There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that Ty Majeski and ThorSport Racing had the fastest truck in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Richmond Raceway. But sometimes, the fastest truck doesn’t win the race.
Carson Hocevar, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado, didn’t have the fastest truck on track in Saturday’s event at Richmond, but was able to use a strong strategy call from crew chief Phil Gould to score his third win of 2023.
Like the majority of the field, Hocevar and his Niece Motorsports team elected to split the final stage into two pieces, in hopes of using the fresh rubber late in the race to gain time on the trucks that elected to stretch the final stage.
Pitting with 40 laps remaining in Saturday’s Worldwide Express 250, Hocevar’s pit stop came about 10 to 20 laps later than the majority of the drivers who broke the stage down into two pieces, giving him fresher tires.
After migrating to pit road as the leader, Hocevar had more than a full lap to make up on race-leader Ty Majeski, who was the class of the field in Saturday’s 250-lap regular-season finale.
With a tire advantage of nearly one second for the majority of the run, Hocevar was able to quickly close the gap on the No. 98 Ford F-150, making the final pass for the lead with four laps to go and quickly setting sail, winning by 2.308 seconds.
Ty Majeski, after leading a race-high 168 laps and being the class of the field in Saturday’s regular-season finale, came home in second place, as a direct result of the strategy call by the ThorSport Racing team.
Zane Smith, who received the free pass at lap 112 after going one lap down on pace, recovered to score a third-place finish. Jake Garcia, one of the first drivers to split the stage, came home a career-best fourth.
Meanwhile, Matt Mills, making the first of two starts in the No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro for Kyle Busch Motorsports, scored his first-ever top-five result in NASCAR National Series competition, finishing fifth, overcoming early-race radio issues.
Corey Heim, regular-season champion in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, finished sixth on the evening with Matt Crafton, Nick Sanchez, Grant Enfinger, and William Sawalich completing the top-10.
With the completion of Saturday’s Worldwide Express 250, the field for the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs has been set, and will include (in numerical order): Nick Sanchez, Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Matt DiBenedetto, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Matt Crafton, Ty Majeski, and Ben Rhodes.
The series will now head to Lucas Oil Raceway (Indianapolis Raceway Park) for the first of three races in the first round of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs.
NASCAR Truck Series Worldwide Express 250 Race Results:
Race Results: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond
