Ford Racing will be going for its fourth straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver’s championship this weekend at Phoenix Raceway with ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski. The Wisconsin native can become the first driver to repeat as series champion since Matt Crafton did it in 2013-14. While Majeski is focused on the driver’s title, Layne Riggs will be looking to deliver the owner’s championship to Bob Jenkins of Front Row Motorsports.
THE SCHEDULE
- Friday, October 31 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
- Saturday, November 1 – NASCAR Xfinity Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (CW)
- Sunday, November 2 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (NBC)
UP TO SPEED
BLANEY HOPING TO START NEW STREAK
Sunday will mark Ryan Blaney’s 20th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix Raceway and he’s looking to start a new streak after his stretch of seven straight top-five finishes came to an end in the spring. In that event earlier this year, Blaney dropped out after completing 289-of-312 laps with a mechanical failure and finished 28th. Overall, Blaney has nine top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in Phoenix, which includes four runner-up results.
LOGANO GOING FOR REPEAT RACE WIN
Joey Logano has made 33 starts in his NASCAR Cup Series career at Phoenix Raceway and more than half of them have ended with the Team Penske driver in the top 10. Logano has four victories (2016-2, 2020-1, 2022-2, 2024-2), nine top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. Those four wins are tied with Las Vegas Motor Speedway for most victories at one track after he won this event last year and claimed his third championship.
A LOOK BACK
FORD SWEEPS PHOENIX LAST YEAR
Ford claimed two championships a year ago with Joey Logano (Cup) and Ty Majeski (NCTS), but won all three races for the first time since 2001 when Greg Biffle (NXS and NCTS) and Jeff Burton (Cup) combined for the weekend sweep. Majeski got the weekend off on a good note by dominating the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race, leading 132-of-150 laps. Riley Herbst kept it going the following day by passing Justin Allgaier on the final lap of double-overtime to claim his second career victory while Logano capped it all off by winning the Cup race and capturing his third career title.
CHECKERED FLAG OR BUST
Phoenix Raceway offers one final chance to reach Victory Lane in the 2025 season and any one of the drivers in Ford’s lineup could make that happen. Veteran Ryan Sieg has made 24 career starts on the one-mile flat track and while he hasn’t won, he’s coming off a fourth-place finish in the spring. Sheldon Creed had a streak of five straight top-10 finishes snapped in the spring when he got caught up in an accident while Haas Factory Team teammate Sam Mayer finished seventh. Last week’s pole-winner, Harrison Burton, has three top-10 efforts in five career series starts to go with the six Cup races he ran during his three-year stint with the Wood Brothers.
FORD GOING FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT SERIES TITLE
Ford is going for its fourth straight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and Ty Majeski is going for his second in a row this weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Zane Smith (2022) started this streak and gave Front Row Motorsports its first championship in any NASCAR series while Ben Rhodes (2023) added another title to ThorSport’s trophy case the following year. Majeski, who made the Championship 4 for the third time in the last four years after his seventh-place finish last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, is trying to become the first driver to repeat since Matt Crafton in 2013-14.
TY MAJESKI AT PHOENIX RACEWAY
As noted earlier, Ty Majeski dominated last year’s championship race leading 132 laps, but winning that race marked his first top-10 finish at Phoenix Raceway in four starts. He’s always qualified well, starting fifth, eighth, second and first, but has a finishing average of 11.5. Majeski is still looking for his first victory of the season, which would increase his streak of posting at least one win to four straight years.
RIGGS DRIVING TO DELIVER OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Even though Layne Riggs was eliminated from the Championship 4 on a tiebreaker last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, he and his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports F-150 team are still competing for the owner’s championship on Friday night at Phoenix Raceway. Owner Bob Jenkins, who scored his first championship three years ago with Zane Smith, is in the midst of a record season that has seen his organization win five times between Riggs (three wins) and Chandler Smith (two).
FORD’S NCTS CHAMPIONS
2000 – Greg Biffle (Roush Racing)
2019 – Matt Crafton (ThorSport Racing)
2022 – Zane Smith (Front Row Motorsports)
2023 – Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing)
2024 – Ty Majeski (ThorSport Racing)
FORD’S PHOENIX CUP SERIES WINNERS
1988 – Alan Kulwicki
1989 – Bill Elliott
1991 – Davey Allison
1992 – Davey Allison
1993 – Mark Martin
1995 – Ricky Rudd
1997 – Dale Jarrett
1998 – Rusty Wallace
2000 – Jeff Burton
2001 – Jeff Burton
2002 – Matt Kenseth
2005 – Kurt Busch (1)
2010 – Carl Edwards (2)
2013 – Carl Edwards (1)
2016 – Joey Logano (2)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1)
2020 – Joey Logano (1)
2022 – Chase Briscoe (1) and Joey Logano (2)
2023 - Ryan Blaney
2024 – Joey Logano (2)
FORD’S PHOENIX XFINITY SERIES WINNERS
2000 – Jeff Burton
2001 – Greg Biffle
2003 – Bobby Hamilton Jr.
2005 – Greg Biffle (1) and Carl Edwards (2)
2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2008 – Carl Edwards (2)
2009 – Greg Biffle (1) and Carl Edwards (2)
2010 – Carl Edwards (2)
2014 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (1)
2018 – Brad Keselowski (1)
2020 – Austin Cindric (2)
2021 – Austin Cindric (1)
2023 – Cole Custer (2)
2024 – Riley Herbst (2)
FORD’S PHOENIX CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS
1997 – Joe Ruttman
1998 – Mike Bliss
2001 – Greg Biffle
2022 – Zane Smith
2024 – Ty Majeski
The Ford Mustang, celebrating its 61st anniversary in 2025, is the world’s best selling sports car. It is also one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Australian Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 22 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines.
