TRUCKS: Christian Eckes Dominant, Aggressive Late in Martinsville Win
Christian Eckes may have won the battle, which was Friday night's Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway, but his path to victory heightened the intrinsic difficulty of which the war, which is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, will be won.
While the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado led 187 of the 200 laps in Friday night's race at Martinsville, he found himself at a tire disadvantage to Taylor Gray, who was looking to lock himself into the Championship 4 with a victory. Gray, who lined up alongside Eckes on the final restart of the race, worked his way past Eckes for the race lead in Turns 1 and 2, and it looked like he was on his way to a surprising Championship 4 berth-clinching win.
But Eckes had other thoughts.
The driver of the No. 19 Chevrolet body slammed into the side of Gray's No. 17 truck, which sent Gray up the track, and out of contention for the win. Ben Rhodes then assumed the lead, but Rhodes would suffer a similar fate as Eckes would ship his No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford out of the way as well coming to two laps to go.
With Rhodes and Gray disposed of, Eckes was able to cap off his dominant race with his fourth victory of the season as he crossed the finish line 1.191 seconds ahead of Rhodes, while Chase Purdy, Taylor Purdy, and Nick Sanchez rounded out the top five finishers.
Here is a replay of the last five laps of Friday night's race:
Repost to congratulate Christian Eckes on his NASCAR Truck Series WIN at Martinsville! He will race for a championship next weekend. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/C3eIQ26YE0
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) November 2, 2024
As Eckes was performing his cooldown lap, Gray showed his displeasure by making contact with him on the racetrack. Gray would then pull away and park on pit road as Eckes celebrated the win.
After scoring the win, the ninth of the New York native's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, Eckes downplayed the contact with Gray and said he simply refused to lose a race that he had dominated as heavily as he did on Friday night.
"It feels great. Like I told everybody, I wasn't going to let us lose this race, the truck was too good," Eckes said. "The 17 [Taylor Gray] was just hard racing, but I feel bad about the 99 [Ben Rhodes]. I just got way too loose entering the corner, uh, everybody's really happy with me, but I don't care. Thanks to everybody for working hard and we'll go on to Phoenix."
After climbing from his truck, Gray then made a b-line toward Eckes where he confronted the race winner in the makeshift victory lane on the frontstretch of the 0.526-mile short track.
Taylor Gray is NOT happy with Christian Eckes in Martinsville. pic.twitter.com/q9erNdaK4O
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) November 2, 2024
After a quick yet heated conversation, Gray returned to his truck where he began to stew about how he lost Friday night's race. Gray was particularly upset as he felt he raced Eckes cleanly and simply expected the same in return.
“Raced 19 (Christian Eckes) clean into (turns) one and two on the restart and times before that. I was on tires. I barely even touched him.," Gray explained. "Drove underneath him, and the caution came out. So clean for Martinsville, especially for the tire advantage. I could have drove into (turn) one and shipped him completely out of the way and not be worried about it. I raced him clean. I didn’t want to be that guy at Martinsville."
Gray said he expected when he got around Eckes on the final restart that he would get a nudge from behind, but the driver of the No. 17 truck says he didn't expect the level of contact that he received from behind.
"We go on the restart and raced him clean through (turns) one and two. Clear him off of (turn) two, and he goes into (turn) three and completely ships me to the fence. Now granted, it is Martinsville, I was expecting to get moved – I wasn’t expecting to get moved to the fence. Especially, with how I raced him, and he is locked into the final four, so I don’t know."
With the win, Eckes joins Grant Enfinger, who won the opening two races of the Playoffs Round of 8, Corey Heim, who finished seventh, and Ty Majeski, who came home in 11th, in the Championship 4 field, and will compete in next Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway for the title. However, as Gray noted, Eckes by way of winning Stages 1 and 2 earlier in the race was essentially locked in the Championship 4 regardless.
Eckes won the race, but now faces the possibility of retaliation next weekend at Phoenix.
"The only thing he did was put a target on his back," Gray seethed before explaining, "and unfortunately, and this day and age I can’t go to Phoenix and do anything about it to him, because I’m going to go get a $20,000 fine, so he gets away with that crap and doesn’t get any repercussion.”
While Gray says on Friday evening he won't go to Phoenix looking to retaliate, Rhodes a two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and runner-up finisher who was also on the receiving end of a shove from Eckes in the closing laps, says Gray has a reason to be mad, and whether Gray retaliates or not, Eckes is at the mercy of whatever Gray decides to do next.
"When you're locked in and you're running really rough and making enemies like Taylor Gray, that's a big deal because [Gray is] not going to Phoenix [with a shot at a championship] now and I think Christian would have still made it on points and he's at Taylor's mercy next week," Rhodes explained. "So the point I'm trying to make is that you really need to make big-picture racing when you want to win championships. That's what we did for our two championships, we weren't the most dominant truck, but we tried to play the game to the best of our ability the best of our speed, and we were able to bring it home."
Will Eckes be able to bring home a championship next week at Phoenix Raceway? Time will tell.
Friday night's race served as the end of the championship hopes for Gray and three other drivers. Joining Gray on the outside looking in of the Playoffs cutline following Friday night's race were Nick Sanchez (finished fifth), Tyler Ankrum (eighth), and Rajah Caruth (31st). Caruth suffered an issue with his brakes early in the event, which caused him to take the No. 71 Spire Motorsports truck to the garage for repairs, which effectively ended his hopes of advancing to the Championship 4.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race is set for Friday, November 8. That race will be televised on FS1 with coverage beginning at 8:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.