Eckes Hunting the Front for First Charlotte Victory
Venue: Charlotte Motor Speedway
Event: North Carolina Education Lottery 200
Date: Friday, May 24
Location: Concord, NC
Track Description: 1.5-mile quad oval
Distance: 134 laps, 201 miles (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network)
Hunt the Front … Christian Eckes continues to lead the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) championship standings into Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS). The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST is hunting the front in hopes of returning to victory lane on Friday night. The New Yorker has come close at 1.5-mile tracks this year, including a podium result three weeks ago at Kansas Speedway, and has designs to pull even in the series lead for race wins. He has three previous victories at 1.5-mile tracks similar to CMS, including two last season.
A Career Streak … Not only is Eckes leading the championship standings for the second time this year, but he is also amid a career-long steak of top-10 finishes. His current streak of eight-straight finishes of eighth or better is the longest of his 101-race NCTS career. Eckes also tied his career-high streak of four straight top-five finishes earlier this season from his victory at Martinsville Speedway through a fourth-place finish at Darlington Raceway. Eckes looks to extend his top-10 streak with his first trip to victory lane in fifth appearance at CMS. He has accumulated two top-10 finishes in four prior starts in the Queen City.
Season to Date … Eckes is at the top of the regular season NCTS point standings thanks to his remarkable consistency and an average finish of 7.5. His 123 stage points are the most among NCTS competitors and a reflection of his 6.5 average starting position, which is second-best of all full-time drivers. He has totaled two victories (Martinsville and Bristol Motor Speedway) along with five top-five and nine top-10 results in 10 races. He’s also led at least one lap in every race this season, the only driver to do so, for a total of 425 laps.
Tune In … Eckes’ pursuit of victory at CMS will be covered live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) on Friday beginning with practice and qualifying at 1:30 p.m. ET. Coverage continues with NASCAR Raceday on FS1 at 8:00 p.m. ET followed by the green flag at 8:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Christian Eckes Quote:
On racing at Charlotte:
“It’s always fun to race at Charlotte in front of our team’s family and friends, and makes it for a fun weekend, for sure. Our NAPA Auto Care team has been working hard to find a little more pace at the mile-and-a-half’s to get to where we want to be. We ran third at Kansas and had a top-five truck at Darlington, so hopefully we can find a little bit extra this week and race for a win at the end of the night. All our goals are in front of us in the regular season and we just need to keep executing each week to get to where we want to be.”