Majeski, who was sent the to rear early in the race due to an uncontrolled tire penalty, made his way back to the front and pounced on leader William Sawalich on a restart with 20 of 250 laps remaining.
Another caution bunched the field to set up a restart with eight laps to go but as the field raced three and four-wide behind him, Majeski cleared for the lead.
He held off Christian Eckes – who had clinched the regular season championship earlier in the race – by 0.926 seconds to claim his second win of the 2024 season and fifth of his career.
It took three weeks, but @TyMajeski has back-to-back @NASCAR_Trucks as he enters the #NASCARPlayoffs! pic.twitter.com/uB2DyFWnTj
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) August 11, 2024
“It feels good. We’ve had a great ThorSport truck here at Richmond for the last two years. Found different ways to lose them and we tried to do it again tonight,” Majeski said. “Another mistake, we really need to clean that stuff up before playoff time.
“Duke and Rhoda Thorson gave me a huge opportunity two years ago and I’ve had the time of my life racing for this team. We’re going to try to bring another trophy back home.”
Taylor Gray finished third, Grant Enfinger was fourth and Layne Riggs fifth.
Saturday night’s race set the 10-driver playoff field.
Joining Majeski making the field on wins are Eckes, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth. Making the field based on points are Tyler Ankrum, Enfinger, Taylor Gray, reigning series champion Ben Rhodes and Daniel Dye.
Tanner Gray was the first driver to miss the field, finishing 12 points behind Dye. The first playoff race is Aug. 25 at The Milwaukee Mile.
Stage 1
Eckes grabbed the lead on a late restart and held off Taylor Gray by 0.435 seconds to take the Stage 1 win. Enfinger was third, Rhodes fourth and Riggs completed the top five.
Stage 2
Enfinger took the lead on a restart with six laps remaining and held off Eckes by 0.305 seconds to win Stage 2. Dye was third, Riggs fourth and Heim ended up fifth.
On Lap 128, Matt Crafton – who needed a win to make the playoffs – spun around off Turn 4 and tagged the inside retaining wall.
With his #NASCARPlayoffs streak hanging in the balance, @Matt_Crafton goes for a spin! pic.twitter.com/1SFtHVum4H
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) August 11, 2024
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, only a handful of lead-lap trucks elected to pit and Enfinger remained in the lead as the race returned to green with 101 laps remaining.
A multi-truck wrecked erupted shortly after the restart on the backstretch which knocked out several drivers including Thad Moffitt, Keith McGee and Dean Thompson.
When the track was finally cleared of that seven-truck incident and the race resumed, Alan Lawless spun around to place the race back under caution for the sixth time.
Enfinger continued to lead Rhodes and Eckes when the race resumed with 73 laps to go. Connor Jones then stalled on the track on lap 182 to again bring out a caution.
With 29 laps remaining, Heim ran down Enfinger to take the lead for the first time in the race, but the race went back under caution for a spin by Kaden Honeycutt.
Most of the lead-lap trucks elected to pit for new tires with Sawalich the first off pit road thanks to taking only right-side tires. He led Enfinger – who took four tires – on the restart with 20 laps remaining
Majeski quickly powered to the lead on the restart as Sawalich got passed by several trucks with four new tires.
A spin by Connor Zilisch brought out a caution and set up another restart with eight laps to go and Majeski leading Enfinger, Riggs and Eckes.
