In A Nutshell
Absolute domination.
That’s the best way to describe Christian Eckes‘ night at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night (June 28).
Eckes led all 150 laps en route to his third Craftsman Truck Series win of the season. He also pocketed an extra $50,000, as Nashville was also the third and final race of the Triple Truck Challenge. It’s the first time since Timothy Peters at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2012 that a driver led a Truck Series race wire-to-wire.
What makes it more impressive is that Eckes started third. Polesitter Stewart Friesen never even led a single lap, nor did second-place starter Grant Enfinger.
Eckes’ teammate Daniel Dye finished a career-best second, followed by Corey Heim in third.
The Top Truckers at Nashville Superspeedway
Winner, Stage 1 and 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (All 150 laps): Christian Eckes
Polesitter: Stewart Friesen
Biggest Mover: Matt Mills (Started 36th, finished eighth)
Rookie of the Race: Conner Jones
Top Storylines of the Race
- 39 trucks showed up to qualify, the most since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The three unlucky drivers to miss the show were Keith McGee, Bryan Dauzat and Justin Carroll.
- Friesen set a blistering lap of 158.980 mph in qualifying to win the pole. Astoundingly, the pole is his first since the spring race at Martinsville all the way back in 2019.
- The big one broke out on lap 1 as seven different trucks were caught up in a turn 3 crash. The only driver greatly affected by it was Bret Holmes, who spun a few laps later and crunched the back end of his No. 32, ending his race.
- Kaden Honeycutt, who has normally produced great finishes in his part-time schedule with Niece Motorsports, was in the midst of another great run before he lost gear oil and had to go behind the wall, spoiling what was sure to be another great night for the No. 45.
- Despite a caution-filled first and second stage, the final stage only saw one caution for a spin by Jack Wood on lap 114.
The Winning Move
For someone who led all 150 laps, it’s hard to say there was a ‘winning move’. But Eckes indeed made the winning move on lap 1.
Starting third meant that Eckes had the inside lane on the opening lap. As the field sailed into turn 1, Eckes pushed Friesen out to the lead. However, Friesen washed up the hill through turn 2, allowing Eckes to take the lead going down the backstretch.
As the field came around to complete lap 1, the big one struck the middle-to-rear of the grid.
Eckes was the leader, a position he would never relinquish the rest of the evening. But it’s probably a good thing for Eckes and the No. 19 team that the caution came out when it did, otherwise perhaps he doesn’t lead all 150 laps.
Championship Rundown
Eckes and Heim are the lone drivers with three or more wins on the year, far and away the championship favorites for 2024. They are also the two favorites for the regular season championship. With the perfect night, Eckes opens his regular season point lead to a whopping 40 points over Heim. It will take bad luck from Eckes for Heim to get back into the fight.
With six spots open and three races left, three drivers at this point can point their way in. As it stands (assuming there are no new winners), Tanner Gray currently holds the final spot by just 14 points over Dye.
Those around the cut line better hope there isn’t a new winner, otherwise that throws the entire playoff picture into whack.
Rookie Report
How about Conner Jones!
The No. 66 came home 12th, best of all the rookies on the night. Despite running a part-time schedule, his chances at Rookie of the Year are not quite dead just yet. His run at Nashville earns him Rookie of the Race for the first time this season.
Unfortunately, Jones is not scheduled to be in the truck the next two races and is slated to return at Richmond Raceway on August 10 according to his website, which will put a dent in his ROTY hopes.
No. 1 – Brenden Queen (19th)
No. 22 – Frankie Muniz (31st)
No. 26 – Dawson Sutton (18th)
No. 38 – Layne Riggs (25th)
No. 46 – Thad Moffitt (replaced; see below)
No. 66 – Conner Jones (12th)
No. 90 – Justin Carroll (DNQ)
Rookie of the Year contender Moffitt was replaced by Dawson Cram for this race. Moffitt said on social media that the change was due to “changes outside of my control.” Despite the lack of clear answers, Faction46 politely declined comment to Frontstretch about the change. Cram finished 20th, the second-best finish of the season for the team.
One Big Takeaway From This Race
One of the bigger stories in the race itself was a case of aggressive driving that resulted in bent sheetmetal.
Layne Riggs and Stefan Parsons raced hard at the end of stage two, making contact with each other three different times over the course of two laps. The two were battling for position when Parsons got loose under Riggs and both slid up the track in turn 4, leaving room for Matt Crafton to scoot by both of them.
The following corner, Parsons and Riggs again ran up the hill, making significantly more contact than before. Riggs lost patience in turns 3 and 4, sending Parsons up the hill and into the wall to bring out a caution and end the stage. Parsons’ No. 75 suffered significant damage on the right rear of his truck.
In a surprising move, Riggs was then held two laps for reckless driving. He finished 25th, while Parsons went on to finish one spot behind him in 26th.
This is a penalty that has seldom been utilized within the last decade or two. Ever since the “Boys, Have At It” era began in the late 2000s, NASCAR has relaxed the rough driving penalty. Generally, when someone wrecks a competitor egregiously enough, NASCAR simply parks the aggressor for the remainder of the race. If it gets really bad, a fine and/or suspension follows.
That’s why when this penalty is given, it’s questionable.
Can you remember the last time a rough driving penalty was given? In 2020, Justin Haley was penalized for wrecking Riley Herbst at Pocono Raceway in the Xfinity Series, and Carson Hocevar was penalized in this very series at Martinsville Speedway last season.
Both times, the drivers were held two laps. Now Riggs joins a very short list of drivers with a rough driving penalty in the 2020s. A call to the hauler for both Riggs and Parsons was probably more beneficial than just parking Riggs for two laps. Riggs even said on the radio that he thought what he did was fair game.
“That’s what Seth [Barbour, presumably, a crew chief at Front Row Motorsports] told me to do at Martinsville,” Riggs explained over the radio. “Just don’t right hook them. You can do whatever you want to their bumper, just don’t right hook them.”
Riggs has a point. NASCAR has maintained the precedence that right hooking someone is grounds for rough driving penalties and suspensions. The contact between Riggs’ No. 38 and Parsons’ No. 75 was a bump-and-run compared to a right hook.
Besides, the previous two times the two go together were a result of Parsons losing control of his truck underneath Riggs. Riggs’ payback was merely a result of frustration from the previous two incidents of contact. Parsons’ crash wasn’t even that bad, as all he did was get out of shape and tag the outside wall.
It would have been better if NASCAR just called the two to the hauler after the race to talk it out like it’s done in the past. Instead, the two chatted post-race about the incident.
It doesn’t change the fact that the idea of a rough driving penalty is very vague and could use a little bit of clarity if NASCAR insists on using it in the future. Not to mention, if you’re going to have such a rule, the sanctioning body either needs to enforce it more or get rid of it altogether.
Using it sporadically confuses everybody, especially in circumstances deemed milder than some incidents we’ve seen that have gone without penalty at all.
Talkin’ Truckers
McAnally-Hilgemann Racing celebrates Eckes, Dye and Tyler Ankrum finishing in the top five:
Dye (second), Rajah Caruth (fourth), and Mills (eighth) recap their respective evenings:
Heim comes home third in an unusually quiet night for him:
Clint Bowyer (17th), who returned for a one-off, says he will be back for at least one more NASCAR race, claiming that he can’t end on the note he did:
Parsons gives his side of the contact with Riggs, saying that the No. 38 “junked his shit”:
Honeycutt frustrated with the early mechanical issue:
Paint Scheme of the Race
It looks like a paint scheme plucked straight out of 2020.
Bowyer returned to NASCAR competition for the first time since 2020, competing in the Truck Series for the first time since 2016. He joined forces with Spire Motorsports, driving the team’s all-star No. 7 truck.
Rush Truck Centers came aboard for the one-off. The partnership resulted in a paint scheme that looked like a one-for-one copy of the Rush Truck Centers paint scheme Bowyer drove in his tenure with Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series.
Bowyer managed to finish 17th, but was running a lot better earlier in the race before a stack-up midway through the race damaged his truck and set him behind.
Next Stop
We’re going to one big Tricky Triangle.
The Craftsman Truck Series has another off-week (haven’t we had enough of those already?) before it makes its way to Pocono Raceway. For the first time since 2014, the race distance changes, growing from 150 miles (60 laps) to 175 miles (70 laps). In addition, after back-to-back years of running as a Saturday doubleheader with the Xfinity Series, the Truck Series race shifts back to a Friday evening.
Kyle Busch won last year’s race with an epic last-lap pass on Heim, but he has hit his maximum of five races that he can compete in this season. As such, he will not be able to defend his victory.
Coverage for the CRC Brakleen 175 begins at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday, July 12. Network FOX will carry the television broadcast (check your local listings), while Motor Racing Network continues its season-long radio broadcast coverage of the Truck Series.
About the author
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and secondary short track writer. He also serves as an at-track reporter and assists with social media when he can. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
I really enjoyed the truck series when it first started, back when it was being held on local short tracks, but I’ve lost interest in it over the years and don’t pay much attention to it anymore. Even when I do watch I usually just have it on in the background while I read or do something else. From what little I have watched this year, it seems they can’t go 5 or 10 laps without a wreck or spin. Has there been a truck race this year that didn’t have a caution in the first 5 laps? I understand half the field is want-a-be’s looking to move up in NASCAR, and the other half are has-been’s and never-were’s trying to keep their careers alive, but the truck races this year have become completely embarrassing with the non stop cautions.