Pit Strategy Costs No. 98 NASCAR Ford Truck At Richmond July 2023: Video

August 1, 2023 12:04 pm

Ty Majeski, driver of the No. 98 NASCAR Ford F-150 in the Truck Series, was clearly the dominant force during the race at Richmond Raceway on July 29^th, 2023, but late-race pit strategy may have cost him the victory.

Hocevar started on the pole position, putting the No. 98 NASCAR Ford up front right away. He held down the lead for 168 laps throughout the night and even overcame a speeding penalty to get back to the point. However, in the latter laps of the race, Majeski’s No. 98 F-150 team elected to stay out to keep the lead instead of pitting with competitors, like the No. 42 Chevy Silverado RST of Carson Hocevar, for fresher tires.

On his older set of racing slicks, Majeski’s No. 98 F-150 just didn’t have the speed to hold off Hocevar’s No. 42 Silverado at the end.

“Just didn’t have enough there,” Majeski said. “Obviously made a mistake there, speeding on pit road but we had a chance to win even with the penalty. It’s just so disappointing. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dominant vehicle that much faster than the field and to not win with it is so hard.”

He added, “But we have fast race trucks and we’ll make a run at the Playoffs.”

Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Toyota TRD Tundra, was crowned the regular season champion and will lead the Truck Series heading into the postseason Playoffs for the overall championship. The Truck Series Playoff field includes the following drivers, who are eligible to compete for the championship in 2023:

Corey Heim, No. 11 Toyota TRD Tundra
Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford F-150
Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Chevy Silverado RST
Christian Eckes, No. 19 Chevy Silverado RST
Grant Enfinger No. 23 Chevy Silverado RST
Ty Majeski, No. 98 Ford F-150
Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Ford F-150
Nick Sanchez, No. 2 Chevy Silverado RST
Matt DiBenedetto, No. 25 Chevy Silverado RST
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Ford F-150

NASCAR Truck Series Race Results, Richmond Raceway, July 29, 2023
Finish	Start	Car Number	Driver	Team	Laps Run	Laps Led	Car
1	17	42	Carson Hocevar	Worldwide Express Chevrolet	250	64	Chevrolet Silverado RST
2	1	98	Ty Majeski	Road Ranger Ford	250	168	Ford F-150
3	15	38	Zane Smith	Boot Barn Ford	250	0	Ford F-150
4	12	35	Jake Garcia #	Quanta Services Chevrolet	250	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
5	5	51	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric Chevrolet	250	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
6	2	11	Corey Heim	JBL Toyota	250	9	Toyota TRD Tundra
7	8	88	Matt Crafton	Ideal Door/Menards Ford	250	0	Ford F-150
8	14	2	Nick Sanchez #	Gainbridge Chevrolet	249	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
9	13	23	Grant Enfinger	Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet	249	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
10	3	1	William Sawalich	Starkey/Soundgear Toyota	249	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
11	6	19	Christian Eckes	Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet	249	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
12	4	99	Ben Rhodes	Campers Inn RV Ford	249	9	Ford F-150
13	21	16	Tyler Ankrum	LiUNA! Toyota	249	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
14	19	17	Taylor Gray #	Dead On Tools Toyota	249	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
15	25	13	Hailie Deegan	Ford Performance Ford	249	0	Ford F-150
16	7	15	Tanner Gray	Mobil 1 Toyota	249	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
17	10	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley Roofing Chevrolet	249	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
18	11	41	Bayley Currey	Unishippers Chevrolet	248	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
19	16	24	Rajah Caruth #	Camp Cultivation Chevrolet	248	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
20	24	66	Conner Jones	TSport Ford	248	0	Ford F-150
21	18	43	Daniel Dye #	Bull & Boar Barbecue Shop Chevrolet	248	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
22	9	4	Chase Purdy	Bama Buggies Chevrolet	248	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
23	30	56	Timmy Hill	UNITS Storage Toyota	248	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
24	27	9	Colby Howard	Grant County Mulch Chevrolet	247	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
25	20	5	Dean Thompson	Thompson Pipe Group Toyota	247	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
26	29	2	Will Rodgers	Kelly Benefits Chevrolet	247	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
27	23	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar International Toyota	247	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
28	22	45	Lawless Alan	IEDA Chevrolet	247	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
29	26	32	Bret Holmes #	Bret Holmes Racing Chevrolet	247	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
30	28	30	Ryan Vargas	Williamsburg Contracting Toyota	246	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
31	34	90	Justin Carroll	Carroll's Automotive/Duratain Toyota	245	0	Toyota TRD Tundra
32	35	22	Christian Rose	Secure Testing Services Ford	244	0	Ford F-150
33	31	33	Derek Lemke	Levrack Ford	243	0	Ford F-150
34	33	20	Mason Massey(i)	Brunt Chevrolet	242	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
35	32	12	Spencer Boyd	Latitude Aero Chevrolet	240	0	Chevrolet Silverado RST
36	36	34	Josh Reaume	Motorsports Safety Group Ford	239	0	Ford F-150