Christian Eckes capped off a dominant run by pulling a late bump-and-run transfer on Playoff rival Taylor Grey that enabled him to clinch a Championship 4 berth after successful the Zip Purchase Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, November 1.
The 23-year-old Eckes from Greenville, New York, led all however 13 of 200-scheduled laps in an occasion the place he began on the pole place. He captured the occasion’s first two stage intervals earlier than he pitted for the primary and solely time earlier than the beginning of the ultimate stage interval with 90 laps remaining. After reassuming the lead from Ben Rhodes with 84 laps remaining, Eckes would retain the highest spot via three warning intervals and two restart intervals.
Then, in the course of the occasion’s ultimate restart interval with 5 laps remaining, Eckes was caught in a controversial incident with Taylor Grey. It resulted in Eckes bumping and sending Grey up the racetrack and out of the lead after Grey had taken it from Eckes in the beginning of the restart. Eckes would then duel, swap spots and bump Rhodes for the highest spot throughout the next two laps earlier than he moved Rhodes out of the racing groove in the identical flip as he moved Grey. With the late clear air to his benefit, Eckes retained the lead for the ultimate two laps and cruised to his fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence victory of the 2024 season and secured his first-ever berth to the Championship 4 spherical.
With on-track qualifying that decided the beginning lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Christian Eckes notched the pole place with a lap at 96.830 mph in 19.556 seconds. Becoming a member of him on the entrance row was Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who clocked in his greatest qualifying lap at 96.805 mph in 19.561 seconds.
Earlier than the occasion, the next names together with Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Justin Carroll, Tanner Grey and Clayton Inexperienced dropped to the rear of the sector resulting from unapproved changes made to their respective vehicles.
When the inexperienced flag waved and the race began, Christian Eckes motored his No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet Silverado RST forward of Ty Majeski, who struggled to launch in the beginning, and the sector via the frontstretch as he had each lanes to his management via the primary two turns and the backstretch. As the sector behind jostled for early spots, Eckes led the primary lap whereas Majeski fended off Playoff contenders Nick Sanchez and Taylor Grey for the runner-up spot as rookie Layne Riggs adopted swimsuit.
Over the subsequent 4 laps, Eckes stretched his early benefit to as excessive as seven-tenths of a second over Majeski whereas Sanchez adopted swimsuit in third place as the sector behind bumped and jostled amongst each other for early spots. Behind, Riggs was in fourth place forward of Taylor Grey whereas Ben Rhodes, Playoff contender Corey Heim, Chase Purdy, Kaden Honeycutt and Playoff contender Rajah Caruth have been within the prime 10.
By means of the primary 10 scheduled laps, Eckes was main by nine-tenths of a second over Majeski whereas Sanchez, Riggs and Taylor Grey have been racing within the prime 5 forward of Rhodes, Heim, Purdy, Honeycutt and Caruth. Behind, Jack Wooden, Johnny Sauter, William Sawalich, Dean Thompson and Matt Crafton have been within the prime 15 whereas Timmy Hill, Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Landen Lewis and Matt Mills pursued within the prime 20. In the meantime, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger was as much as twenty fourth place whereas Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum was mired in thirty first place.
Ten laps later, Eckes prolonged his benefit to greater than a second over Majeski whereas third-place Sanchez trailed by two seconds. Behind, Riggs and Taylor Grey remained within the prime 5 forward of Rhodes, Heim, Purdy, Honeycutt and Caruth as Enfinger and Ankrum have been mired in twenty second and thirty first, respectively.
One other 10 laps later, Eckes stabilized his benefit to greater than a second over runner-up Majeski and by greater than three seconds over third-place Sanchez whereas Riggs and Taylor Grey remained racing within the prime 5. In the meantime, Enfinger cracked the highest 20 as he was as much as twentieth place whereas Ankrum gained 4 spots to twenty seventh place. By then, Heim retained seventh place behind Rhodes whereas Caruth continued to race in Tenth place behind Purdy and Honeycutt.
Then on Lap 35, the occasion’s first warning interval flew resulting from Matthew Gould slowly coming to a halt within the backstretch after he fell off the tempo via the frontstretch earlier. In the course of the warning interval, some led by Rhodes and together with Enfinger and Ankrum, the latter of whom was spared from dropping a lap, pitted whereas the remaining led by Eckes remained on the monitor. Following the pit stops, Matt Crafton and Landen Lewis have been each penalized for dashing on pit street.
When the race restarted underneath inexperienced on Lap 42, Eckes fended off Majeski to retain the lead via the primary two turns whereas Tenth-place Caruth tried to throw a three-wide transfer beneath teammate Purdy for extra positions in direction of the entrance. The next lap, Purdy and Dean Thompson made contact coming into Flip 1 as Thompson tried to make a decent transfer beneath Purdy for place. With a bevy of rivals persevering with to bump, fan out and jostle for spots, Eckes proceeded to drive away with the lead as he retained the highest spot by the Lap 45 mark.
When the primary stage interval concluded on Lap 50, Eckes, who got here into Martinsville 38 factors above the top-four cutline in his pursuit to make the Championship 4 spherical, captured his Tenth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Majeski adopted swimsuit in second as he was adopted by Sanchez, Taylor Grey and Riggs whereas Heim, Honeycutt, Purdy, Sawalich and Connor Zilisch have been scored within the prime 10. In the meantime, Caruth plummeted to twenty eighth place after he went up the racetrack in Flip 3 on Lap 49 whereas Enfinger and Ankrum settled in 14th and 17, respectively.
Below the stage break, some led by Taylor Grey and together with Caruth pitted whereas the remaining led by Eckes remained on the monitor. By then, the highest seven rivals together with Eckes, Majeski, Sanchez, Heim, Honeycutt, Purdy and Sawalich have been the one ones who had but to pit. In the course of the pit stops, Jake Garcia was penalized for pitting exterior his pit field.
The second stage interval began on Lap 60 as Eckes and Majeski occupied the entrance row. In the beginning, Eckes fended off Majeski and Sanchez to retain the lead via the primary two turns and the backstretch. Eckes retained the lead for the next lap whereas Majeski was racing in second place forward of Sanchez and Heim. In the direction of the Lap 65 mark, Honeycutt was in fifth place and he was adopted by Sawalich whereas Purdy, who was trapped on the surface lane, was dueling with Friesen and Rhodes for seventh place.
Simply previous Lap 70, Eckes prolonged his result in greater than a second over Majeski whereas Sanchez and Heim continued to path in third and fourth, respectively. As Honeycutt retained fifth place in entrance of Sawalich, Friesen, Rhodes and Zilisch, Purdy dropped to Tenth place as he was racing forward of Enfinger whereas Ankrum, Taylor Grey and Caruth have been mired in 14th, sixteenth and twenty second, respectively.
On the Lap 80 mark, Eckes’ benefit stood to almost two seconds over runner-up Majeski whereas third-place Sanchez trailed by three seconds. With fourth-place Heim trailing by 4 seconds, Enfinger and Ankrum have been mired in Tenth and eleventh, respectively, Taylor Grey was as much as fifteenth place and Caruth was mired in twenty second place.
Ten laps later, Eckes prolonged his benefit to greater than three seconds over Majeski as Sanchez and Heim trailed way back to six seconds. Behind, Sawalich was up into fifth place and trailing the lead by seven seconds whereas Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Enfinger and Ankrum have been within the prime 10 forward of Zilisch, Riggs, Taylor Grey, Daniel Dye and Purdy.
One other 4 laps later, Eckes lapped Caruth, who was the lowest-running Playoff contender on the monitor in twenty fifth place and positioned in a “must-win” scenario to maintain his Playoff hopes alive. Eckes would proceed to stretch his result in 4 seconds over Majeski simply previous the Lap 95 mark as each Sanchez and Heim trailed by seven seconds.
Then on Lap 97, the warning flew as Dylan Lupton slid and wrecked his No. 02 Younger’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST laborious in opposition to the Flip 2 exterior wall. Lupton’s incident was sufficient for the second stage interval scheduled to conclude on Lap 100 to formally conclude underneath warning as Eckes captured his second Truck stage victory of the occasion and the eleventh of the 2024 season. Majeski adopted swimsuit in second forward of Sanchez, Heim and Sawalich whereas Friesen, Rhodes, Honeycutt, Ankrum and Enfinger have been scored within the prime 10. With seven of eight Playoff contenders racking up the occasion’s second spherical of stage factors, Caruth, the one Playoff contender to not rating stage factors, was mired in twenty fifth place.
Below the stage break, almost your complete lead lap subject led by Eckes pitted whereas Ben Rhodes remained on the monitor. Amid the pit stops, the next names that embrace Justin Carroll, Daniel Dye and Dean Thompson have been all penalized for his or her respective pit crews leaping over the pit wall too quickly. Quickly after, Caruth, who pitted twice underneath the warning interval, took his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST behind the wall and the pit crew went underneath the hood of Caruth’s truck to deal with a possible left-front braking situation. The problem was sufficient to knock Caruth each out of the lead lap class and in rivalry to advance into the Championship 4 spherical.
With 90 laps remaining, the ultimate stage interval commenced underneath inexperienced as Rhodes and Eckes occupied the entrance row. In the beginning, the sector fanned out via the frontstretch as Rhodes retained the lead forward of Eckes via the primary two turns and the backstretch. Rhodes would proceed to guide the next lap forward of Eckes whereas Majeski and Sanchez battled for third place in entrance of Heim. Behind, Taylor Grey, Ankrum and Enfinger have been strapped from seventh to ninth, respectively, as Eckes closed in on Rhodes for the lead with 85 laps remaining.
Then with 84 laps remaining, Eckes gave Rhodes a slight bump in Flip 3, which allowed Eckes to attract himself even with Rhodes’ No. 99 Kubota Ford F-150 via the frontstretch earlier than he muscled again forward and reassumed the lead. As Eckes proceeded to guide with 80 laps remaining, Sanchez began to shut in on Rhodes for the runner-up spot whereas Majeski and Heim trailed within the prime 5.
With 70 laps remaining, Eckes stretched his benefit to greater than three seconds over Sanchez and Majeski whereas Rhodes dropped to fourth place. In the meantime, Heim retained fifth place forward of Friesen, Taylor Grey, Ankrum, Enfinger and Sawalich whereas Caruth, who had his left-front brakes addressed, returned to the monitor regardless of being strapped 20 laps down in thirty third place.
Fifteen laps later, Eckes’ benefit grew to 5 seconds over runner-up Sanchez whereas third-place Majeski additionally trailed by 5 seconds. Within the course of, Heim retained fifth place whereas making an attempt to fend off Friesen and each Taylor Grey and Ankrum battled for seventh place whereas Enfinger was in Tenth place.
One other 15 laps later, Eckes retained the lead by six seconds over Sanchez whereas Majeski trailed the latter by almost a second in third place. Behind, Friesen moved as much as fifth place as he trailed Rhodes on the monitor whereas Ankrum, Taylor Grey, Sawalich, Enfinger and Riggs occupied the highest 10 in entrance of Heim, Corey Day, Honeycutt, Crafton and Zilisch.
Then with 38 laps remaining, the warning flew when Honeycutt, who was racing within the prime 15, made contact with the surface wall in between Turns 1 and a couple of after he blew a right-front tire. In the course of the warning interval, some led by Rhodes and together with Taylor Grey, Enfinger and Heim pitted whereas the remaining led by Eckes and together with Sanchez, Majeski and Ankrum remained on the monitor.
The beginning of the following restart interval with 29 laps remaining featured Eckes muscling forward and main the sector with each lanes underneath his management via the primary two turns whereas Sanchez and Majeski dueled for the runner-up spot. As Eckes muscled away with an inexpensive lead for the next lap, Sanchez, who was positioned in a “must-win” scenario to keep up his Playoff hopes, muscled his No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST away with the runner-up spot forward of Majeski, who bought bumped by Friesen in Flip 1.
With Friesen settling in fourth behind Majeski, a three-wide motion then ensued between Riggs, Rhodes and Taylor Grey in the course of the subsequent lap whereas Purdy nearly bought turned by Corey Day via the backstretch. As extra bumping and jostling for late spots ensued inside the subject, Eckes was forward by greater than a second with the lead with 25 laps remaining.
Then with 19 laps remaining, the warning returned when Dean Thompson bumped and despatched teammate Tanner Grey into Brett Moffitt as each went up the monitor and wrecked in opposition to the Flip 3 exterior wall whereas Corey Day slid sideways and spun previous each to keep away from the carnage. In the course of the warning interval, some together with Riggs, Crafton, Sawalich and Ankrum pitted whereas the remaining led by Eckes remained on the monitor.
All the way down to the ultimate 12 laps of the occasion, the race restarted underneath inexperienced. In the beginning, Eckes fended off Taylor Grey, whom Eckes shared on the entrance row, via the primary two turns and the backstretch to retain the lead. With Grey settling behind Eckes and in entrance of a stacked subject, Sanchez tried to pursue each from third place as Eckes led the next lap. Then in Flip 1, Grey, who was positioned in a “must-win” scenario to advance to the Championship 4 spherical, bumped Eckes via the primary two turns. Seconds later, the warning returned when Friesen, who was racing in sixth place, bought bumped by Enfinger because the latter was hit by Purdy, which despatched Friesen for a spin in Flip 2 as Sauter limped his No. 66 TSPORT Ford F-150 to pit street with injury and sparks flying out of the truck.
The beginning of the subsequent restart interval with 5 laps remaining featured Eckes and Taylor Grey sharing the entrance row for a second time, the place Grey dueled with Eckes via the primary two turns till Grey used the surface lane to muscle his No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Professional forward with the lead via the backstretch. Then coming into Flip 3, Eckes bumped and despatched Grey up the racetrack, which allowed Eckes to reassume the lead whereas Grey dropped to fifth place.
Throughout the next lap, Rhodes bumped and drew himself right into a side-by-side with Eckes via the primary two turns and the backstretch earlier than Rhodes muscled his means into the lead via Turns 3 and 4. Rhodes proceeded to guide the subsequent lap earlier than Eckes bumped and drew himself again beneath Rhodes via the primary two turns and the backstretch. Eckes would then slip up and trigger Rhodes to go up the monitor, which allowed Eckes to muscle again away with the lead as Purdy got here storming in his No. 77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado RST into the runner-up spot. Purdy and Rhodes would each bump and jostle for the runner-up spot throughout the next lap as Eckes motored away.
When the white flag waved and the ultimate lap began, Eckes remained within the lead forward of a decent side-by-side battle between Purdy and Rhodes for the runner-up spot. With the latter two battling amongst each other and never closing the hole to the lead, Eckes would easily cycle his No. 19 Chevrolet across the Martinsville circuit for a ultimate time earlier than he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by greater than a second over Rhodes, who edged Purdy on the end line for the runner-up spot.
With the victory and the Martinsville sweep of the season, Eckes notched his ninth profession win within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence division, his fourth of the 2024 season and his first since successful at Nashville Superspeedway in late June. He additionally recorded the fourth Truck victory of the season for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and the twelfth for the Chevrolet nameplate.
Above all, Eckes, who’s in his fourth and ultimate marketing campaign within the Truck Sequence earlier than he graduates to the Xfinity Sequence in 2025, formally clinched his spot into this yr’s Championship 4 spherical for the primary time in his profession as he’ll contend for his first Craftsman Truck Sequence championship subsequent weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
