TRUCKS: Christian Eckes Not Worried About Taylor Gray Retaliation at Phoenix
Christian Eckes raised the dander of Taylor Gray in the closing laps of last week's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Martinsville Speedway. Eckes, who didn't need to win the race to advance to the Championship 4, wasn't content to let Taylor Gray work past him for the win. Eckes had dominated the race, and despite being cooked due to pit strategy, Eckes was determined to walk out of Martinsville Speedway with another grandfather clock -- the trophy handed to race winners at the 0.526-mile short track.
Eckes executed a massive shove of Gray heading into Turns 1 and 2, which sent Gray up the track, and nearly into the wall. Not only did Gray lose the lead, but he fell to the fourth position. Without the win, Gray failed to advance to the Championship 4 field for this weekend's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
RELATED: Christian Eckes Dominant, Aggressive Late in Martinsville Win
It was a bold, brazen even, move by Eckes considering the situation both drivers were in. With the move, the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado created an unnecessary enemy heading into a race, where he will battle for a championship on Friday evening. At NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday, Eckes said he's not stressing about retaliation from Gray.
"I'm not concerned about it, no," Eckes explained. "I expect him to race hard, I expect everyone to race me hard. Because that's my mentality every weekend is that I want to be raced hard because that's how I race. And that's how I want to be raced, how I race."
While Eckes is prepared to race hard against Gray, the driver of the No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra, Eckes says there is a line that Gray could cross in Friday's race, which would cause him to slip into anger.
"If he races me hard, I wouldn't have a problem with that. But obviously, if there's a situation where I get crashed because of it, then I'm going to be a little bit upset, yeah," Eckes said.
Eckes, one of the four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4 contenders, ranked sixth in fastest lap time in final practice for Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. The driver of the No. 19 Chevrolet turned a lap time of 26.649 seconds.
Fellow Championship 4 contenders Corey Heim, Grant Enfinger, and Ty Majeski were the top-three in the session with Heim leading the way in his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota.
While Eckes is expected to be in the mix for the race win on Friday night, the 19-year-old Gray was actually faster than Eckes in practice. Gray registered the fourth-fastest lap time in the session.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race is scheduled 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 carry the live 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.