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 Melon Man! @RossChastain takes the lead on the final restart and wins the @NASCAR_Trucks race at Darlington! #NASCAR

@NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/2uvF2mCJOb

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) May 11, 2024

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