NASCAR
Christian Eckes Takes Third 2023 Win After Kansas Stunner
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Lining up for a green-white-checkered finish in fourth, Christian Eckes muscled his way through the competition to the lead. The field was three-wide for the top spot at the white flag. Eckes’ No. 19 Chevrolet was not clear until turn three on the last lap. Eckes kept his foot in it though, and the daring moves paid off in a big way. With this buzzer-beater win, Eckes is now a three-time winner in 2023, and guaranteed into the next Playoff round.
Nick Sanchez would lead every lap of Stage 1, still going for his first career win. Sanchez appeared on track for a Stage sweep, but Carson Hocevar took over late for the Stage 2 win. Hocevar seemed like the class of the field once he took over. The No. 42 only lost ground after being undercut on pit road by Corey Heim. With less than 30 to go, Heim held the field at bay by a wide margin.
The Tricon No. 11 held serve on one late restart. The tables turned and intensity ratcheted up with a two-lap sprint to the end though. Heim was unable to clear Zane Smith in turns one and two, allowing the field to stay close. Smith’s No. 38 held strong on the high side, while Eckes’ No. 19 went to the third lane. These three trucks were all door-to-door coming to the white flag.
Heim got sideways off of turn four, giving Eckes the breathing room needed to mount a run into turn one. The 19 initially fell back in turns one and two, only to get a huge run entering turn three. Thanks to a top-to-bottom pass, Eckes drove it in deep and held on for the victory. The 19 only led two laps all night long, those being the two most important laps.
“That was wild, I didn’t know if I was going to win it or not,” Eckes said. “We had like a sixth-place truck all day, but I knew that caution coming out would give us a shot at it. Here we are. We haven’t won in a really long time. Wanted to kind of set the tone, and what a hell of a Round of 10: second, third and first. Can’t beat that, so proud of everybody. Napa Auto Care, Gates Hydraulics, Adaptive One, man it’s awesome to be back in victory lane.”
Behind Eckes, the Kansas top-10 were: Taylor Gray, Matt DiBenedetto, Corey Heim, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, Stewart Friesen, Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love and Tyler Ankrum.
Even with the late restart rally from eighth to third, Matt DiBenedetto fell five points shy of making the Round of 8. Matt Crafton was the other driver eliminated after Kansas. The No. 88 ran into early-race issues trapping them laps down. ThorSport teammate Ben Rhodes also dealt with adversity, but had just enough points to eek on by. See the re-seeded points for the Round of 8 below.
The Truck Series Playoffs Round of 8 begins on Thursday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The UNOH 200 will go green at 9:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. A Bristol win from any of the eight drivers above will be a ticket to Phoenix. Who can conquer The Last Great Coliseum with a Championship 4 berth on the line? If Kansas was any indication, the closing laps Thursday night will be can’t-miss entertainment.
Written by Peter Stratta
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