. It would have been nice to close out the season on a high. We were really confident going into the race, but it wasn’t to be. We’ll take this one as a learning opportunity and come back stronger in 2024.”
Ricky Thornton Jr. celebrates in Victory Lane following Friday’s World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models feature win. (Photo: CMS/HHP)
Ricky Thornton Jr. claimed Friday’s World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models feature in the second night of World of Outlaws World Finals racing at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
Brent Marks (World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars) and Tim Fuller (Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds) also claimed victories on Friday
Fans can buy tickets, camping and pit passes for the World of Outlaws World Finals by shopping online at www.charlottemotorspeedway.com
CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 3, 2023) – Chris Madden led the most laps, but Ricky Thornton Jr. led the one that counted on Friday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Thornton hunted down Madden in the closing stages of the 35-lap World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models feature and made the winning pass to capture the second of three nights of World of Outlaws World Finals action.
Madden, who started from the pole, slipped to third at the finish behind Thornton and Dale McDowell. Tim McCreadie was fourth with Brian Shirley fifth.
Thornton captured his second win of the year.
“I felt like (Madden) was really good in clean air, but the closer we got to lapped cars, the more he came back to me,” Thornton said. “I didn’t know if I needed to get closer to the middle or not. My boys worked their butts off today. We pretty much had this thing destroyed (Thursday) night. Thanks to all the fans for coming out. Hopefully, we can do good (Saturday).”
Drake Troutman, Madden, Thornton, McDowell, Cade Dillard and Garrett Smith won heats.
The second night of Super DIRTcar Big-Block Modified racing saw Anthony Perrego dominate most of the 30-lap feature, but Tim Fuller caught Perrego in the final laps and cruised to the win by 2.837 seconds over Mat Williamson and Perrego. Erick Rudolph and Matt Sheppard, who won on Thursday, rounded out the top five.
Fuller – a 56-year-old, DIRT Hall of Fame inductee – scored his third victory of the Super DIRTcar Series season.
“When you’re in second, I’ve always said that you’re one in the prime spot,” Fuller said. “(Perrego) made a little mistake and I was there to capitalize at the right moment. … It’s been an incredible year.”
Sheppard, Williamson, Jimmy Phelps and Perrego won heats.
Friday’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars feature saw Brent Marks edge Justin Peck by a scant .133 seconds for his second Outlaw win of 2023.
Tyler Courtney, Brad Sweet and James McFadden completed the top five.
“It feels amazing to win in front of this crowd,” Marks said. “That was a really fun race. The track crew did an amazing job there, getting the track to have two lanes of racing and getting it tricky along the top. I just felt like my pace slowed up too much (running the top) and I was getting a little worried about Justin (Peck) closing in on us. Fortunately, we hung on there at the end. I lost my grandmother on Wednesday and winning this race means a lot to my family, and I dedicate this race to her.”
Rico Abreu, Brian Brown, Marks and Courtney claimed heat race victories.
Race fans from 49 states and six foreign countries have descended on The Dirt Track at Charlotte for this weekend’s festivities, with a clear forecast for Saturday’s championship-deciding action. Fans can lock in tickets, plus pit passes and camping, by shopping online at www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.
MORE INFO: Fans can connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway and get the latest news by following on X and Instagram, becoming a Facebook fan or downloading the Charlotte Motor Speedway mobile app.
Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 17TH FINISH: 6TH POINTS: 2ND
Post-Race Quote: Grant, I want to tell you, both Ben Rhodes and Rich Lusches thanked you for racing them clean in that last part of the race. As you replay the last lap, what could you have done different?
“I don’t know. It was just the original green-white-checkered there where we went four wide; Ben gassed it up there on the bottom and drove us and the No. 19 and tore up our truck and we had to restart from 22nd. That’s kind of what ended our run. You know, obviously we got close there at the end. I don’t know, maybe if he didn’t have such a run down the back straightaway, but I needed to get under him to make that pass.
Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a shame that the championship came down to a race like that with 15 green-white-checkers there or whatever it was right there with 30 laps extra. I feel like we did everything we could to win this race there and kind of got used up right there. Championship racing, and it’s just incredibly unfortunate to end GMS Racing like this. I really felt like we had that championship in grasp, and to be honest with you, I don’t know if I would have done anything different. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Rajah Caruth, No. 24 Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 9TH FINISH: 12TH POINTS: 16TH
Post-Race Quote: Twelfth place in the last race of GMS as a team. What are the emotions right now?
“Yeah, I’m kind of relieved to salvage a twelfth there, it was a really tough night for our Wendell Scott Foundation Silverado. Not having a great first pit stop to being back in the junk and getting some damage there and just fighting and having a gritty day. I looked up and said, ‘Man, Grant’s in a really good spot.’ and then, you know, it just didn’t work out. And hearing after the race what happened, it’s pretty (unfortunate) how that went down for him. I looked up and thought he was almost going to get it, so I’m kind of bummed for him and everyone at GMS because I thought he had a really good shot. Focus for me goes to tomorrow.”
What’s the attitude been at the shop with the team coming to a close?
“It’s been really energetic, you know? Everyone has been putting forth the effort towards Grant to get him and Mike and Maury another championship and get Grant his first. He’s a really deserving driver and a really deserving man, and he’s just a great guy. He does the things to be successful, and I was really hoping it would work out today.”
And how much of a stepping stone has this team been to you?
“Yeah, I mean I made my mistakes this year and really learned a lot, and tried to put together clean races. I feel like finishing 16th in points is not indicative of the speed I’ve had this year and the promise I’ve shown, so with my next year plans still up in the air, hopefully it parlays into something.”
And lastly, you’re racing a Hendrick car tomorrow, how are you feeling going into that one?
“Well, I’m about to get some pasta from Olive Garden and go to bed, so that’s really it.”
Daniel Dye, No. 43 Race To Stop Suicide Chevrolet Silverado RST
START: 22ND FINISH: 32ND POINTS: 18TH
Post-Race Quote: Daniel, this was the last race with GMS Racing. What were some of your favorite memories with GMS that you’ve had?
“Man, it was so cool to be here for the last three years. I’m so proud of what we accomplished as far as what I did as well as what GMS did as a whole. To have two championships, and I’m going to be nice and say we should have three tonight if everybody on the racetrack would have used their heads. You know, Grant did a great job. But what Maury Gallagher and especially Mike Beam built, since they started with Spencer (Gallagher), and running that No. 23 for Spencer Clark, and coming from racing at the Bullring to now what has turned into a competitive Cup team is very cool. I’m proud to be a part of, it’s very sad that it is shutting down, but everybody is looking forward to new opportunities and we won’t forget what happened with GMS.”
ABOUT GMS RACING:
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series operating the No. 23, No. 24, and No. 43 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs for drivers Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth, and Daniel Dye. Since the team was formed in 2012, GMS Racing has won five titles across multiple series, including the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Truck Series championship, the 2015 ARCA Racing Series championship, as well as the 2019 & 2020 ARCA East championships. GMS has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. including operations for GMS Fabrication. The GMS Racing campus also houses operations for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, a team that competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
HEIM FINISHES THIRD IN CHAMPIONSHIP 4 AT PHOENIX Jesse Love ends Toyota run with career-best finish
AVONDALE, Ariz. (November 3, 2023) – Corey Heim won the pole, the second stage and was leading the Championship 4 before being involved in an on-track incident on lap 121. Heim battled damage from the incident on the TRICON Garage No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, but was able to get back on the lead lap to finish 18th in the race.
Jesse Love was the top-Toyota finisher in Friday night’s season finale, earning a career-best fourth place result in only his third career Truck Series start.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Phoenix Raceway Race 23 of 23 – 150 Laps, 150 Miles
“I thought it was alright. I was doing a bad job at the beginning. I fought a little bit of a loose truck, but not bad overall. I was losing spots on restarts and I finally was able to figure out what I needed to do better. I kind of figured out the bottom in (turns) one and two better and once I did that I thought I could maintain on restarts and kind of pickoff trucks one at a time. It’s upsetting that the 11 (Corey Heim) didn’t win the championship. I was doing all I could to help him. Just some things don’t always go your way. It’s an okay finish. Just left a little bit on the table and thought we had a shot to win. Just some of those green-white-checkered restarts, I thought we were ahead of the 99 (Ben Rhodes) and they scored the 99 ahead of us so I think if that didn’t happen we’d have a fighting shot.”
Are you disapointed to not win the championship tonight?
“Yeah, obviously I’m dissapointed. It’s just part of racing I guess. Obviously, got cleaned out there and got a lot of rear damage and lost some of my side force so I couldn’t really do much from there. Yeah, I don’t know. Just really felt like I had them covered today. The 38 (Zane Smith) was fast, but I thought we could’ve raced it out there at the end and it just kind of turned into a wreckfest at the end. I’m really thankful for my TRICON Garage crew and Safelite and Toyota Racing. Once again, I really thought we had the best truck today, just really unfornatute.”
What happened the first time with Carson Hocevar?
“I just got cleaned out. I passed him clean and then he hit me two or three times and then finally he had enough fun just kind of hitting me and then he wrecked me. It is what it is. Every guy on Sunday is going to see that and understand that they’re going to be racing against him like that. I’m not too worrried about it. I don’t gotta race him anymore so I don’t have to deal with it too much. It’s kind of expected. He’s been racing me like that since he was five years old. I raced with him in quarter midgets. It’s just part of championship racing.”
What happened off of turn 2 the second time you had contact with Carson Hocevar?
“Like I mentioned, I had no side force and as soon as someone puts it on my door you kind of lose side force and lose control. I hate it for those guys. They deserved a good run today. Maybe next time.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 24 electrified options.
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race | Friday, November 3, 2023
BEN RHODES DRIVES F-150 TO SECOND STRAIGHT TRUCK SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
Ben Rhodes won his second career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and first with Ford after winning tonight’s Craftsman 150.
It also marks the second consecutive series championship for F-150 after Zane Smith won the title a year ago with Front Row Motorsports.
Rhodes is the fifth driver in NCTS history to win multiple titles, joining Ron Hornaday Jr., Matt Crafton, Jack Sprague and Todd Bodine.
This also marks Ford’s third series championship in the last five years after Matt Crafton won in 2019 and Smith in 2022.
Ford has now won the title four times overall with Greg Biffle being the first to do it in 2002.
UNOFFICIAL FORD FINISHING RESULTS 5th – Ben Rhodes 11th – Matt Crafton 14th – Ty Majeski 15th – Hailie Deegan 16th – Christian Rose 17th – Spencer Davis 25th – Zane Smith 34th – Conner Jones
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 – POST-RACE INTERVIEW – WHAT WERE YOUR EMOTIONS ON THOSE LAST FOUR RESTARTS? “I was so angry. I didn’t even know I’d be happy if I won at that point because I was so mad about it. I just couldn’t believe that every single time there was a caution. What the heck? The restart that I wadded the front end up from the missed shift in front of me, who could have planned that out. I’m just grateful to be here and grateful for Ford Performance, Kubota, Campers Inn, all of our partners. They make this possible.”
YOU GOT REUNITED WITH RICH LUSHES. HOW CRITICAL HAS HE BEEN IN THIS RUN? “It’s been super critical. The guy makes the calls when they matter and that’s what we need in playoffs. It’s crunch time. The pressure is on and he does it. He delivers.”
HOW WILL THE CELEBRATION BE TONIGHT? “You just wait and see.”
HOW DOES THIS FEEL? “I can’t even believe it. Let’s go! I hate when people do that on TV, so I’m sorry. But hey, this is so awesome, man. To go 25 laps into overtime, you know what that feels like? Almost lose it three times? Look at the front of the truck. It’s crazy. I didn’t think we were going to make it. I thought we were going to pop a tire. I thought anything that could have gone wrong was going to go wrong. Grant almost got me. Hats off to him. He ran a great race. I wouldn’t want to race against anybody else for the championship. He raced me clean, and I respect the hell out of him for it.”
WERE YOU AWARE GRANT WAS COMING OFF TURN FOUR? “I saw him. I’m watching the replay right here. I saw him. He went for everything, but he ran me clean, and I thank him for that. That’s what these championships are all about. It’s unfortunate we had so many cautions, but we ran each other clean, all of us did tonight, and ugh, great show. I love you guys. Thanks for all the fans coming out. I love it. Thanks Kubota, Campers Inn, my team, ThorSport Racing, Ford Performance. What a team. I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we got here and we did it.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedco/Delo Ford F-150 – WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT RESTART? DID YOU MISS A SHIFT? “Yeah. I mean, right when I went to go grab fourth the 19 got to my bumper and I got stuck in third. It just sucks. It was a really great truck, but an awful ending. We should have won.”
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Media Availability | Friday, November 3, 2023
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, will be making the final start of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Championship race. Harvick, who ranks 10th on the all-time Ford win list with 25 victories in seven seasons, addressed members of the media before today’s practice session to talk about this weekend.
KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Busch Light Harvick Ford Mustang – IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAY BEFORE WE GO TO QUESTIONS? “Obviously, it’s been a great ride and I think for me it’s something that I love to do and I think as you look back on it and realize all the things that you’ve been able to be a part of and be fortunate to be somewhat successful at, it’s been fun. Obviously, I’m not going far. I guess I’ll just be sitting on the other side of the table asking the questions, but it’s been a great ride and appreciate everything you guys have done for me, whether they’re good questions or bad questions. I guess doesn’t really matter, but it’s been fun. I appreciate what you guys do.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN GO OUT WITH A WIN ON SUNDAY? “We did run good and I think as you look back at just the history of everything that we’ve done here, it’s been OK. We’ve been rather hit or miss this year, but I think this is a place, no matter how your season has gone, you come to with the expectations of running at the front of the pack, so hopefully that’s what we can do.”
HAS ALL OF THIS KIND OF HIT YOU THIS WEEK? DOES IT FEEL ANY DIFFERENT? “I think, for me, all the weeks leading up to this particular one were really not that hard. I think this week was a little more difficult just because it is the last week with your guys and the people and everything that you do is actually coming to an end. I don’t think up until this point, I don’t think anybody really thought it was real and this week it’s pretty real. I think this week has been definitely different than everything leading up to this just because of the fact that there isn’t a next week. There’s been a next week up until this week. Look, it’s very different – the things that we have to do going forward, but it’s all planned out and I think as I talked to Dale Jr., he was in a very similar situation where the TV piece of it was planned out. The race team piece of it is planned out. We have a management company. We have golf cart stores. All of those things are already functioning. I think it would be much different if you weren’t closing the book. I think, for me, I feel very fortunate to be able to open the book and obviously our first chapter was a little bit different than most people’s, but it’s the time that we chose to be able to say, ‘OK, this is it.’ And this is gonna be the last week coming to Phoenix and racing here for the last time. When you used to come here and race just for a hobby and you looked forward to coming to this particular racetrack on Cup weekend and in February for the Copper Classic every year. As a west coast racer that’s what you did. It is a lot different than the week’s past because there isn’t a next one.”
DO THE KIDS REALIZE THAT THIS IS THE END? “Yeah. For weeks Piper has been like, ‘Dad, why do you have to go to the next one? You’re already retiring.’ So, she’s pretty much over it. Keelan is terrified just because of the fact that he knows I’m gonna be at way more races than what I was before and he knows that I’m gonna be all over him a lot more than I am right now. Right now, he can go off and do his thing and race and dad’s not there to critique every single move that he makes, so that party is over, but I think it’s fun. Piper told Cheddar earlier. He asked her, ‘What are you looking forward to the most?’ She said, ‘Well, dad is gonna come watch me race, so that’ll be fun.”
WHEN YOU CAME IN THE WEEKENDS WERE LONGER AND YOU HAD TESTING, BUT YOU DIDN’T HAVE A LOT OF MIDWEEK STUFF YOU HAVE NOW. PLUS, THE SPONSOR SITUATION HAS CHANGED. DO YOU FEEL DRIVERS HAD MORE ON THEIR PLATE WHEN YOU STARTED OR NOW? “It’s just different and I say that not trying to be a smart aleck. The demands on the time are not as much as they used to be because I really think since 2009 when everything crashed and COVID, the demands on your time from an appearance standpoint and testing standpoint and days at the racetrack are much, much less than what they used to be. I think it’s the tedious work that comes with the details that go into the video and the data and everything that comes with that and, really, from the driver’s standpoint you’re part of an equation and you have to be pretty involved in everything that’s going on to be able to understand the ins and outs of the equation to be able to make a difference. Otherwise, you’re really a hindrance to really the whole system and you never really get anywhere. If they hit on something, then you have a little bit of success, but it’s never gonna be consistent, unless you really understand how to be a part of that equation. So, to me, it’s a lot easier than it used to be, just because you don’t have to go to do so many sponsor appearances. Even though you have more sponsors, there’s still not a huge demand on your time like there used to be from an appearance standpoint, just because of the way that companies utilize your time is just much different because of the way that they do events and things compared to how they used to do it with free-for-all marketing accounts, budgets that you just had dinners and different things all the time. But I still believe that one of the biggest challenges that many of our young drivers have is really time management and trying to get that circle of life and balance to make yourself realize that it’s really not that busy, and figure out how to do a lot more things in a short amount of time and still be able to function. A lot of it just comes with structure and organization and I think that’s one thing we stress a lot to our young guys is, ‘Hey, how do we get your circle of life in balance so you can do more because you’re really not doing that much. It’s not that hard.’”
YOUR CAREER IS THE END OF AN ERA WITH SIX CHAMPIONS BEING BORN IN THE 1970s AND YOU’RE THE LAST ONE FROM THAT GROUP RETIRING. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THAT AT ALL AND WHAT YOU AND YOUR PEERS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED? “I think when you name that list it’s a group of guys that came in at a great time because you got to race against the guys that were just ending their careers in the early 2000s or late nineties, and then you got to go through a new generation of guys that you came up with. I don’t know how many there are, but there’s a number of us that went through almost 20 years of it together and you really blocked out a whole generation in between for the most part just because you had so many guys that were so good, and able to be successful. But we also came through at a time when the sport was just out of control with money from a sponsorship standpoint, and all the team owners were looking for the next great driver. So they started their Busch Series teams and everybody had a Busch Series team. We were at this fortunate time when the Cup Series team owners were just looking for anybody that might have a chance and you could find funding to fund that program. All you had to do was say you were starting a program and you’d have two or three opportunities for sponsorship, and that’s how it was as you went through. For me, when we decided that we were gonna go Cup racing, we had three sponsors and we had to decide which one we wanted and that was at a very unique time in this sport and I think I’m very fortunate to have raced in the previous generation to come through with the guys that I did and now, really for me, I’m at a fortunate spot to be able to see the whole next generation starting. You have some really young guys that are in their early thirties, late twenties, mid-twenties and now I get to take that and have raced against most all those guys that are gonna be here for a long time and go up in the TV booth and I already know them all and have raced against them and have a relationship with them. My generation of racers came through at a very unique time that was just really fortunate to get to race against the previous generation, my generation and the future generation. To see all those changes in cars and tires and racers and styles of racing and we went from trial and error to simulators and simulation and iRacing and everything that comes with the sport now. When we did that before, you’d just go to the racetrack and you’d cut the cross member out and you’d drill holes in the frame and you just tested and tested and tested and tested at the track and now you don’t do it that way at all. But that’s one thing, whether it was my race teams or the race team that I have now, it’s evolve or die because this is an evolution process that is never gonna end because there are engineers and smart people and you always have to keep your head up and your eyes open or you’re gonna miss something and get left behind. I think with some of the generation of guys that were going out when we were coming in, they were very stuck on, ‘these are the springs that we need to run in the car. You can’t do this and you can’t do that.’ And they quickly got left behind and then, to me, I remember that like it was yesterday and you look back at those guys and you’re like, ‘Man, if they would have just followed the evolution of the sport and let it come to them, they would have still driven it fine.’ They just wouldn’t have known what springs were in the car and what shocks were on the car and where it was gonna go next and whether it was high or low it still went around the racetrack, it just went around the racetrack faster, but that’s what we do. The days of knowing everything that’s in your car and knowing how it works, you almost need to forget that because you’re just interrupting the process of all the smart people that work on the car to make it go faster and find something new and make a better part or piece, so there’s just a lot of things that have changed and I love that part of it. I love the evolution of watching it change and that’s always been something that I’ve taken pride in, in being able to be a part of that change and still be successful at what we did.”
IS THE NEXT GENERATION IN GOOD HANDS? “I think it is. I think guys like Joey Logano are gonna be great leaders. They already are. You see some of the younger guys start to speak up in the meetings and I can’t wait to continue to be a part of those meetings as we go forward and listen to it evolve and grow and change and see who the new leaders become because that’s the process and that’s how it works. There’s a lot of really good racers and now I think you’ll see guys evolve into leaders that you might not have expected, so that will be fun for everybody to watch and learn, but you’ve also got some guys that have been here a while that will do a good job.”
EVERYTHIING YOU HAVE LEARNED AND EXPERIENCED, WHAT DO YOU NOT WANT KEELAN AND PIPER TO DO? “The one thing that I tell Keelan is, I always tell him I’m like, we’ll get into some sort of disagreement of why you should do something or why you shouldn’t do something. He’ll say, ‘Well, you did this or you did that.’ And I’ll tell him, ‘That’s exactly why I’m sitting here telling you not to do that. If you’ll just shut up and listen, I’ll make you better.’ It’s not very hard. I’ve already been down this road and I’ve already made this mistake and, really, that’s one of the great advantages that we have from the management side is if you’ll just listen. I’m not telling you this is how you have to do it, but just listen to me and then you take it and you evolve from there, but don’t make the simple mistakes. I think from Piper’s standpoint, she’s still trying to figure it all out, but Keelan is pretty easy because he’s a lot like me. He’s a lot like me in the way that he acts and the things that he does and the things that he says, but he, for me, is very coachable because of the fact that I know his next move. It’s really simple, so I think for him if he’ll just listen and not make some of the same mistakes and just have a better starting point, then he can take it and evolve from there. And if we can make his sister just be in charge of everything, she will definitely take charge. That seems pretty easy. If it were me, before I had kids I would say, ‘Don’t ever get involved in racing. You don’t want to do it. It’s not the lifestyle you want to live.’ And then you have kids and you look around and you realize, ‘Man, this is really what my life is all about. I love racing’ And that really came from watching Keelan race and watching him grow to love this sport and watching the other parents and the other kids and everything that they did was all about racing because they loved going to the racetrack and it brought them together. That’s what I’ve done my whole life. You get in this mode where you walk in the racetrack, you’ve got your head down, you walk to your hauler, you put your suit on, you walk from the hauler to the car and from the car to the hauler and from the hauler home. And I can’t wait to walk in the racetrack with my head up and just look around because I have really never done that. I think for them probably the best advice I can give them is to try to have fun because it’s not always going to be fun. There’s always gonna be something that’s hard and in order to be good at this it’s not gonna be fun most of the time, so I don’t know if that answers your question.”
WHO DOES KEELAN LIKE TO LISTEN TO? “He likes to listen to anybody but me, but he listens. I think he listens but doesn’t want you to think he’s listening, which I’m the same way. It’s fine, but I think, for me, I’ve learned that I don’t need to be the coach. I need to coach through the coach. Put him around the people that I can trust with what I think is the right way to teach the right methods because you’re gonna get a lot further. That, to me, is a better strategy thanks to Jeff Burton.”
In a finale that came down to the survival of the fittest, Ben Rhodes withstood a series of late caution periods and on-track carnages that involved his three championship rivals, including himself during the next-to-last restart, to capture his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship in the Craftsman 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 3, that was won by Christian Eckes.
The 2021 Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, rolled off the starting grid from sixth place and managed to remain within title contention as he achieved top-10 results during both stage break periods while rallying from a slow pit stop before the second stage. Restarting within the top 20 at the start of the final stage period, an opportunity for the title presented itself for Rhodes after title rivals Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar made contact that resulted in Hocevar spinning Heim as Heim plummeted below the leaderboard. During the ensuing restart with 26 laps remaining, Rhodes, who restarted ninth, muscled his way past Hocevar to assume the lead in the championship battle.
Amid more late caution periods that sent the field into four overtime attempts, among which involved title rival Grant Enfinger making a pit stop for fresh tires after making contact on the track during the first overtime attempt and Rhodes sustaining damage to his truck after hitting and sending the leader Zane Smith for a spin during the second overtime attempt, Rhodes managed to retain the lead in the championship battle and fend off a final lap charge from Enfinger to clinch his second series title by finishing in fifth place, one spot ahead of Enfinger, as Eckes concluded the season by winning the finale.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, championship contender Corey Heim started in the pole position after posting a lap at 136.654 mph in 26.344 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 136.571 mph in 26.360 seconds. Heim’s title rivals, Ben Rhodes, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger started sixth, 13th and 17th, respectively.
Prior to the event, Stefan Parsons dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck after wrecking his primary truck during Thursday’s practice session.
When the green flag waved and the finale started, Heim and Majeski dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to three and four lanes through the dogleg and the frontstretch before navigating through Turns 1 and 2. With rookie Nick Sanchez trying to make a three-wide move for the lead, Majeski managed to muscle ahead from the outside lane as he proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Heim.
During the second lap, Majeski retained the lead ahead of Heim while title contender Ben Rhodes muscled his way up to third place in front of Sanchez, Zane Smith and Chase Purdy while Christian Eckes and Jesse Love pursued. Amid the early on-track battles, Majeski was leading by half a second over Heim while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than a second.
Then on the fourth lap, the first caution of the finale flew after Stewart Friesen, who was running 16th, spun entering Turn 4 after getting hit by Derek Kraus, which resulted in Friesen sliding his sideways truck up the track as Hailie Deegan slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting Friesen.
When the race restarted on the ninth lap, Rhodes attempted to make a move in between Heim and Majeski for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns. As the field jostled for early spots through the backstretch, Majeski managed to fend off Heim entering Turn 4 to retain the lead to sole possession and with both lanes under his control. With Majeski leading, Heim retained second ahead of Rhodes while Sanchez and Chase Purdy were in the top five. Shortly after, Taylor Gray moved into the top five over Purdy followed by Zane Smith while title contenders Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger were in eighth and 10th, respectively. Amid the battles, Majeski retained the lead by nine-tenths over Heim and less than two seconds over Rhodes by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the Lap 20 mark, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Heim while third-place Rhodes trailed by more than three seconds. Behind, Sanchez and Zane Smith were in the top five ahead of Purdy, Taylor Gray, Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger while Rajah Caruth, Jack Wood, Jake Garcia, Jesse Love and Jake Drew were running in the top 15. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray occupied 16th place ahead of Matt Crafton, Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson and Bayley Currey while Friesen was up in 21st. In addition, Deegan was mired back in 32nd behind Marco Andretti while Tyler Ankrum was in 28th.
Ten laps later, Majeski increased his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Heim and by more than four seconds over third-place Rhodes while Hocevar and Enfinger were running eighth and ninth, respectively. Majeski would stabilize his advantage to more than a second over Heim by the Lap 35 mark. By then, Zane Smith overtook Rhodes for third place followed by Sanchez while Hocevar and Enfinger remained in eighth and ninth, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Majeski claimed his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Title contender Heim settled in second followed by Zane Smith, Rhodes and Sanchez while Purdy, Eckes, Hocevar, Enfinger and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Heim exited first and emerged with the lead while Majeski, Zane Smith, Hocevar, Taylor Gray and Eckes followed suit. Behind, Rhodes and Enfinger exited pit road 11th and 12th, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Tanner Gray was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Sanchez would pit for a second time prior to the restart.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Heim and Majeski occupied the front row. At the start, Heim dueled with Majeski through the dogleg before muscling ahead entering Turn 1 from the outside lane as he led entering the backstretch. With Heim leading both the race and the championship battle, Majeski fell back to second followed by Zane Smith while Hocevar was in fourth followed by Taylor Gray and Eckes with Jake Garcia and Enfinger following suit. Two laps later, the caution returned after Chris Hacker and Marco Andretti, both of whom were running towards the rear of the field, wrecked in Turn 3.
Once the carnage was cleared amid an extensive caution period, the race restarted on Lap 64. At the start, Heim and Zane Smith dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the dogleg before entering Turns 1 and 2. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch, Heim managed to muscle away from Smith and maintain the lead from the outside lane while Majeski tried to close in on Zane Smith for the runner-up spot. During the following lap, Majeski overtook Smith for the runner-up spot while Enfinger trailed in fourth place ahead of Garcia, Taylor Gray, Eckes and Hocevar as Rhodes, who endured a slow pit stop during the first stage break period, was mired back in 11th.
Just past the Lap 70 mark, Heim was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Majeski while third-place Zane Smith trailed by more than a second. Behind, title contender Enfinger retained fourth place ahead of Garcia, Taylor Gray and Eckes while Hocevar and Rhodes were mired back in eighth and 10th, respectively. Heim would retain the lead by a second over Majeski by the Lap 75 mark while his title rivals Enfinger, Hocevar and Rhodes continued to trail in fourth, eighth and 10th, respectively.
Shortly after, the caution flew after Tyler Hill spun and wrecked in Turn 2. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Garcia pitted while the rest led by Heim and including Majeski, Zane Smith, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Rhodes, Jesse Love and Stefan Parsons remained on the track.
With the race restarting on Lap 82, Heim fended off Majeski and Enfinger through the dogleg and entering the first two turns to retain the lead and maintain control of both lanes through the backstretch. With Heim still leading, Zane Smith moved back into second followed by Majeski, Taylor and Eckes while Enfinger fell back to sixth as he was battling Rhodes to maintain the spot. Amid the battles, Heim stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Zane just past the Lap 85 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, title contender Heim captured his series-leading eighth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season. Zane Smith settled in a close second place followed by Majeski, Eckes and Taylor Gray while Rhodes, Purdy, Enfinger, Garcia and Hocevar were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, some led by Heim and including Rhodes and Enfinger pitted while the rest led by Eckes and including Hocevar remained on the track.
With 51 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Eckes and Purdy occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes rocketed away from the outside lane as the field fanned out through the dogleg and the first two turns. With the field still fanned out through the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4, Eckes retained the lead over teammate Garcia while Sanchez, Purdy and Friesen trailed in the top five. By then, Hocevar was trying to make his way into the top five from sixth while Heim, Enfinger and Rhodes trailed within the top 15.
Two laps later, the caution returned after Connor Jones and Jake Drew wrecked in Turn 3, with Jones colliding into Drew and sending both hard against the outside SAFER Barrier while battling for 15th place, as Deegan spun to avoid the carnage.
During the following restart with 41 laps remaining, Eckes and Sanchez dueled for the lead until Sanchez motored ahead through the backstretch. With Eckes fighting back on the outside lane, he managed to motor past Sanchez through Turns 3 and 4 and reassume the lead. With Eckes back out in front over Sanchez, Garcia was in third ahead of Zane Smith and Friesen while Hocevar was the highest-running title contender in sixth place. Meanwhile, Heim was in 10th in front of Enfinger while Rhodes was mired back within the top 15.
With 35 laps remaining, Eckes was leading by half a second over Sanchez followed by Garcia, Zane and Friesen while Hocevar retained sixth ahead of a hard-charging Heim. Meanwhile, Enfinger and Rhodes were in 11th and 12th while Purdy, Crafton and Majeski occupied the top 10.
Three laps later, Heim overtook Hocevar for sixth place on the track through Turns 1 and 2 and reassumed the lead in the championship battle. A lap later, however, Hocevar made contact with Heim and sent Heim’s No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro spinning into Friesen as the latter two wrecked in Turn 2, with Friesen damaging his rear bumper after hitting the wall. The incident left Hocevar frustrated and placing blame on himself over the contact while Heim managed to continue without hitting the wall as he pitted for fresh tires.
With the race restarting with 25 laps remaining, Sanchez fired off with the lead from the outside lane while Hocevar, who nearly got turned at the start, was being fanned out by Eckes and Majeski through the dogleg as the field behind fanned out entering the first two turns. Amid the restart and with the field still fanning out, Rhodes overtook Hocevar from the outside lane on the track as Sanchez and Zane Smith made contact against one another and towards the outside wall through the backstretch. Amid the chaos, Sanchez maintained the lead ahead of Zane Smith followed by Eckes, Majeski and Rhodes while Enfinger made his way into the top six. Meanwhile, Hocevar was plummeting in the leaderboard as Rhodes occupied the lead in the title fight while running in fourth place on the track. Then with 23 laps remaining, Zane Smith overtook Sanchez for the lead entering the frontstretch with Eckes following in second place. Behind, Rhodes was in fourth, one spot ahead of a hard-charging Enfinger, while Heim and Hocevar were mired back in 13th and 18th, respectively.
Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution flew for a multi-truck wreck that erupted in Turn 3 and involved Currey, Daniel Dye and Stefan Parsons. The carnage was enough to place the event in a red flag period during the following lap. By then, Rhodes was leading the title fight in third place, one spot ahead of Enfinger, while Heim and Hocevar were mired back in 11th and 18th, respectively, as Zane Smith was scored the race leader.
Nearly 12 minutes later, the red flag lifted and the field returned under a cautious pace. During the caution period, some including Hocevar pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.
As the race restarted with 15 laps remaining, Zane Smith and Eckes dueled for the lead through the dogleg as the field fanned out. Amid the battles, Smith fended off Eckes entering the backstretch to assume the lead. During the following lap, Smith was leading Eckes while Enfinger was in third place and leading Rhodes for the championship. Behind, Heim moved back up to seventh behind Purdy and Jesse Love while Hocevar was mired back in 19th.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading the race by a second over Eckes while Enfinger was running third, but leading the championship battle in front of Rhodes, as Heim climbed up to sixth. By then, Hocevar was mired back in 14th.
With five laps remaining, Zane Smith continued to lead the race by more than two seconds over Eckes while Enfinger, who retained third place, continued to lead the title fight ahead of Rhodes as Heim trailed in sixth place. Meanwhile, Hocevar climbed up to 10th place.
A lap later, the caution flew when Heim, who was running seventh and had Hocevar making a move to his outside for position, went up the track and sent Hocevar into the outside wall in Turn 2 in retaliation from their earlier on-track incident that sent Heim spinning. In this recent incident, Hocevar, who collided into the outside wall amid the contact with Heim, limped his damaged No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado RST up against the wall while Heim was hit on the driver’s side by teammate Taylor Gray, thus leaving both championship contenders with wrecked trucks. By then and with the race sent into overtime, Zane Smith was still leading the overall race followed by Eckes while Enfinger and Rhodes, both of whom were running third and fourth, were the lone two title contenders left to battle for the title amongst one another.
At the start of the first overtime attempt, Eckes and Zane Smith dueled for the lead as Rhodes tried to thread the middle. With the field still fanning out through Turn 2, Rhodes overtook Enfinger on the track and boosted his way to second place as he challenged Zane Smith for the lead. Amid the field still fanned out through the backstretch, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt after Kraus wrecked in Turn 3 after getting hit by Sanchez. By then, Rhodes settled in second behind Zane while Enfinger, who made contact with Eckes entering the backstretch before he got hit by Love and sent up the track in Turn 3, fell back to ninth. During the caution period, Enfinger pitted his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST for fresh tires and repairs amid the contact as his title hopes were placed in jeopardy.
At the start of the second overtime attempt, Zane Smith briefly muscled ahead from Eckes through the dogleg until Smith, who missed a shift to fourth gear and quickly fell off the pace, was hit hard in the rear by an oncoming Rhodes as Rhodes turned Smith, who was T-boned by Crafton and Jack Wood through the frontstretch, while Rhodes escaped with front nose damage to his No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 as he fell back to sixth place, but remained on the track. In the process, Eckes assumed the race lead followed by Purdy and Garcia while the event was sent into a third overtime attempt.
With the event restarting for a third overtime attempt, Chase Purdy muscled ahead of Eckes from the inside lane to assume the lead through the dogleg as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned and the event was sent into a fourth overtime attempt after Majeski, who was running towards the front, got turned by Jesse Love through the frontstretch. Amid Majeski’s spin, teammate Matt Crafton spun while trying to avoid carnage as Sean Hingorani, Zane Smith, Colby Howard and Tyler Hill wrecked in the process. At the moment of caution, Purdy was leading Eckes while Rhodes was in sixth. Meanwhile, Enfinger was mired in 17th as he remained within close distance of Rhodes for the title.
During the fourth overtime attempt, Eckes muscled his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Purdy’s No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST from the outside lane as he reassumed the lead through the first two turns. With the field fanning out, Enfinger charged his way back into the top 10 and had his eyes on Rhodes, who was battling Kaden Honeycutt and Jesse Love for a spot within the top five.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Eckes remained as the leader over teammate Jake Garcia and Purdy while Rhodes retained the lead in the championship battle by three spots over a hard-charging Enfinger. Even as Tyler Ankrum wrecked entering Turns 3 and 4, the race remained under green flag conditions. Through the dogleg, Rhodes was battling Honeycutt for fifth place, though he remained ahead of Enfinger, who was trying to fend off Sanchez, Dean Thompson and Tanner Gray for spots. Then entering the backstretch, Enfinger, who was still trying to overtake Tanner Gray, had Rhodes in front of him for a final opportunity to snatch the title away from the former. As Enfinger stepped on the gas and tried to get to Rhodes’ No. 99 rear bumper to get Rhodes loose entering Turns 3 and 4, he was unable to make physical contact to get Rhodes loose. With Enfinger sliding up the track, Rhodes was able to step back on the gas and fend off Enfinger for a final turn to streak across the finish line in fifth place and win his second Truck Series championship.
With his accomplishment, Rhodes, who won his first title in 2021, joined Ron Hornaday Jr., Jack Sprague, Todd Bodine and Matt Crafton as the only competitors to achieve multiple Truck Series championships as he became the first competitor to repeat as a champion since teammate Crafton won his third title in 2019. He also delivered the fifth driver’s championship and the second owner’s title for ThorSport Racing while crew chief Rich Lushes, who reunited with Rhodes midway into the 2023 season and who won the 2021 title with Rhodes, captured his second title as a crew chief.
In total, Rhodes, who barely transferred through the Rounds of 10 and 8 to make this year’s Championship 4 by a narrow margin, capped off his second championship-winning season with a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, seven top-five results and 14 top-10 results throughout the 23-race schedule.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I can’t even believe it. Let’s go!” Rhodes exclaimed on the frontstretch on FS1. “Man, I hate when people do that on TV, so I’m sorry, but hey, this is so awesome, man. To go 25 laps into overtime, you know what that feels like? Almost lose it three times? Look at the front of the truck. It’s crazy. I didn’t think we were going to make it. I thought we were going to pop a tire. I thought anything that could have gone wrong was going to go wrong. Grant [Enfinger] almost got me. Hats off to him. He ran a great race. I wouldn’t want to race against anybody else for the championship. He raced me clean, and I respect the hell out of him for it.”
“I saw [Enfinger],” Rhodes added. “I’m watching the replay right here. I saw him. He went for everything, but he ran me clean, and I thank him for that. That’s what these championships are all about. It’s unfortunate we had so many cautions, but we ran each other clean, all of us did tonight, and great show. I love you guys. Thanks for all the fans coming out. I love it. What a team. I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we got here and we did it.”
While Rhodes celebrated the series’ championship, Enfinger, who finished in sixth place behind Rhodes and achieved three victories this season, was left disappointed on pit road after coming up one spot short of winning his first NASCAR national touring series title and delivering one final championship for GMS Racing, which is set to cease operations at this season’s conclusion.
“It was just the original green-white-checkered [restart] there where we went four wide, Ben [Rhodes] gassed it up there on the bottom [lane], drove us in [Eckes] and tore up our truck and then, we had to restart from 22nd there,” Enfinger, whose racing plans for 2024 remain undetermined, said. “That’s kind of what ended our run. Obviously, we got close there at the end. I don’t know. Maybe if he didn’t have such a run down the back straightaway, but I needed to get under him to make that pass. It’s a shame that the championship came down to a race like that with 15 green-white-checkereds or whatever it was right there, 30 laps extra. I feel like we did everything we could to win this race and just kind of got used up right there. Championship racing, it’s just incredibly unfortunate to end GMS Racing like this. I really felt like we had that championship in grasp and to be honest with you, I don’t know if I’d have done anything different. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
Like Enfinger, Corey Heim, the 2023 Truck Series Regular Season champion who captured three victories this season, was left disappointed on pit road after ending up in 18th place on the track and in third place in the final standings following his pair of incidents with title rival Carson Hocevar.
“Ask [Hocevar] if he stands by the first one,” Heim, who will return to TRICON Garage for the 2024 season, said. “I mean, he wrecked me, then I got my right rear destroyed. From there, I had no side force and he put it on my door and I lost control. Just really got to hold our heads high for a great year. It was a phenomenal year for us. This was our worst finish in like six months. Really put together a good race and really hoped that the guys would race me clean. I’ve got a lot of respect for everybody in the field, but clearly not [Hocevar] anymore. It is what it is. It’s part of racing and unfortunately, that turned into a wreck fest, but I did all I could.”
Meanwhile, Hocevar, who was unable to finish following his second and latest on-track altercation with Heim, ended up in 29th place on the track and in fourth place in the final standings in a season where he notched his first four career victories. The wrecked result marked Hocevar’s final scheduled Truck Series start with Niece Motorsports as he will be moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive for Spire Motorsports in 2024.
“I’m just more mad right now that I cost [TRICON Garage] a shot to win the championship,” Hocevar said. “I don’t care about my reputation right now. I just feel bad that I robbed [Heim]of that. I feel sorry for him. I can’t say that I was mad, I just messed up. I didn’t even want to run the rest of the laps. I wanted to crawl into a hole and I just feel bad. I’m trying so hard to be better and trying to stay with him. I wasn’t going to give up. I just didn’t know how to give up in that moment. I didn’t want to wreck him, I didn’t want to hit him that hard, I didn’t want to spin him. I was just trying to hold him up a little bit.”
Amid Rhodes’ championship celebration, Christian Eckes, who missed the cutline to this year’s Championship 4 by a narrow margin, celebrated in Victory Lane for the fourth time this season and the fifth in his career after leading 36 of 179 over-scheduled laps, including the final three laps during the fourth overtime attempt. The victory was enough for Eckes to conclude his first Truck Series season with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in fifth place in the final standings as he will remain with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for the 2024 Truck season. The victory, however, did little to ease Eckes’ disappointment over not contending for this year’s title.
Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“That one’s gonna sting,” Eckes said in Victory Lane. “It still stings. I mean, it’s awesome to win. It’s always awesome to win, especially with our great partners. To come short of the goal to win a championship and being able to come and win the final race kind of stinks for sure, so it is what it is now. We can always look back and Monday morning quarterback in it and say that we could be champions, but at the end of the day, we aren’t. At the end of the day, I’m also really proud of the whole No. 99 group. That was my team last year at ThorSport [Racing] for the most part with a few different pieces. Super proud of them and yeah, it is what it is.”
On the track, Jake Garcia notched a career-best runner-up result in his final Truck event with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing while Chase Purdy finished third in his final event driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, the winningest team in the Truck Series that will cease operations at this season’s conclusion. Jesse Love finished fourth followed by the champion Rhodes and Enfinger while Dean Thompson, Kaden Honeycutt, Tanner Gray and Nick Sanchez, the 2023 Truck Series Rookie of the Year, completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Rajah Caruth finished 12th in his final event driving for the ceased GMS Racing while Hailie Deegan finished 15th in her final Truck Series start as she will be moving up to the Xfinity Series to drive for AM Racing. In addition, Zane Smith ended up in 25th place with a DNF in his final Truck Series event with Front Row Motorsports while Jack Wood and Daniel Dye ended up 27th and 32nd in their final events driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports and GMS Racing, respectively.
There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 12 cautions for 77 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Christian Eckes, 36 laps led
2. Jake Garcia
3. Chase Purdy, eight laps led
4. Jesse Love
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Grant Enfinger
7. Dean Thompson
8. Kaden Honeycutt
9. Tanner Gray
10. Nick Sanchez, five laps led
11. Matt Crafton
12. Rajah Caruth
13. Lawless Alan
14. Ty Majeski, 48 laps led, Stage 1 winner
15. Hailie Deegan
16. Christian Rose
17. Spencer Davis
18. Corey Heim, 47 laps led, Stage 2 winner
19. Nick Leitz
20. Tyler Hill
21. Colby Howard
22. Tyler Ankrum, one lap down
23. Taylor Gray, two laps down
24. Stewart Friesen, four laps down
25. Zane Smith – OUT, Accident, 35 laps led
26. Sean Hingorani – OUT, Accident
27. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident
28. Derek Kraus – OUT, Accident
29. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident
30. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident
31. Bayley Currey – OUT, Accident
32. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
33. Jake Drew – OUT, Accident
34. Connor Jones – OUT, Accident
35. Marco Andretti – OUT, Accident
36. Chris Hacker – OUT, Accident
*Bold indicates championship finalists
Final standings
1. Ben Rhodes
2. Grant Enfinger
3. Corey Heim
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Christian Eckes
6. Nick Sanchez
7. Zane Smith
8. Ty Majeski
9. Matt Crafton
10. Matt DiBenedetto
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway to commence the 2024 racing season. The season opener at Daytona is slated to occur on February 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Nick Sanchez has been officially named the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year.
The 22-year-old Sanchez from Miami, Florida, capped off his rookie Truck Series season with Rev Racing in 10th place during the season-finale Craftsman 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 3, where he led five of 179 over-scheduled laps and was able to finish in sixth place in the final driver’s standings with 2,319 points.
Sanchez, whose racing career commenced at age 12 with go-karts, joined Rev Racing as he competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and the ARCA Menards Series East divisions while being a member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program in 2019. During the season, his top accomplishments included victories at Langley Speedway and Myrtle Beach Speedway in the Whelen All-American Series, his first pole position at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway and achieving the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award.
The following season, the Floridian competed for Rev Racing on a full-time basis in the ARCA East division, where he finished in third place in the final standings on the strengths of two top-five results and four top-10 results in six scheduled starts. In addition, he made select starts across the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West divisions.
In 2021, Sanchez piloted the No. 2 Chevrolet for Rev Racing on a full-time basis in the ARCA Menards Series. After recording eight top-five results and 12 top-10 results in 17 starts, he notched his first career victory in the series in the season-finale event at Kansas Speedway and finished in third place in the final standings. The following season, Sanchez notched three victories throughout the 2022 ARCA season, which occurred at Talladega Superspeedway, Kansas Speedway and Michigan International Speedway. The trio of victories along with nine top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 115 laps led and an average-finishing result of 6.3 were enough for him to achieve the 2022 ARCA Menards Series championship by 14 points over Daniel Dye. By then, Sanchez, who had achieved his first championship in stock car racing, delivered the second championship for Rev Racing and the first since the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson won the ARCA East title in 2012.
Nearly a month after the 2022 ARCA season concluded, Rev Racing announced its expansion to NASCAR’s top three national touring series for the first time by fielding a full-time Craftsman Truck Series entry for Sanchez to pilot as the team formed a technical alliance with Kyle Busch Motorsports. Driving the No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST, Sanchez secured the pole position for the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February in his first stint in the Truck Series.
Despite finishing 26th at Daytona amid a rain-shortened event followed by a 30th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after wrecking late, he rallied by notching a career-best runner-up result at Atlanta after being overtaken by Christian Eckes on the final lap. Two races later, Sanchez was within striking distance of achieving his first career victory at Texas Motor Speedway after starting on the pole, sweeping both stage periods and leading a race-high 168 of 172 laps.
However, during the second of two overtime attempts, Sanchez, who was locked in a heated battle with reigning series champion Zane Smith for the lead, slipped sideways at the start of the final lap and was bumped by Carson Hocevar exiting the frontstretch as Sanchez ended up wrecking with Smith and Eckes in Turn 1 and strapped with a 16th-place result.
Coming off the Texas result, Sanchez, who only managed three top-10 results during his next seven starts, achieved his second top-five career result after finishing third at Nashville Superspeedway in an event where he started in the pole position and led 37 laps. With respective finishes of ninth, 19th and eighth in the final regular-season events, the Floridian managed to claim a spot into the 2023 Truck Series Playoffs by 42 points. By then, he was the lone rookie competitor to make the Playoffs.
Despite recording respective finishes of 11th, 24th and eighth during the Playoff’s Round of 10, Sanchez transferred into the Round of 8 by 32 points. He commenced the Round of 8 by finishing ninth at Bristol Motor Speedway despite starting at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his truck. Coming off a seventh-place result in the second Round of 8 event at Talladega Superspeedway, which was mired by a post-race fight involving three-time series champion Matt Crafton, Sanchez recorded his fifth pole position for the Round of 8 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Commencing the event four points above the top-four cutline to make this year’s Championship 4 round, he ended up finishing 17th during the main event and missed the cutline in a tie-breaker over the 2021 series champion Ben Rhodes. Nonetheless, Sanchez managed to capture his 12th top-10 result of the 2023 Truck Series season during the finale at Phoenix.
By claiming this year’s rookie title, Sanchez, who earned five poles, four stage victories, two top-five results and 12 top-10 results during his rookie season, became the first competitor from Florida to achieve the Truck Series rookie title since Ben Kennedy made the last accomplishment in 2014 and the first Chevrolet competitor to win the award since Zane Smith made the last accomplishment in 2020. He also became the first competitor from NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program to achieve a rookie title within NASCAR’s top three national touring series since Daniel Suarez claimed the 2015 Xfinity Series rookie title.
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Sanchez’s rivals for this year’s Truck rookie title included Rajah Caruth, Daniel Dye, Jake Garcia and Bret Holmes.
With the rookie title achieved, Sanchez is currently slated to remain at Rev Racing for the 2024 Truck Series season as he will bid for both his first series victory and another run for the series title. Sanchez’s crew chief for next season remains to be determined as Danny Stockman Jr., the 2011 Truck Series championship-winning crew chief who guided Sanchez during his rookie campaign, will be returning to the Xfinity Series to crew chief the 2023 ARCA Menards Series champion Jesse Love Jr. for his first Xfinity campaign at Richard Childress Racing.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2024, to commence a new season of racing. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
NASHVILLE, Tenn: Fresh off a solid top-10 showing in the 52nd annual Winchester 400 presented by Vore’s Welding & Steel, Logan Bearden and his team trek to the Music City eyeing to close out their 2023 Super Late Model season with another strong performance in Sunday’s Curb Records | Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers All American 400 Presented by US Tank and Cryogenic Equipment.
“I’m feeling good going into this weekend,” said Bearden. “It’s nice that we have a little momentum from Winchester, and hopefully, we can ramp up on that momentum with a top-five finish on Sunday afternoon.”
Known as one of the most historic short tracks in the Midwest, Bearden believes his Bearden Motorsports team can work diligently through practice and qualifying on his No. 66 Bearden Automotive | Parker Electric Ford Mustang and find a good baseline setup to enable them to capitalize on their speed when it counts most on November 5.
“The race track has quite a bit of character to it,” explained Bearden. “That can be a good thing for everyone. Rhythm is super important, and also, the track is super abrasive, so tire management will be one of the main keys to focus on for the race on Sunday afternoon.”
Much like the Winchester 400, Sunday’s All American 400 offers 300 laps of intense side-by-side short-track action. Bearden, a part-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series driver, plans to utilize the same race-day mentality to aid him in his season finale.
“Sunday’s race is 100 laps shorter than Winchester, so there’s a little bit of go-time pressure,” Bearden explained. “Still, a lot of our same objectives remain the same. Staying out of trouble is a top priority and keeping the fenders on the car and staying on the lead lap no matter what.
“If we can do that – much like we did at Winchester, it should put us in a good position to execute towards the end of the race.”
With a stacked field on deck for Sunday’s Curb Records | Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers All American 400 Presented by US Tank and Cryogenic Equipment, Bearden is prepared for the lap times to be within thousands of a second. Still, once practice and qualifying are complete – the focus turns towards 1,200 turns in downtown Nashville.
“The field is super stacked with a lot of drivers from many different disciplines,” sounded Bearden. “That will make for a good show, but it also brings a sense of intensity and commitment to race the competition on how you want to be raced.
“I plan to race my competitors with respect, but if we are in contention to win the race – then I am going to do everything I can to put myself and my partners and team in Victory Lane. No matter what series I race, I continue to learn from the competition, but I also feel like I have worked incredibly hard to earn their respect and hope that it can be showcased on Sunday.
“I’d love to leave Nashville on Sunday with a top-five finish if we can’t win. That would be a great boost for our team and an exclamation point for our hard work all year long.”
With the checkered flag set to wave in 2023, Bearden is eagerly awaiting 2024, where he plans to have a healthier presence in NASCAR while also piling up more Super Late Model races.
“2023 was an up and down year for us,” offered Bearden. “We had speed in many of the races we ran; it just seemed like we were plagued with mechanical issues. Hopefully, Sunday will be a different outcome, and we can carry some momentum into the offseason.
“I am, however, looking forward to 2024 and what it has in store for us.”
In addition to Bearden Automotive and Parker Electric, All In Designs, Marc Metz Racing and AIRBOX Air Purifier will serve as associate marketing partners for Bearden’s final Super Late Model race of the season.
Sunday’s Curb Records | Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers All American 400 presented by US Tank and Cryogenic Equipment is part of a full weekend of action featuring Super and Pro Late Model practice and 1/4-mile racing action on Friday night.
All American 400 qualifying and races for the Vore’s Compact Touring Series, CRA Street Stocks, and JEGS/CRA All Stars Tour on the 5/8-mile Saturday; and culminating with the season-ending ASA STARS National Tour All American 400 on Sunday afternoon.
The ASA STARS National Tour heads to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on Sunday, November 5 for the season finale, the All American 400. Special discounted three-day tickets are available here.
The Curb Records | Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers All American 400 presented by US Tank and Cryogenic Equipment will broadcast live on Sunday, November 5 at 2:00 p.m. ET on RacingAmerica.TV, MidwestTour.TV and TrackTV.com, with a tape-delayed broadcast set for Monday, November 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET on MAVTV.
For more on Logan Bearden, please visit LoganBearden.com, like his Facebook page (Logan Bearden Racing) or follow him on Twitter | X @LoganBearden66.
