Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport
Jim Utter

Ty Majeski cruises to Homestead Trucks win over Zane Smith

Majeski dominated the final stage in Saturday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and cruised to a 4.524 second win over Zane Smith, his second series win in the last three races.

Majeski is the only driver who advanced to next weekend’s title race at Phoenix Raceway by winning his way in.

“Man, this is awesome,” Majeski said. “This place is so hard to read in practice. Nobody had any grip, right, so I didn’t really know what we had. But this (car) was bad to the bone today.

“Thank you to Joe Shear (Jr.), my crew chief, we’ve been working great this year together. I’m just so thankful we were able to make the most of this thing. We’re going to chase a championship in two weeks.”

The three other drivers who will compete for the 2022 series title are regular season champion Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and reigning champion Ben Rhodes.

Rhodes took the final position by one point over Stewart Friesen.

Friesen finished third in the race, Ryan Preece was fourth and Corey Heim rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Rhodes, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Parker Kligerman and Chandler Smith.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap trucks all pit with Preece first off pit road. Kaden Honeycutt had a loose wheel on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart on Lap 67, Preece was followed by Majeski, Eckes and Zane Smith.

Majeski powered to the front on the inside line on the restart to take the lead for the first time in the race.

On Lap 80, Grant Enfinger – who was running sixth at the time – hit the wall and was forced to pit under green with a flat right-front tire.

With 40 laps remaining, Majeski maintained less than a half-second lead over Zane Smith as some drivers kicked off a final round of green-flag pit stops to take new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 102, Majeski returned to the lead. He was followed by Zane Smith, Preece and Friesen.

With 20 laps to go, Majeski had built a 1.6-second lead over Zane Smith as Preece remained in third, more than 11 seconds behind the leader.

Majeski’s lead over Zane Smith approached five seconds with five laps remaining in the race.

Stage 2

Zane Smith held off Majeski to claim the Stage 2 win, his eighth stage win of the 2022 season.

Preece was third, Friesen fourth and Rhodes completed the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, the lead-lap trucks all pit with Zane Smith first off pit road.

Kligerman was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field. Crafton had a crew member over the wall too soon and also had to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart on Lap 37, Zane Smith was followed by Enfinger, Rhodes and Preece.

Rhodes went to the outside and took the field three-wide on the restart and reclaimed the lead.

Zane Smith went to the inside of Rhodes off Turn 4 on Lap 42 to reclaim the lead.

With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Zane Smith held just under a 1-second lead over Preece with Majeski close behind in third.

With five laps to go, Zane Smith had built a 1.8-second lead over Majeski as Preece dropped to third.

Stage 1

Rhodes held off a late charge from Zane Smith to take the Stage 1 win, his ninth stage victory of the 2022 season.

Friesen was third, Majeski fourth and Enfinger rounded out the top-five.

Matt DiBenedetto started on the pole but Rhodes quickly moved into the lead on Lap 1.

With 20 laps remaining in the stage, Rhodes maintained a small lead over Chandler Smith with Zane Smith close behind in third.

On Lap 14, John Hunter Nemechek hit the wall and fell off the pace. He was forced to pit under green with a flat tire. He returned to the track in 35th and a lap down.

Three laps later, Nemechek was forced to pit again with another flat right-rear tire.

With five laps to go, Rhodes had built a 1.4-second lead over Zane Smith as Chandler Smith dropped to third.

Preece, who was slated to start on the pole, had to start the race from the rear of the field after making unapproved adjustments prior to the race.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Laps Led
1 66 United States Ty Majeski Toyota 134 1:30'34.765     67
2 38 Zane Smith Ford 134 1:30'39.289 4.524 4.524 26
3 52 United States Stewart Friesen Toyota 134 1:30'48.092 13.327 8.803  
4 17 United States Ryan Preece Ford 134 1:30'54.680 19.915 6.588 2
5 51 Corey Heim Toyota 134 1:30'56.057 21.292 1.377  
6 99 United States Ben Rhodes Toyota 134 1:31'01.430 26.665 5.373 37
7 98 United States Christian Eckes Toyota 134 1:31'01.471 26.706 0.041  
8 88 United States Matt Crafton Toyota 134 1:31'02.019 27.254 0.548  
9 75 United States Parker Kligerman Toyota 134 1:31'09.305 34.540 7.286  
10 18 Chandler Smith Toyota 134 1:31'09.626 34.861 0.321  
11 16 United States Tyler Ankrum Toyota 133 1:30'36.410 1 Lap 1 Lap  
12 42 Carson Hocevar Chevrolet 133 1:30'38.680 1 Lap 2.270  
13 91 Colby Howard Chevrolet 133 1:30'43.042 1 Lap 4.362  
14 23 United States Grant Enfinger Chevrolet 133 1:30'43.439 1 Lap 0.397  
15 19 United States Derek Kraus Chevrolet 133 1:30'44.980 1 Lap 1.541  
16 61 United States Chase Purdy Toyota 133 1:31'00.889 1 Lap 15.909  
17 1 United States Hailie Deegan Ford 133 1:31'08.554 1 Lap 7.665  
18 02 United States Kaz Grala Chevrolet 133 1:31'08.684 1 Lap 0.130  
19 25 United States Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 133 1:31'09.820 1 Lap 1.136  
20 56 United States Timmy Hill Toyota 133 1:31'09.970 1 Lap 0.150 2
21 22 Max Gutierrez Chevrolet 133 1:31'10.746 1 Lap 0.776  
22 9 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 132 1:30'37.877 2 Laps 1 Lap  
23 40 Dean Thompson Chevrolet 132 1:30'41.755 2 Laps 3.878  
24 46 United States Brennan Poole Toyota 132 1:30'42.407 2 Laps 0.652  
25 15 United States Tanner Gray Ford 132 1:31'02.811 2 Laps 20.404  
26 20 United States Stefan Parsons Chevrolet 132 1:31'06.378 2 Laps 3.567  
27 30 Kaden Honeycutt Toyota 132 1:31'13.106 2 Laps 6.728  
28 33 Nick Leitz Toyota 131 1:30'39.095 3 Laps 1 Lap  
29 5 Tyler Hill Toyota 131 1:30'46.685 3 Laps 7.590  
30 44 United States Chad Chastain Chevrolet 131 1:31'06.640 3 Laps 19.955  
31 24 Jack Wood Chevrolet 130 1:30'56.697 4 Laps 1 Lap  
32 43 Mason Maggio Chevrolet 129 1:30'50.378 5 Laps 1 Lap  
33 32 Bret Holmes Chevrolet 129 1:30'56.477 5 Laps 6.099  
34 45 Alan Lawless Chevrolet 129 1:31'07.073 5 Laps 10.596  
35 4 United States John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 128 1:30'58.072 6 Laps 1 Lap  
36 12 United States Spencer Boyd Chevrolet 124 1:28'43.855 10 Laps 4 Laps  
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.