NASCAR’s second straight triple-header weekend kicks off with the SpeedyCash.com 250 on Friday night (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a tight battle atop the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series standings and a history of dramatic Texas Motor Speedway endings.
Carson Hocevar led only the last lap in claiming last year’s race, with the evening’s most dominant driver, Nick Sanchez, finishing a frustrating 16th place after being collected in a last-lap wreck. Sanchez, driver of the No. 2 REV Racing Chevrolet had led 168 of the 172 laps and swept both stage wins.
There are three former Texas race winners among the fulltime competitors this week – Stewart Friesen (2022), Ty Dillon (2013) and the only multi-time Texas winner on the grid, former three-time series champ Matt Crafton who won in Fort Worth in 2014 and ’15.
Kyle Busch and Johnny Sauter – both five-time Texas truck race winners – are also entered this week.
ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski arrives in Texas the championship points leader by seven-points over both TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim and McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum. The season’s only multi-time race winner, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes – last week’s Martinsville, Va. champ – is ranked fourth, a mere 11-points off the lead. Eckes’ 306 laps led this season is nearly three times that of the next closest mark – Majeski’s 117 laps out front.
Neither Majeski atop the championship nor Eckes, the winningest driver of the season, have celebrated in Texas Motor Speedway’s iconic Victory Lane, but both have strong records on the 1.5-mile high banks.
Majeski has two top-five finishes in three starts – finishing fifth and fourth in the last two races – although he has never led a lap at the Fort Worth track. Eckes has two runner-up finishes in four starts – leading 52 laps and finishing second in 2020 and leading 40 laps and finishing second in 2022.
Rajah Caruth (Las Vegas) and Kyle Busch (Atlanta) are the season’s previous 1.5-mile track race winners.
Practice for the SpeedyCash.com 250 is Friday at 4:05 p.m. ET followed by Cometic Gasket Pole Qualifying at 4:35 p.m. ET – both televised live on FS1 before the race.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
