Eckes Focused on Repeating Short Track Success at Martinsville
Venue: Martinsville Speedway
Event: Long John Silver’s 200
Date: Friday, April 5th
Location: Ridgeway, VA
Track Description: 0.526-mile oval
Distance: 200 laps, 105.2 miles (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network)
Rinse and Repeat … The second short track event of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) season at Martinsville Speedway offers Christian Eckes an opportunity to go back-to-back at short tracks after his victory at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) in March. The driver of the No. 19 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST has been a force on the short tracks recently and is aiming to claim his first grandfather clock trophy from Martinsville. Eckes and the No. 19 squad hope to repeat their effort from BMS and elevate themselves into contention for the regular season title.
Setting the Short Track Standard … Eckes has been the gold standard on tracks one mile and shorter in recent history. He enters Martinsville with an exceptional streak of podium finishes in each of the last five NCTS races at tracks one mile and shorter. Victories at BMS and Phoenix Raceway in the 2023 finale highlight his current streak with podium results to boot in last year’s playoffs at Indianapolis Raceway Park (second), The Milwaukee Mile (third), and BMS (second). Friday’s showdown at “The Paperclip” gives Eckes a chance to extend his elite stretch of short track performance. In five prior Martinsville starts, Eckes has two top-10 results and a best finish of fourth in 2020.
Season to Date … After five of 16 regular season races, Eckes resides sixth in the NCTS point standings, only 30 markers out of the lead. He has four top-10 finishes in the first five races, including a current streak of three-consecutive results of eighth or better. Eckes has been a fixture near the front of the field this season and is the only driver to lead laps in each race thus far. His 173 laps led is the most of all drivers in the series and has an average finish of 11.4.
Tune In … On-track action from “The Paperclip” can be seen on FOX Sports 1, beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with practice and qualifying. Coverage continues on FS1 with NASCAR Raceday at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 19 Adaptive One Calipers team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Christian Eckes Quote:
On the second short track race of the season at Martinsville:
“Martinsville has some extra importance this year since it’s the final cutoff race when we go back in the fall. Our Adaptive One team is looking forward to Friday night with the recent success we’ve had on short tracks. I feel like we have a little bit of unfinished business from last year when we didn’t get the finish we felt like we deserved. It’s a really short race with it being only 200 laps. You definitely need an efficient strategy to set yourself up with track position for the final run and a good handling truck that you can get aggressive with at the end. Hopefully we’ll have all that with our Adaptive One Chevrolet and get ourselves a clock on Friday.”