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Ross Chastain wins wild Darlington Truck race in overtime

Ty Majeski appeared ready to give Ford Performance its first win of the 2024 NASCAR season and had built a more than five-second lead when a late-race caution for a wreck sent the race into overtime.

All the lead-lap trucks elected to pit for new tires and Majeski’s team got him off first to retain the lead. On the ensuing restart, Majeski chose the outside lane while Chastain took the inside, which proved to be the difference.

Chastain and Majeski briefly banged fenders at the start and Chastain was able to clear for the lead as Majeski, Colby Howard and Jake Garcia all got loose and tagged the outside wall. Chastain beat Nick Sanchez by 0.315 seconds to earn his first win of the season in just his third start.

The win is the fifth for Chastain, who competes full-time in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing, and his first in the series since 2022.

“It’s so cool. We won Darlington!” an ecstatic Chastain said after completing his trademark smashing of a watermelon. “A watermelon farmer just won Darlington and for everything this means for Niece Motorsports and five years ago to the day that we won our first race.”

Reigning series champion Ben Rhodes ended up third, Christian Eckes fourth and Majeski was fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Chase Purdy, Howard, Taylor Gray, Ty Dillon and Tanner Gray.

Stage 1

Corey Heim fended off a late charge from Eckes and held on for a 0.421-second win in Stage 1. Majeski was third, Taylor Gray was fourth and Layne Riggs rounded out the top five.

Kyle Busch got loose racing Heim for the lead on lap 2, spun and wrecked into the inside wall, bringing an early end to his race. It was Busch’s first DNF in the Truck Series since 2017.

Stage 2

Heim cruised to the Stage 2 win over Rajah Caruth, who pit midway through the stage for new tires and drove from the rear of the field up to second. Eckes was third, Majeski fourth and Enfinger ended up fifth.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead-lap trucks elected to pit and Enfinger was the first off pit road and led the way with 50 laps remaining in the race.

Majeski powered into the lead shortly after the restart, but the race was put back under caution when a multi-truck wreck erupted off the exit of Turn 2 and down the backstretch.

Several top contenders for the race win were collected in the incident, including Heim, Caruth, Matt Crafton, Jack Wood and Layne Riggs.

Majeski led Eckes and Enfinger when the race resumed with 42 laps to go. Eckes got around Majeski on the restart to move into the lead for the first time in the race.

With 27 laps remaining, Majeski pulled up alongside Eckes and the two banged fenders several times before Majeski got by him for the lead.

Wood wrecked in Turn 1 with five laps to go which brought out a caution and sent the race into a two-lap overtime.

All the lead-lap trucks elected to pit for new tires with Majeski first off pit road. He led Chastain, Garcia and Howard when overtime got under way.

CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL PITS POINTS
1 R. ChastainNIECE MOTORSPORTS 45 Chevrolet 150

2:00'33.562

  5  
2
N. SanchezREV RACING
2 Chevrolet 150

+0.315

2:00'33.877

0.315 6 35
3 B. RhodesTHORSPORT RACING 99 Ford 150

+0.826

2:00'34.388

0.511 6 37
4 C. EckesMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING 19 Chevrolet 150

+1.282

2:00'34.844

0.456 6 50
5 T. MajeskiTHORSPORT RACING 98 Ford 150

+1.291

2:00'34.853

0.009 6 47
6 C. PurdySPIRE MOTORSPORTS 77 Chevrolet 150

+1.696

2:00'35.258

0.405 6 31
7
C. HowardTRICON GARAGE
1 Toyota 150

+2.263

2:00'35.825

0.567 6 30
8
T. GrayTRICON GARAGE
17 Toyota 150

+2.388

2:00'35.950

0.125 10 38
9 T. DillonRACKLEY W.A.R. 25 Chevrolet 150

+2.965

2:00'36.527

0.577 6 28
10 T. GrayTRICON GARAGE 15 Toyota 150

+3.274

2:00'36.836

0.309 6 27
11 M. MillsNIECE MOTORSPORTS 42 Chevrolet 150

+4.047

2:00'37.609

0.773 9 26
12
A. LawlessREAUME BROTHERS RACING
33 Ford 150

+4.395

2:00'37.957

0.348 8 25
13 T. HillHILL MOTORSPORTS 56 Toyota 150

+4.745

2:00'38.307

0.350 8 24
14 S. FriesenHALMAR FRIESEN RACING 52 Toyota 150

+5.159

2:00'38.721

0.414 6 25
15
M. MasseyYOUNG'S MOTORSPORTS
02 Chevrolet 150

+5.438

2:00'39.000

0.279 8 22
16 G. EnfingerCR7 MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 150

+6.370

2:00'39.932

0.932 6 28
17
B. HolmesBRET HOLMES RACING
32 Chevrolet 150

+8.160

2:00'41.722

1.790 5 20
18 T. MoffittFACTION MOTORSPORTS 46 Chevrolet 150

+11.006

2:00'44.568

2.846 7 19
19 S. BoydFREEDOM RACING ENTERPRISES 76 Chevrolet 150

+13.456

2:00'47.018

2.450 6 18
20
J. GarciaTHORSPORT RACING
13 Ford 150

+26.950

2:01'00.512

13.494 6 18
21
L. RiggsFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS
38 Ford 148

+2 Laps

2:00'41.959

2 Laps 7 26
22 B. CurreyNIECE MOTORSPORTS 41 Chevrolet 148

+2 Laps

2:00'43.155

1.196 8 15
23
D. DyeMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING
43 Chevrolet 148

+2 Laps

2:00'43.251

0.096 9 14
24
C. JonesTHORSPORT RACING
66 Ford 145

+5 Laps

2:00'44.078

3 Laps 10 13
25
J. WoodMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING
91 Chevrolet 139

+11 Laps

1:50'17.303

6 Laps 9 12
26 T. AnkrumMCANALLY HILGEMANN RACING 18 Chevrolet 136

+14 Laps

2:00'49.798

3 Laps 8 11
27
M. MaggioREAUME BROTHERS RACING
22 Ford 121

+29 Laps

1:39'38.760

15 Laps 6 10
28
C. HeimTRICON GARAGE
11 Toyota 105

+45 Laps

1:31'45.443

16 Laps 7 29
29
D. ThompsonTRICON GARAGE
5 Toyota 97

+53 Laps

1:17'14.431

8 Laps 4 12
30
R. CaruthSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
71 Chevrolet 97

+53 Laps

1:17'14.486

0.055 5 16
31 M. CraftonTHORSPORT RACING 88 Ford 97

+53 Laps

1:17'14.626

0.140 5 11
32 K. BuschSPIRE MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 6

+144 Laps

8'49.410

91 Laps 3
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