NASCAR
Christian Eckes is Perfect at Nashville, Leading Wire-to-Wire
LEBANON, Tenn. – It’s been 12 years since a Truck Series driver led an entire race, coincidentally happening again in Tennessee. Christian Eckes was the undisputed class of the field at Nashville Superspeedway, picking up win number three on the season. Should this level of domination return with Eckes, the championship may be a steep uphill climb for anyone else.
After taking the lead on lap one, Eckes remained perfect across both Stages. The No. 19 Chevrolet paced the way across the first 100 laps, going for a max points effort. Six cautions flew across both Stages however, keeping the field tight on Eckes’ rear bumper.
It was a tale of two races for the final Stage, with only one yellow flag slowing the action in the final 48 laps. The 19 remaining P1 was the only constant of the night, picking up a rare perfect race win. The last driver to achieve this feat was Timothy Peters at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2012.
“It was just a badass truck man,” Eckes said. “I can’t say enough about these guys. We felt like we should have won last time out at Gateway, came up a little short finishing second, and were really motivated to get this truck better. What an Adaptive One Chevy, just can’t thank everyone enough at Chevrolet, Napa, Gates, that was an ass kicking today.”
“I saw the No. 11 (Corey Heim) have four (win stickers) on it, I kind of got a little upset when I walked in. We have another one to go catch.”
This Nashville win also secured Eckes the third and final Triple Truck Challenge $50,000 bonus prize from Craftsman.
Nearly three seconds in Eckes’ rearview mirror was his teammate, Daniel Dye. Second is a career-best showing for driver 43, beating out Corey Heim, Rajah Caruth, and Tyler Ankrum. Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Matt Mills, Ty Majeski, and Jake Garcia rounded out the top-10. Hear from some of these drivers and a few others below.
The Truck Series only has three races left until their Playoffs begin. Six spots are still up for grabs in this final stretch. The Truckers return to action Friday, July 12 from Pocono Raceway. The CRC Brakleen 175 goes green at 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
