TY MAJESKI READIES HIMSELF BEFORE QUALIFYING AT TALLADEGA – MOTORSPORT AMERICA PHOTO
PHOENIX CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND
Friday, October 31 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, November 1 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, November 2 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (NBC)
Ford Racing will be going for its fourth straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series driver’s championship this weekend at Phoenix Raceway with
ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski. The Wisconsin native can become the
first driver to repeat as series champion since Matt Crafton did it in
2013-14. While Majeski is focused on the driver’s title, Layne Riggs
will be looking to deliver the owner’s championship to Bob Jenkins of
Front Row Motorsports.
BLANEY HOPING TO START NEW STREAK
Sunday will mark Ryan Blaney’s 20th career NASCAR Cup Series start at
Phoenix Raceway and he’s looking to start a new streak after his
stretch of seven straight top five finishes came to an end in the
spring. In that event earlier this year, Blaney dropped out after
completing 289-of-312 laps with a mechanical failure and finished 28th.
Overall, Blaney has nine top five and 13 top 10 finishes in Phoenix,
which includes four runner-up results.
LOGANO GOING FOR REPEAT RACE WIN
Joey Logano has made 33 starts in his NASCAR Cup Series career at
Phoenix Raceway and more than half of them have ended with the Team
Penske driver in the top 10. Logano has four victories (2016-2, 2020-1,
2022-2, 2024-2), nine top five and 17 top 10 finishes. Those four wins
are tied with Las Vegas Motor Speedway for most victories at one track
after he won this event last year and claimed his third championship.
FORD SWEEPS PHOENIX LAST YEAR
Ford claimed two championships a year ago with Joey Logano (Cup) and Ty
Majeski (NCTS), but won all three races for the first time since 2001
when Greg Biffle (NXS and NCTS) and Jeff Burton (Cup) combined for the
weekend sweep. Majeski got the weekend off on a good note by dominating
the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race, leading 132-of-150
laps. Riley Herbst kept it going the following day by passing Justin
Allgaier on the final lap of double-overtime to claim his second career
victory while Logano capped it all off by winning the Cup race and
capturing his third career title.
CHECKERED FLAG OR BUST
Phoenix Raceway offers one final chance to reach Victory Lane in the
2025 season and any one of the drivers in Ford’s lineup could make
that happen. Veteran Ryan Sieg has made 24 career starts on the one mile
flat track and while he hasn’t won, he’s coming off a fourth place
finish in the spring. Sheldon Creed had a streak of five straight top 10
finishes snapped in the spring when he got caught up in an accident
while Haas Factory Team teammate Sam Mayer finished seventh. Last
week’s pole-winner, Harrison Burton, has three top 10 efforts in five
career series starts to go with the six Cup races he ran during his
three-year stint with the Wood Brothers.
FORD GOING FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT SERIES TITLE
Ford is going for its fourth straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
championship and Ty Majeski is going for his second in a row this
weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Zane Smith (2022) started this streak and
gave Front Row Motorsports its first championship in any NASCAR series
while Ben Rhodes (2023) added another title to ThorSport’s trophy case
the following year. Majeski, who made the Championship 4 for the third
time in the last four years after his seventh-place finish last weekend
at Martinsville Speedway, is trying to become the first driver to repeat
since Matt Crafton in 2013-14.
TY MAJESKI AT PHOENIX RACEWAY
As noted earlier, Ty Majeski dominated last year’s championship race
leading 132 laps, but winning that race marked his first top 10 finish
at Phoenix Raceway in four starts. He’s always qualified well,
starting fifth, eighth, second and first, but has a finishing average of
11.5. Majeski is still looking for his first victory of the season,
which would increase his streak of posting at least one win to four
straight years.
RIGGS DRIVING TO DELIVER OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Even though Layne Riggs was eliminated from the Championship 4 on a
tiebreaker last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, he and his No. 34
Front Row Motorsports F-150 team are still competing for the owner’s
championship on Friday night at Phoenix Raceway. Owner Bob Jenkins, who
scored his first championship three years ago with Zane Smith, is in the
midst of a record season that has seen his organization win five times
between Riggs (three wins) and Chandler Smith (two).