Here's the thing about Phoenix Raceway: it bites back when the sun goes down. Ty Majeski found that out the hard way, putting on a vintage display at the 1-mile oval before fading to a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The Wisconsin native wasted no time showing the raw speed of his No. 88 Ford. Majeski powered past fellow Chase competitor Layne Riggs to claim the Stage 1 victory, marking his first stage win since North Wilkesboro Speedway three months prior. He followed that up with a dominant second stage, banking more stage wins at Phoenix than he had managed across the entire first 21 races of the 2026 season.
So, we want to go out, try to win these last few races and see what happens.
Then twilight hit, and everything unraveled for the ThorSport Racing machine. As the temperature dropped and the track evolved, the handling on Majeski's truck went away from him. While he managed to hang inside the top five, he simply couldn't match the blistering pace shown by Kaden Honeycutt, Christian Eckes, or Riggs as the checkered flag drew near.
"Missed opportunity, for sure, when you win those stages," Majeski told NASCAR.com after debriefing with the No. 88 bunch, pointing out how the changing track took away his machine's strengths. Still, taking fourth marked his first top-five result since a third-place finish at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in late July. It also yielded a massive 49 laps led—his highest single-race tally since pacing the field for 143 circuits at Richmond Raceway back in August 2025, a welcome sight after he entered the night with just 34 laps led all year.
Running near the front was a desperately needed palate cleanser for the team. Majeski admitted that ThorSport Racing suffered one of its roughest outings in recent memory just a week prior at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he led the four-truck brigade with an 11th-place finish and zero stage points. Bouncing back at Phoenix got the pendulum swinging in the right direction, especially with teammate Eckes finishing fifth to put two ThorSport trucks inside the top five.
The resilient points haul of 53 at Phoenix pushed Majeski past Daniel Hemric and Gio Ruggiero, vaulting him into the top five of the standings for the first time since Dover Motor Speedway in May. Sitting 135 points behind Honeycutt makes a championship run an uphill battle, but Majeski has his sights set higher. "We're in the game for a podium or a top five," he stated. "So, we want to go out, try to win these last few races and see what happens."
At the very front of the field, Honeycutt claimed his fourth victory of 2026 to stretch his championship lead over Riggs to 39 points as the series heads to Talladega Superspeedway. With seven checkered flags already secured this season, Riggs knows the title fight is far from decided with more than 500 miles of racing remaining across Talladega, Martinsville Speedway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway. "It's anybody's game still at this point," Riggs said.
