Ty Majeski was crowned the 2024 Truck Series champion after a dominating run in Phoenix. However, heading into the race, Majeski wasn’t the favorite to win. Many had thought it to be a battle between Corey Heim and Christian Eckes, as the two had been the most consistent throughout the entire season, not to mention the winningest. Heim bagged 6 wins while Eckes won on 4 occasions!

Even NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin had thought it to be a fight between the #11 and #16, and we all know who Hamlin was rooting for! Heim, for a long time, has been on the radar of the 23XI owner. And was rumored to drive the third car for the team in the Cup Series. Ahead of the race, Hamlin also took it to X to share his pick to win, “Let’s go @CoreyHeim.” But Majeski showed why he’s a maestro on a short track, and Hamlin could not help but be impressed.

Though not the championship favorite, Majeski owned the short tracks in 2024, claiming all three of his wins on one-mile circuits—culminating in a dominant Phoenix victory. Starting from pole, he was untouchable, while Heim, his closest rival, faced a restart penalty after jumping outside the pack. Despite a fierce comeback to P2, Heim couldn’t touch Majeski, who took the checkered flag nearly four seconds ahead. Meanwhile, Eckes finished P3 and Enfinger P5, far from championship contention as Majeski sealed the deal with his short-track prowess.

Recently, Denny Hamlin on his ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast discussed the Truck Series finale, where he agreed on Majeski’s dominance over his favorite truck driver. He said, “I guess I was so caught up in the last half of the season being, Corey Heim and Christian Eckes, just kind of dominating, winning the most races. Things like that, that you forget. Well, it’s a mile or shorter track, here comes Ty Majeski that’s his bread and butter.”

According to Denny Hamlin, the schedule and the final being a short-track race played perfectly in favor of Majeski. “I think the Schedule is certainly a big factor in who we crown champions for sure. They brought a really fast truck. I did not see anyone remotely close. The #11 was the closest, and I was watching lap times and if he could stay within two-tenths, that was a good lap time for him…I just thought that man anything can happen. Maybe they are one adjustment away. And Corey really got the brakes that he needed to kind of get back in the picture right? I think he had that restart violation and then he had really good caution. Everything kind of played out perfectly for him to get back into the game,” Hamlin added.

While the race was filled with drama, a few wrecks, Heim’s penalty followed by his comeback, but in the end, as Hamlin reiterated, “The fastest driver in Truck won on that day.”

Not just Denny Hamlin even Corey Heim agreed to have Ty Majeski outclass him

Initially, Heim thought he had a chance to catch Majeski, but in the end, he was just too fast. In the post-race interview, Heim said, “They (Majeski) were unbelievable lights out all race. From the get-go, I felt like we fired off pretty free in Stage 1 and we were able to reel him back in. He seemed to struggle in traffic a little bit. Once they adjusted on it and the cautions started cycling to the point where we never really hit a lot of lapped traffic, it was about over for me.”

While the penalty did act as a roadblock at first, it wasn’t the reason why the #11 missed out, as he had climbed back up but failed to finish the job. “Obviously the penalty was brutal at first but we were able to tear away through it and get back to third in like two restarts. It did not do much damage, maybe a little bit to the tires. But when you are two-tenths off the 98, you need more than a little bad tire to make it work,” Heim added.

According to Heim, while they did have a fast truck, Majeski had a faster one. This is evident with him leading 132 of the 150 laps and bringing his A game to the most crucial race, putting him apart from the other three. Heim, on this note, said, “[Majeski] was probably two-tenths better than me a lap me pushing 100%. Then the unfortunate part is I feel like our Tundra TRD Pro is really good. We were probably two-tenths better than the guys behind us.”

With the 2024 season now wrapped up, Heim would have another shot at the title next year as he’s decided to stay back in the Truck Series, renewing his contract with Tricon Garage. Do you think 2025 can be his year?