Daniel Dye had a season full of ups and downs, but in the end it was 12 points that made the difference for the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver. With this lead, the 20-year-old secured a place in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoff field with a solid eighth-place finish in the Clean Harbors 250 on Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.

“Yeah, it feels better now than Christmas,” Dye said of making the playoffs. “Just the hard work that these guys have put in and like I said just before the race, it’s really good to validate myself and the work that I’ve done to change what I’ve done.”

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Clean Harbors 250 Race Results

Entering the evening, Dye trailed Tanner Gray by five points for the final spot in the playoff grid. Like Dye, Gray had never made the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs before, but after a 12th-place finish, Gray’s dreams of making the playoffs will have to be put on hold for another year.

Although Dye ultimately found himself on the inside of the playoff line at the end of lap 250 at Richmond, it was not a flawless evening for the driver of the No. 43 Champion Container Chevrolet Silverado.

Dye, a native of Deland, Florida, started from an unfortunate 13th place, but felt the importance of making the playoffs and was in the top 10 at the end of the first lap of the race.

Despite various tire strategies, Dye remained a fixture in the top 10 for the first 133 laps, and on lap 134 he broke into the top five for the first time of the evening when he took third after a wild restart. This is where the adversity finally started to appear for Dye.

Due to numerous cautions in the middle and late sections of the race, Dye was pushed further back with each restart.

On lap 149 he was fifth. On lap 156 he was ninth. On lap 177 he clung to a top 10 position in tenth. On lap 189 he slipped out of the top 10 and on lap 204 he again finished in an unfortunate 13th place.

When Gray finally began to make progress through the field after surviving a caution period on Lap 141, the pressure was on Dye and his No. 43 pit crew to turn things around, and do it quickly.

The final pit stop did not help ease Dye’s situation as he was blocked in his pit lane by Jake Garcia, who swerved wide to avoid Dye’s truck. Dye was stuck in 19th place while Gray made a decent pit stop and moved up to 12th. It seemed like the tide had turned completely.

Dye still had a one-point lead over Gray in the points standings thanks to his stage points earned in Stages 1 and 2, but the gap was razor thin. However, on the ensuing restart with just 21 laps left, Dye stopped the bleeding and his No. 43 truck came back to life.

With some wild action at the front of the field causing numerous trucks to pile up, Dye, who was on the inside lane of the track, was in a prime position to capitalize. Gray wasn’t so lucky.

Dye fought his way back into the top 10 with 17 laps to go, while Gray got stuck in the truck jam and fell out of the top 10 again.

Dye immediately regained control of his playoff destiny and kept pushing, climbing to eighth place by the end of lap 250 before the checkered flag was waved.

With his frenzied sprint in the closing laps, Dye became the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver to fight his way into the playoff field in the final race of the regular season since the series introduced playoffs – and he did it at a track he doesn’t particularly enjoy. Now he’s ready to fight for the championship at another track he doesn’t like – the Milwaukee Mile.

“Oh man, it’s so cool that our champion container No. 43 is in the playoffs. I’m so stoked. It’s not an easy race track, but I’m just proud of everybody. Everyone worked so hard to keep me under control and not let me get too worked up. Man, I’m proud to be here,” Dye said. “This is a race track I didn’t like last year, and I don’t like Milwaukee either, but we’re going to Milwaukee. Let’s do it.”

Dye has improved tremendously since his disappointing rookie season last season, where he only managed one top-10 finish in the No. 43 GMS Racing truck. Heading into the playoffs, Dye already has one top-five, six top-10s and one pole position on his record, and he has seven more races to go to add to his stats.