Eckes Scores Second-Straight Second at Charlotte

Venue: Charlotte Motor Speedway

FINISH: 2nd

Start: 8th

Stage 1: 4th

Stage 2: 5th

Laps Led: 0

Points Position: 4th

Christian Eckes’ stout Chase run continued with a brilliant drive towards a runner-up finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday evening. The driver of the No. 91 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST was methodical and opportunistic in his second-straight second-place effort. A late charge from fourth to second in final 11 circuits netted him one position in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series Chase standings and sits fourth after his eighth top-five finish of the season.

Eckes’ evening began from the eighth position but was met with a tight handling condition at the drop of the green flag. While he navigated the chaotic traffic at the outset, Eckes directed his NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet towards the top-five despite a “super tight” chassis balance. As the opening 30-lap stage progressed, so did the No. 91, while an improved handling condition allowed Eckes to muscle his way inside the top-five and collect seven points at lap 30 while running in fourth position.

The first pit stop of the evening posed a dose of adversity to the team as Eckes was blocked in his pit stall by the No. 88 machine, who was pitted directly in front. Eckes’ pit exit was hampered and subsequently lined up 10th for the lap 38 restart. Within two circuits, Eckes was back inside the top-five and scored six additional points at the close of Stage 2 on lap 60 in fifth position.

The second four-tire pit stop of the night under caution saw a second instance of Eckes being blocked in on pit road, thus dropping him back to 12th. The pit lane woes couldn’t keep him buried for long as he drove back into he top five in 21 laps. He ran fifth when a cycle of green flag pit stops began and was third when a fortuitous caution flew on lap 99, allowing him to pit under yellow.

Quality pit work by the NAPA team kept Eckes in the top-five and restarted fourth on lap 106. A pair of cautions and a restart on lap 124 set up an 11-lap run to the checkers. Eckes immediately took third position on the restart and closed in on the top two jockeying for position. He pounced on the leader stumbling in Turn 4 with five laps remaining to take second and began tracking down the new leader. Eckes ultimately ran out of time, but scored his best-career finish at CMS, coming home second to equal his best result of the year.

Christian Eckes Quote:

“Not only on our team, but all of McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. We have three in the top-10, so that’s good to see progress across the board. Our NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet was really solid all day. We were kind of just slow down the straightaways and struggled with a couple balance items. Still good to finish second, that’s back-to-back weeks. Obviously, we want to win and I feel like we’re on the cusp of doing that. We’ll move on to Phoenix and hopefully we can do it there.”