When it was announced Aug. 31 that Christian Eckes will take over the No. 16 for Kaulig Racing next season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it was with subdued fanfare. Yet Eckes brings more to the table than may initially meet the eye.
Team owner Matt Kaulig was not present for the press conference that featured Eckes along with team president Chris Rice. Eight days earlier, a similar announcement was made confirming that Daniel Dye will drive another full-time Xfinity car for the team in 2025.
Eckes and Dye will team up with returning veteran Josh Williams to complete Kaulig’s Xfinity driver lineup next season. The 23-year-old Eckes figures to slot into the lead driver role for the team.
Eckes has been on a tear this season driving in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. The Middletown, N.Y., native has finished top 10 in all but one event, way back at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the second race of the season. He earned the regular season championship despite other drivers seemingly getting more attention.
When this conversation occurred at the Milwaukee Mile, the Kaulig announcement hadn’t been made yet, but speculation was high that it was forthcoming. Frontstretch caught up with Eckes and talked about his season, the ups and downs of his young career, rough driving and more.
Steve Leffew, Frontstretch: You’re having one heck of a season. I went back and looked at the stat sheet, I didn’t realize how good it’s been, 15 top 10s. I don’t know if you know this, but you’re 10 laps away from leading more laps this season than you have in your entire career combined. What’s the big secret ingredient or big difference compared to last year that has led to this success?
Christian Eckes: I think just having another year to build here. If you look back at my career, I’ve never had a full-time season back to back with the same team, and this is the first opportunity that I’ve been able to do that. So I feel like it just has a lot to do with that — just being with the same crew chief and spotter, same core group of people here and being able to build year to year.
Leffew: Another stat, just so you know. Thirty-one percent of the laps you’ve completed this year, you led. Has it hit you how well you’ve been running?
Eckes: I wouldn’t say so. I don’t really try to pay too much, you know, I’m just focused on each week, being the best I can, trying to get our team the best that they can be. But yeah, we’ve had a ton of speed building fast new trucks, and even our old trucks are fast right now. So we’re doing a really good job or building and getting better each week, and I feel like that’s got a lot to do with our success.
Leffew: Do you feel like you’re getting enough recognition for how well you’ve been running? Do you feel like you’re kind of under the radar at all for what you’ve achieved?
Eckes: I mean, I feel like I’ve always been kind of under the radar, I don’t necessarily look at it like that, though. But yeah, from the publicity side of things, I probably don’t get as much credit as I maybe could deserve. But that’s motivating. There’s a lot of people that I feel like I’m better than that have moved up and done things, so that kind of makes me eager to do the best I can. So I don’t necessarily look at it like that, but at the same time, it’s the chip on the shoulder.
Leffew: The Big 3 in the playoffs has been looked at as being yourself, Corey Heim and Ty Majeski. You guys are gonna be racing each other pretty closely for the next seven races. What kind of relationship do you have with those two guys? Do you think that you can race clean with them throughout the season?
Eckes: Yeah, I think so. I have a close relationship with, I’m friends with Corey. Ty Majeski I was teammates with a couple years ago, so I don’t anticipate anything bad happening there, for sure. But, you know, it’s playoff time, so you never really know what’s gonna happen. We’ve kind of been the Big 3 over the regular season, but somebody like Ben Rhodes could come out of nowhere like he always does and end up winning the championship and not running that great all year. So the playoffs are wild, and it’s a lot of fun, but I definitely can’t count [my] chickens before they roost.
Leffew: There was a lot of controversy recently in NASCAR looking back to Richmond Raceway and kind of the way that race ended. What are your thoughts on that? When you’re going into turn 3 and 4 in a race with this playoff format, what’s fair game?
Eckes: I don’t really know what the line is. That’s the problem. They made it really clear that there is a line. But it’s up for debate on what that line is. Can you not wreck one car? Can you not wreck two? Can you only wreck one? Can you not wreck two? There’s definitely a weird feel going on here for sure, but I think as a racecar driver there’s a line of things you can do. You can be aggressive because that’s kind of what our sport based upon, but at the same time you can’t wreck two people, so there’s definitely a line.
Leffew: What do you see yourself doing during the off weeks coming up?
Eckes: I don’t really have any plans. Honestly, I’m kind of a boring person when it comes to that. I’ll probably just be training, trying to get better for the playoffs. It’s not that you don’t try during the regular season, but when the playoffs come around, you seem to just find that extra notch. So I like being around the shop. I don’t really take vacations until the offseason. So I’ll be around the shop trying to get our trucks better, trying to get our team in the right state of mind. But yeah, we’re just hanging out. I’m really excited for Bristol [Motor Speedway]; we’ve been really good there. This whole round, really. I mean, all the races I feel comfortable with, but this round especially. I’d say we could win all three.
Leffew: In 2021, you ran a partial Truck schedule with ThorSport Racing in 10 races. You won one of those, and in your post-race interview after you won you were speechless, basically. You said, “It’s been a tough year,” and really couldn’t even come up with more words to say. During that struggle of a year and now fast forwarding to this year and the success you’ve had, did you believe in 2021 that you were gonna get to this level of success?
Eckes: I always had tremendous belief in myself. You know, it didn’t really work out in a couple of years, for whatever reason I just couldn’t find success at [Kyle Busch Motorsports]. There’s a couple of things that just didn’t mesh. I got, like you said, a part-time schedule at ThorSport, and that year was rough and everything was up until that point. … I’m very happy that it happened, I learned a lot from that. I’ve learned a lot since. … The different things that I had to navigate are difficult, but they end up paying off in the long run. So [I’m] just super happy about that and just being able to move like how I felt like I should have been. [I’m] finally in a spot where I should’ve been.
About the author
Steve Leffew joined Frontstretch in 2023 and covers the Xfinity Series. He has served honorably in the United States Air Force and and lives in Wisconsin.
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