The 2023 Craftsman 150 was the 23rd and final stock car race of the

2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the 29th season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 17 at Daytona ...

, the Championship 4 race, and the 29th iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The first stages of the race were held on Friday, November 3, 2023, and the final stages were held on Saturday, November 4. The race was held in

Avondale, Arizona Avondale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 89,334, up from 76,238 in 2010 and ...

Phoenix Raceway Phoenix Raceway (formerly known as ISM Raceway from 2018–2020, Phoenix International Raceway from 1964–1973 and 1976–2017, and FasTrack International Speedway from 1973–1976) is a Oval track racing#Unique shapes, dogleg oval track in A ...

, a permanent tri-oval shaped racetrack. The race was originally scheduled to be contested over 150 laps, but was extended to 179 laps, due to numerous

NASCAR overtime The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

restarts. In one of the wildest and wreck-filled Truck Series races in history,

Christian Eckes Christian Donald Eckes (pronounced "eck-iss"; born November 10, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet SS for Kaulig Racing, and part-time in the ...

, driving for

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing McAnally–Hilgemann Racing (MHR) (also known as Bill McAnally Racing (BMR) is an American professional stock car racing team that competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team is based in Roseville, California, and is owned b ...

, would survive four overtime restart attempts, and held off the field to earn his fifth career

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

win, and his fourth of the season. Championship driver

Corey Heim Corey David Heim (born July 5, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Tundra#Third generation (XK70; 2021), Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Tricon ...

would dominate the early stages of the race, leading 47 laps until getting spun by

Carson Hocevar Carson Hocevar (born January 28, 2003) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, part-time ...

with 30 laps to go. To fill out the podium, Jake Garcia, driving for

, and

Chase Purdy Charles Russell "Chase" Purdy III (born November 11, 1999) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He most recently competed full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Mot ...

, driving for

Kyle Busch Motorsports Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional dirt racing team that competes in dirt divisions across the United States. They formerly competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, CARS Tour, CRA Super Series, A ...

, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Meanwhile,

ThorSport Racing ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and based in Sandusky, Ohio, the team is owned by Duke Thorson and his wife, Rhonda. Currently ...

driver Ben Rhodes, who finished in fifth, would claim the

championship, finishing in just one position ahead of

Grant Enfinger Grant McArthur Enfinger (born January 22, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado#Fourth-generation Silverado / fifth-generation S ...

. He would become the fifth driver to win repeat championships in the Truck Series. The race would be heavily criticized by the fans and drivers, specifically the final 50 laps. Fans had noted that drivers had no respect on the track, which contributed to the amount of wrecks and overtime restarts in the final laps. They would also criticize the way NASCAR had handled the event, as the race would end up finishing around 1 AM EST, one of the latest that a NASCAR race has finished. With a race time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 32 seconds, it is also one of the longest Truck Series races in history.

would be deducted 25 points (drivers only) and fined $12,500 for the title deciding collision against

during the race.

Background

Phoenix Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an Oval (geometry), oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instea ...

race track located in

. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

, USAC and the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. The raceway is currently owned and operated by

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business was the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

. The raceway was originally constructed with a

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend. Phoenix Raceway is home to two annual NASCAR race weekends, one of 13 facilities on the NASCAR schedule to host more than one race weekend a year. The track is both the first and last stop in the western United States, as well as the fourth and the last track on the schedule.

Championship drivers

advanced after winning at

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. *

advanced after winning at Homestead–Miami. *

advanced by virtue of points. * Ben Rhodes advanced by virtue of points.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver. * (CC) denotes championship contender.

Practice

The first and only practice session was held on Thursday, November 2, at 5:00 PM MST, and would last for 50 minutes.

Nick Sanchez Nicholas Anthony Sanchez (born June 10, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Big Machine Racing and ...

, driving for

Rev Racing Rev Racing, short for Revolution Racing, is an auto racing team competing at the regional level of NASCAR. Owned by former Dale Earnhardt, Inc. president Max Siegel, the team primarily fields participants in the Drive for Diversity, an initiat ...

, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 26.678, and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, November 3, at 3:05 PM MST. Since

is a mile oval, the qualifying system used is a single-car, one-lap system with only one round. In that round, whoever sets the fastest time will win the pole.

, driving for

Tricon Garage Tricon Garage, formerly known as David Gilliland Racing, DGR-Crosley, and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in early 2017 ...

, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 26.344, and an average speed of .

Race results

Stage 1 ''Laps: 45'' Stage 2 ''Laps: 45'' Stage 3 ''Laps: 89''

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{2023 NASCAR Truck Series NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race held at Phoenix Raceway. The 150-lap, 1 mile (1.6 km) race can also be known as the Craftsman 150 as the race winner's (not championship) trophy has the na ...

NASCAR controversies