The NASCAR Truck Series recently concluded its second playoff race at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Surprisingly, the non-playoff driver, Layne Riggs, has so far dominated the playoffs. First, he took the checkered flag at the Milwaukee Mile and now again went on to win the recent Bristol race. This came after he took the lead from Corey Heim in the final stage of the race and held it till the very end.

Heim had to be satisfied with a P2 finish. Rajah Caruth finished 3rd. Behind him, playoff leader and regular series champion Christian Eckes took P4 and Nick Sanchez wrapped up the top 5. Heim, Eckes, and Sanchez are all locked in the playoffs. In the list of first ones to qualify, you would have expected Ty Majeski’s name. But he stayed out of it thanks to a very cautious Bristol run, as he somehow managed a good finish.

Ty Majeski sneaks into the top 10

Ty Majeski has had one of his best seasons so far. He bagged two back-to-back wins ahead of the playoffs. He has eight top 5s and 12 top 10s with an average finish of 11.38. In the playoff opener, he was expected to bag a hat-trick of wins, but he was one short and finished in P2. Owning to his performance, he was expected to be one of the first ones to qualify in the next round. However, his Bristol race wasn’t off to a good start and he’s remaining tight-lipped about what happened that he went a lap down in the race.

Post the race, a hesitant Majeski said, “I don’t know why we started at the back, it’s just miscommunication.” After starting 19th in the race, Majeski nearly fell a lap down in stage one of the race. He struggled to manage the truck and stayed out of points at both stages. However, slowly and steadily, the #98 driver gained track position in stage two, climbing in the top 15.

Dissecting his careful run, Majeski said, “We restarted stage two in 14th which was respectable it’s hard to pass here. So we tried to be smart, not put ourselves in the bad spot. The last thing we needed here was to leave here with 4, 5 points. Like I said top 15 was the goal when we started this race and I’m happy with it.”

They got a top-10 finish in the end as Majeski finished 8th in the race, all thanks to the late cautions. After having so many top-5s this season, you would not expect Majeski to be satisfied with an 8th-place finish, but he was. “Usually I’ll be really upset with an 8th place finish on a short track but we knew what we need to do tonight, “ he added. His satisfaction holds weight as the way the race started meant that a stellar finish in points seemed unlikely for the #98 driver.

However, he managed to bag 29 points and is currently 4th in the playoff ranking with a comfortable cushion of +56 points. Hopefully, if all goes well, the ThorSport Racing driver will qualify for the round of 8 in Kansas. And continue to compete for the championship.

What are Ty Majeski’s chances of winning the championship?

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Well, the first hurdle was to qualify for the next round, which depends on a decent finish in Kansas. Majeski is pretty confident of his chances in these playoffs. Post the race, he said, “We have always been good at Kansas. It’s one of our better mile and a half that we go to. Excited to go back there. Feel like we can go there and get the momentum back on our side. We have had a good run so far. Coming of two wins and second place at Miluakee. A lot of good tracks coming up and we are gonna keep making this playoffs a good one.” 

While Majeski says they have been good in Kansas, it only paints a partial picture. In the first race of the season at the track, the #98 had a DNF. This was unfortunate, since he had a mechanical failure. But in the two races preceding this, in 2023, Majeski finished, 18th and 25th. In both the races he had a top 10 start but failed to get a good finish. This has been the trend with Majeski since the 2023 season where he’s unable to get good finishes after starting on the top. In the last season, he had a commendable average start of 5.78, but his average finish was 11.52.

The trend has continued this season. He has bettered his average start, with it being, 5.44. However, the average finish has remained at 11.39. Some may argue it to be a good finishing average, but to get context see the averages of the season leader Eckes, his starting average has been poorer than Majeski’s, at 6.88, however, his finishing average is 5.66, making all the difference between the two drivers. Majeski is a strong championship contender provided he gets good finishes. It is surprising that none of his four poles this season have been converted into a win.

His average start is indicative of him having one of the fastest trucks. Hopefully, the 30-year-old will start converting his starts into good finishes and bag a championship this year. What do you think are his chances of winning a championship this year? Let us know in the comments below.