Stage one was all but clean and green for everyone except one playoff driver when John Hunter Nemechek would tag the wall causing heavy damage to the right side of his Toyota. As Nemechek would sail off into the corner the right front tire on his truck would give way causing Nemechek to slow on the back and limp back to pit road.
But it wasn’t one trip to pit road for the No. 4 team after changing tires and making repairs to the truck Nemechek would get back out in front of leader Ben Rhodes for a lap or so before once again another tire would let go on his truck causing him to return to pit road once again and this time three laps down when he would finally return.
When the stage would finish it would be Ben Rhodes leading all the laps in the first stage over Z. Smith, Friesen, Majeski and Enfinger. Nemechek the lowest of the Playoff drivers would finish 36th and three laps down.
Ryan Preece the pole sitter would go to the rear on the start due to unapproved adjustments would work himself back to 10th when the stage caution would fall.
It would be a battle for the lead in stage two with Zane Smith firing off on the restart, but Rhodes would use the high line to capture the lead prior to getting back to the line. This would allow Enfinger to work himself up into the lead battle for a moment before bailing and allowing Zane Smith to once again take over second.
Smith would set his sights on Rhodes for the lead who would use the speed in the high line to hold off the challenge but to no avail when Smith would once again take back the lead.
As stage two would come to and end it would be Zane Smith taking home the stage win over Majeski, Preece, Friesen and Rhodes.
Preece would restart in the lead for the final stage, but it wouldn’t last long when Majeski would take control of the race lead with Zane Smith following in his tire tracks. Preece would eventually settle back in the third spot.
As things started to settle out it would be another playoff driver with an issue after smacking the wall, Grant Enfinger would cut the tire down and take his truck to pit road with a right front down on the truck. When Enfinger would get back out on track he would end up in the 30th spot and one lap down but well within the fuel window for that team.
Just as soon as Enfinger would make his way off pit road Lawless Alan would get into the wall himself causing some damage to the front of the truck and a cut tire. Alan would limp himself back to pit road to change tires and make repairs to that truck before getting his with a penalty forcing Alan back to pit road.
Tire issue would continue when Jack Wood would once again get into the wall with under 20 to go for the second time of the day sending him and his wounded No. 24 to pit road to make repairs to the right side of the truck.
When the checked flag would fall Ty Majeski would take home the win in the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead Miami. However, Majeski would already be locked into the championship four thanks to his win at Bristol it would be Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes joining him in Phoenix.
“This place is so much fun. This race track is just badass, so much fun to race on. Obviously, it makes it more fun when you have a truck like that. I’m so proud of Joe (Shear, Jr., crew chief), everybody at ThorSport – Duke, Rhonda, Allison (Thorson, team owners) to let us go and live our dreams. We all make a living racing and that is pretty dang cool. I love doing this. I’m so happy to be here and so proud to making the most of this opportunity.”” Said Majeski
John Hunter Nemechek and Grant Enfinger both with issues throughout the day and multiple trips to pit road would end their championship runs with a 35th and 14th place finish respectively, Eckes and Frisen would also end their championship run at Homestead.
“Just made a mistake on my end. I got dirtied up behind the 52 (Stewart Friesen) early on in stage on and hit the fence and just trying to make up time and was pushing the issue probably a little too hard. Ultimately pushed it a little too hard, hit the fence again and had the right front go flat. Came in, pitted and ended up not clearing tires good enough and had another tire go down and had to pit again. Then had to play pit strategy and after that it was just damage control. It’s on me.” Said Nemechek after failing to qualify for the championship in Phoenix.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season finale moves on to Phoenix in two weeks to crown the season champion on November 4th at 8:00 p.m. on FS1.
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