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Ben Rhodes and Corey Dye Eliminated From Playoffs
By Stephen Furst
Friday night lights is usually associated with high school football, however tonight it would mean the sights and sounds of 34 high horsepower trucks racing around the 1.5 mile oval in Kansas City, Kansas. It would also mean that once those lights went out at the end of the evening, two drivers would be eliminated from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs. Daniel Dye and Ben Rhodes would come into the night below the cut line, needing everything to go their way to extend their hopes of chasing down that series championship in Phoenix this November. These two drivers weren’t the only two who needed things to go their way. Grant Enfinger was eighth in points and only seven points above cut line. In fact, fourth through eighth were still mathematically not locked in and any of the five drivers could find themselves eliminated before end of the night. In the opening round of this year’s playoffs, no driver had locked themselves in based on wins, because of non-playoff driver Layne Riggs getting back-to-back wins in the first two races of round of 10. Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, and Nick Sanchez all have advanced based on points.
Ty Majeski would start the race on the pole, while eventual race winner Corey Heim started in the very back of the field in 33rd. At the drop of the green flag, Majeski jumps out to the initial lead, however Christian Eckes would come up to battle for lead with Majeski on lap two. Playoff contender Rajah Caruth would have a brush with the wall in turn 4 on lap 3, however this did not seem to slow him down as he would end up with a respectable seventh place finish at the end of the race. The same cannot be said for Daniel Dye who also had run-in with wall in first 4 laps. Dye would bring his Chevrolet to pit road on lap 15 to fix damage from possibly making more contact with wall, dropping him off the lead lap. Multiple drivers found themselves having trouble keeping trucks under control in opening laps.
Christian Eckes would find himself taking over the lead by a half second on lap 5 over Majeski, however this would not last long as Majeski would regain the lead on lap 8. Majeski back to lead on lap 8, and by lap 18 hold a commanding 2 second lead over Eckes, leading 24 of the first 30 laps to wins stage 1 over Eckes.
Ben Rhodes, who started fourth, had fought an ill-handling truck throughout the entire first stage, and would have some huge adjustments made while pitting under the stage break caution. When Rhodes crew chief, Rich Lushes was asked if they put the big wrench in the back, he replied “We put a wrench anywhere a wrench would go.” indicating that they had made just about every change that they could to get the truck to handle correctly and allow Ben to move forward.
The start of Stage 2 would see the same drivers up front, and the addition of Corey Heim who through brilliant driving on track and a speedy pitstop. Christian Eckes would be the driver leading the field to start stage 2 on lap 36, followed by Heim in second and Majeski in third. Stage 2 would see plenty of great racing throughout the field with drivers using multiple different grooves to get around the 1.5-mile circuit.
After dropping back after the stage break, Majeski would be back up to the fourth position on lap 41 behind and eager Layne Riggs in third who was hunting down leaders trying to play a three-time spoiler in the opening round of the playoffs. By lap 45 Corey Heim would find himself battling Christian Eckes for the lead, taking over the top spot on lap 46. Heim would hold this lead through Stage 3 break and not give it up until a late race pitstop. Eckes would end up relinquishing the second spot a few laps later to a hard charging Layne Riggs on lap 49. Eckes however, would not give up the spot easily, continuing to battle with Riggs for multiple laps, allowing Heim to increase lead. Riggs would ultimately pull away from Eckes on lap 53.
Bubble driver, Ben Rhodes would still find himself struggling in 21st position with two laps to go in stage 2. The adjustments made during the first stage break were clearly not working. The other bubble driver, Daniel Dye running 31st, 3 laps down after finding the wall multiple times in Stage 1.
Corey Heim, Layne Riggs, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, and Taylor Gray would round out the top 5 to close out Stage 2. A slow pitstop during stage break for Taylor Gray caused by issue changing right front tire would end up costing Gray two spots. Ben Rhodes’ crew would make more adjustments on his Ford truck during the stage break.
Stage 3 green flag would wave on Lap 69 with Heim and Riggs up front. Layne Riggs would battle with Christian Eckes to maintain 2nd for the first two laps of the stage, with Eckes taking over second place on lap 71. While losing the spot to Eckes, Riggs would get slightly into rear of Eckes, upsetting his truck and loose three spots dropping back to fifth place. During his shuffling of position, Nick Sanchez and Connor Mosack nearly get tangles with Riggs.
On lap 77 Corey Day and Matt Mills collide, bringing out first and only non-stage-break caution of the evening. The #42 truck of Matt Mills snapped abruptly to the right at end of the backstretch collecting the #91 truck of Corey Day. Day would impact wall head on going in to turn 3. Taylor Gray was almost collected in incident as well but was just far enough ahead of Day to not get hit.
Ben Rhodes still making adjustments during caution, took 4 fresh tires as well to get any advantage possible. Taylor Gray would also pit to have the fender pulled out from right rear tire due to damage taken at one point in race on right side. Rhodes would continue to make multiple pitstops under caution for adjustments and extra fuel.
The restart on lap 84 would commence with Heim and Eckes on the front row with Sanchez and Riggs making up row 2. Ty Majeski would restart in 19th after making pitstop during the caution. By lap 90, Layne Riggs is battling with Heim for the lead of the race.
Adjustments made to the #99 of Ben Rhodes finally appear to be helping, as he was up to the 18th position on lap 92. On lap 98, Majeski is told by his crew chief, Joe Shear Jr., to ride and conserve fuel in case the race goes green until the end. At the time of the communication, Majeski was figured to be two laps short of making it on fuel to end if race stayed green. Around lap 100, many drivers were seen diving to pit road to get tires and fuel, anticipating the race going green to the end. Riggs would give up second place and head to pit road on lap 105 with Heim making his way to pit road from the lead on lap 108. Heim would remain on lead lap after pit stop while Riggs was -1 lap after his, even having pitted 3 laps earlier than Heim.
Once pitstops cycled through, Ty Majeski who had last pitted during the lap 84 caution, would find himself in the lead with 20 laps to go by 7 seconds over 2nd place Kaden Honeycutt. Majeski was again told to save as much gas as possible with the large lead.
Rookie Dawson Sutton was also having a strong run in third place with twelve laps to go, however a thirsty Ben Rhodes was pressuring to gain the position for extra point over Grant Enfinger. This position however would prove not to matter, as Enfinger passed two trucks, gaining two points while Rhodes was passed by Corery Heim with ten laps to go. Enfinger 5 points above the bubble with 10 to go. With eight laps to go Heim had managed to climb to 2nd place, 8 seconds behind Majeski, with plenty of fuel and fresh tires to mount a late race charge.
Lawless Alan nearly brought out a caution with 5 to go when his tire went down, but kept truck out of the racing line and made it to pit road, allowing green flag racing to continue. Majeski could smell victory as the white flag was about to be waved, however, himself and Ben Rhodes would end up running out of fuel on the final lap. This would turn the lead back over to Corey Heim, who would have plenty of fuel to make the final lap around the track and claim his sixth victory of the season. Layne Riggs who had hoped for being the third time spoiler, brought his Ford truck across the line in second, followed by Christian Eckes in third, Kaden Honeycutt in fourth, and rookie Dawson Sutton in fifth.
“We were the best truck all night—it’s my favorite track, I love coming here,” said Heim, who won at the 1.5-mile speedway in the spring. “I look forward to this. I had a smile on my face all week coming to this place. I just thought we could sweep the year here. It’s an awesome place to come. I certainly thought we had it lost there to the 98 (Majeski), almost making it on fuel, but it just shows my team made the right call.”
Ben Rhodes and Daniel Dye who both came into the race below cut line, finished 22nd and 27th respectively and were eliminated from the playoffs. “We qualified fourth, and at the start of the race made massive changes with the truck,” said Rhodes, who won titles in 2021 and 2023. “We could not get it tightened up… Still kind of unacceptable. If we’d have gotten our stage points, it would have taken care of itself.” Ben Rhodes is the first defending truck series champion to not advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Grant Enfinger would bring it home in the 9th position, to secure a spot in next round of playoffs. “We snuck through here and now we’re looking forward to going to Talladega net week”, said Grant Enfinger after the race.
Official Results – NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Kubota Tractor 200
Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kansas
Friday, September 27, 2024
- (33) Corey Heim (P), Toyota, 134.
- (13) Layne Riggs #, Ford, 134.
- (3) Christian Eckes (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (6) Kaden Honeycutt (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (5) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 134.
- (21) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 134.
- (16) Rajah Caruth (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (22) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 134.
- (19) Grant Enfinger (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (2) Connor Mosack (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (15) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 134.
- (7) Nick Sanchez (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (11) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 134.
- (14) Tyler Ankrum (P), Chevrolet, 134.
- (1) Ty Majeski (P), Ford, 134.
- (20) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 133.
- (29) Conor Daly(i), Chevrolet, 133.
- (17) Taylor Gray (P), Toyota, 133.
- (32) Nathan Byrd(i), Chevrolet, 133.
- (23) Brenden Queen, Toyota, 133.
- (9) Jake Garcia, Ford, 133.
- (4) Ben Rhodes (P), Ford, 133.
- (30) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 132.
- (8) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 132.
- (26) Matt Crafton, Ford, 132.
- (27) Justin Mondeik, Chevrolet, 131.
- (10) Daniel Dye (P), Chevrolet, 131.
- (28) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 129.
- (31) Frankie Muniz, Ford, 129.
- (24) Lawless Alan, Ford, 128.
- (34) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, Electrical, 89.
- (18) Corey Day, Chevrolet, Accident, 75.
- (12) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, Accident, 75.
- (25) Marco Andretti, Chevrolet, Brakes, 43.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 125.843 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 35 Mins, 50 Secs. Margin of Victory: 7.638 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Eckes (P) 1;T. Majeski (P) 2;C. Eckes (P) 3-7;T. Majeski (P) 8-32;C. Heim (P) 33;C. Eckes (P) 34-44;C. Heim (P) 45-106;C. Eckes (P) 107-108;T. Majeski (P) 109-133;C. Heim (P) 134.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim (P) 3 times for 64 laps; Ty Majeski (P) 3 times for 51 laps; Christian Eckes (P) 4 times for 19 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 98,19,11,45,38,2,17,15,52,7
Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,38,19,98,17,2,15,45,41,71
