NASCAR
Eckes Grabs First Grandfather Clock in Martinsville Truck Beatdown
RIDGEWAY, Va. – There was little question as to who the best truck was on Martinsville Speedway Friday night. Taking command from the drop of the green, Christian Eckes was the class of the field for most of the Long John Silver’s 200. The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 19 Chevrolet picks up its second win of 2024, and another short track victory. Come Martinsville’s pivotal fall Playoff race, Eckes appears as the man to beat once again.
Even though he didn’t start on pole, Christian Eckes was a man on a mission early. The Napa Auto Parts No. 19 led wire-to-wire across both Stages. A max-points effort was very achievable for the Bristol winner, pitting for fresh tires after Stage 2.
Eckes was sent mid-pack for the Stage 3 restart, but a few timely cautions allowed him to close back in on the front. Eckes retook command for good on a restart inside of the final 30 laps left and held on for another dominant win. Now victorious in 2024 at Bristol and Martinsville, Christian Eckes appears to be king of the short tracks in Trucks.
“(We’re putting together) something really special,” Eckes said. “It hasn’t been an easy regular season so far, to say the least. We came here and weren’t that great last year, we were maybe a sixth-place truck. We worked really hard on it, and here we are in victory lane. Just super proud of this entire team. Huge thanks to Adaptive One Caliper, Napa Auto Care, Gates Hydraulics, Chevrolet all of our partners. It’s a good day to be in victory lane, can’t wait for that clock.”
Behind Eckes was the only other driver to lead multiple laps, Ty Majeski. Chase Purdy, Nick Sanchez, and Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 were: Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Sammy Smith, Kaden Honeycutt, and Corey Heim. Hear from some of these drivers below.
Trucks will be back in action next week from Texas Motor Speedway. Texas last year came down to last-lap fireworks and led to a new winner. Can 2024 live up to that amount of Texas-sized drama? The SpeedyCash.com 250 goes green Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
Be sure to follow us on Twitter/X
Be sure to follow the writer on Twitter/X
Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
