The stage is set for the NASCAR Truck Series championship cutoff

Everyone still eligible for the Truck Series championship knows their marching orders in advance of the penultimate race of the season in one week at Martinsville following a predictably consequential race at Talladega.

Corey Heim Advanced with Roval winRajah Caruth +14Tyler Ankrum +8Kaden Honeycutt +5---Ty Majeski -5Layne Riggs -6Daniel Hemric -26Grant Enfinger -34

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The math is really simple for Grant Enfinger and Daniel Hemric due to not finishing the race on Friday. They have to win. Fortunately for them both, Hemric won earlier this season at Martinsville and Enfinger overcame must-win odds to win at Martinsville 2020 to advance to Phoenix.

Enfinger, who won this race at Talladega last year to advance into the championship race, took an errant push from Chandler Smith exiting Turn 4, which resulted in a spin on the frontstretch.

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“Bounced off a guy on the inside and thought I had it saved, just one of those Talladega deals,” Enfinger said. “I love this place, but it just wasn’t meant to be today. … so our job’s pretty simple at Martinsville next week.”

But he isn’t alone and these races in recent years have required an abandonment of ethics to win and advance.

“Everybody is going to have that mindset,” Enfinger said. “I don’t like that race being a cutoff race for us in the Truck Series but if we have an opportunity to advance our way in, we’re going to take it. I don’t want to step over the line but our line has been blurry but our focus right now is just to put ourself in position.”

Grant Enfinger with damage, CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Everyone else not named Corey Heim, the winner of 10 races this year including two weeks ago at the Charlotte Roval to advance, has much more complicated math.

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Rajah Caruth scored 18 stage points and finished ninth. To put in perspective how valuable those stage points were, he is now 14 points above the cutline going into this decisive race. That's the difference between a comfortable and uncomfortable advantage.

A similar points output at Martinsville means he will chase a championship.

“Yeah, I think it's pretty much the same as today, just a little bit more is in your control,” Caruth said. “Yeah, I mean, that’s it to be honest. I don’t mean to be so (blunt) but there isn’t much else.”

Caruth isn’t complicating it but again, he is on the verge of chasing a championship with Spire Motorsports with support from Hendrick Motorsports.

“This is just a great opportunity,” Caruth said. “That’s how I view it, an opportunity. The regular season wasn’t what it needed to be on all accounts on my end, on a team end, and overall pace but the playoffs are a great opportunity to build it up and turn the intensity up at the right time. …

“We’ve done our job so far this round and excited to have a chance at it next week.”

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Layne Riggs was involved in several incidents on the day, including a bad push he received from teammate Smith just like Enfinger had just several laps prior, but overcame a damaged truck to finish fifth and give himself just a five point deficit.

“I feel good,” Riggs said. “I’m not quite sure about the points and who we have to outrun throughout the day, but I’ve put in about six weeks at sim time at Ford Racing. That’s the most time I’ve spent on a race track all year. Everyone thinks we should be strong at Martinsville, but that’s been the short track we’ve struggled at the most.

“So we’re going with something different than we have been with in the past and looking to gamble a little bit.”

He also did it with his left front crush panel knocked out.

“It was just way too hot,” Riggs said. “The headers were right there and the water bottle got hot over the next few laps. I told the guys it was not a ‘can we fix this thing’ (but) it was more of a ‘we need to fix this’ because I couldn’t finish the race like that.”

He is six out.

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Defending series champion, Ty Majeski, is five points out despite his own involvement in his fourth lap crash that made his truck impossible to lead but a pretty competent pusher. He survived to a third place finish with a truck that had bear bond all over the nose.

He is five out.

“In my head I was thinking that if we could be within five or ten points of the cut line, I’d at least have a shot at pointing my way in, and coincidentally that’s just where we sit,” Majeski said. “So I’m certainly not out of it, and we got to go to Martinsville and execute really well. There’s no reason why you can’t do that on a short track.”

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Kaden Honeycutt is above the cutline, but it’s not as simple as just staying those five points agead of Majeski either, as what if Enfinger or Hemric win their way into the final four?

That would bump the driver fourth in points so Honeycutt is going to also want to outscore Caruth and Tyler Ankrum ahead of him. Conversely, those two are going to also want to avoid being fourth just in case that outcome plays out too.

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Ankrum says he’s already counting the points.

“You have to,” Ankrum said. “It’s so tight in points that you have to play the points game. We all played the points game today. There was no short pit and try to get some track position back. You couldn’t. Unfortunately fortunately, it makes for good racing and makes us work harder for it.

“So now we have to go to Martinsville and aim to be top-5 in both stages. We HAVE to be and then let the third stage be the third stage and let it play out however it does.”

Ditto Honeycutt, who finished 10th and scored 14 playoff points, which is how he got above the cut.

“It’s definitely going to be hard for sure,” Honeycutt said. “I mean, (Majeski) has been really good at Martinsville the past couple of times and you know, (Riggs) has been good too so it’s definitely going to be hard but we’ll see.

“We’re going to do our own deal. It’s not like we haven’t had speed so I don’t expect that to change at Martinsville. We can run top five and start there. We’re going to go to work and make sure we get our package right and go to Phoenix the next week.”

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