Some drivers are born to make speed. Ty Majeski, the reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, made some jaws drop during the 2024 season. During the championship finale at Phoenix Raceway, the No. 98 ThorSport Racing glided with ease, leading 132 of 150 laps. Then Majeski finished a whole 3.9 seconds ahead of Corey Heim to win. Majeski’s high-speed trend is continuing into 2025, too.

The NASCAR season is yet to be flagged off, and yet the excitement is no less. That is because a hallowed racetrack is on the block. Rockingham Speedway will be back to NASCAR – the last Cup race was held in 2005, and the last Truck race in 2013. And Ty Majeski is already the belle of the ball as he dazzled in the preparatory phase.

Ty Majeski wears the crown now

There is a different thrill to knowing you have beat one of the legends at something. Jimmie Johnson must have felt it when he clinched his seventh Cup Series title, or Kyle Busch when he crossed the 200th race win in NASCAR. Ty Majeski got to feel some of that ecstasy recently, as NASCAR conducted a test session at Rockingham Speedway. This was a warm-up ahead of the Xfinity and Truck races scheduled in April on the 1.017-mile racetrack in North Carolina. As would suit a Craftsman Truck Series champion, Ty Majeski blew off a record set 25 years ago on the hallowed venue.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace ran the 2000 Cup Series qualifying session at Rockingham. The 55-time Cup race winner turned a lap of 158.033 mph, the official track record until now. On Tuesday, Ty Majeski crushed this number – turning a lap of 166.547 mph, the highest speed at the test session. This was stunning considering the fact that Wallace drove a Cup Series car and Majeski was in a Truck. Then the Wisconsin native also admitted it was his first visit to the track. “We’re hauling ass here, I mean there’s no doubt about it,” Majeski proudly claimed.

Dialing back a few months, you would easily find evidence of Ty Majeski‘s thunderous speed. In May last year, he won the pole at Gateway at 138.568 mph. This happened a short while after he topped the speed charts in practice and posted the best 10-lap average with the most laps turned in the 20-minute session. Again during Truck practice at the Milwaukee Mile in August, the No. 98 Ford clocked a speed of 122.556 mph for the LiUNA! 175 qualifier. This also marked his fourth Truck Series pole of 2024. These achievements are a magnanimous jump over four years, as in 2021 Ty Majeski joined ThorSport as an engineer and then climbed up the ranks.

As the Truck Series brings a new challenge in Rockingham, Ty Majeski is prepared. He and his fellow drivers also loved the feel of the track.

A new version, but the old feeling

Although Rockingham Speedway was out for over a decade, some drivers remember it well. They also believe that the old touch is still there. In 2018, NASCAR embarked on a joint effort with the North Carolina Government and Rockingham Properties LLC. They renovated the track and made necessary upgrades – for instance, the track features a fresh coat of pavement. Despite that, 2024 Xfinity champ Justin Allgaier said it feels similar. “Running the old surface, and albeit a lot different, it’s still the same Rockingham and you’re fighting some of the same things. But you’re also benefitting with the surface the way that it is and the track configuration the way that it is.”

Ty Majeski is equally glad about NASCAR returning to Rockingham. For him, living out the old NASCAR video games was like a pipe dream, which is finally coming to fruition this April. “You could just feel the history here when you drove in. You know, it’s not a new place by any means, and you can feel that. I think that’s a good thing…I grew up playing way-old NASCAR video games when it was North Carolina Speedway. So, yeah, cool to be here in real life, and excited to have another sort of NASCAR staple back on the schedule.”

Not only is he packing some speed, but Ty Majeski is also packing a whole lot of nostalgia. We cannot wait for April to come by and watch Majeski run riot at Rockingham!