Christian Eckes dominated most of Friday’s (Nov. 1) Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway, leading a race-high 187 of 200 laps to advance to the NASCAR Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix.
But it was the way he fended off challengers in a frantic finish that people won’t forget – including some of Eckes’ closest rivals.
“Probably some angry people,” Eckes said after securing his fourth victory of the season. “But I was not going to let them win this race.”
In the end, a series of late caution flags put Eckes on defense, forced to defend his lead on older tires. Both Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes came charging through the field on fresh rubber, well positioned after the race’s sixth and final caution set up a restart with five laps remaining.
First, Eckes dealt with Gray, who started alongside of him. Gray needed to win to advance into the Championship 4 but was unable to recover after Eckes sent him up the track in turn 3.
Next up was Rhodes, who got alongside Eckes one lap later. Rhodes actually led lap 197 of 200 before Eckes bumped fenders with the No. 99 truck and got the better of it.
From there, Eckes cruised to a 1.191-second victory he would have almost certainly had without a flurry of late cautions. Rhodes held on for second while Chase Purdy took advantage of some of the contact to grab third.
The victory clinched a Championship 4 spot for Eckes, joining Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim and Ty Majeski to compete for a title at Phoenix Raceway. The contact greatly benefitted Majeski; a win by Gray would have knocked the No. 98 out of the field.
Instead, Eckes took control and used his fenders to seal off what was a Martinsville rout for most of the night.
“Like I told everybody, I wasn’t going to let us lose this race.” Eckes said to FOX Sports after exiting his Chevrolet. “The truck was too good. The No. 17 (Gray) was just hard racing, I feel about the No. 99 (Rhodes). I just got way too loose entering the corner. Everybody’s really happy with me but I don’t really care.”
Gray, who finished fourth, was visibly frustrated, bumping into Eckes on the cool-down lap. He then confronted Eckes in victory lane with NASCAR security in tow, pointing his finger and venting frustration before ultimately walking away.
“I got shipped to the fence whenever I raced him perfectly clean in one and two,” said Gray to FOX Sports. “What comes around goes around. I have to race him next year (when both men move up into the NASCAR Xfinity Series) all year long.”
Nick Sanchez rounded out the top-five finishers. Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, Enfinger and Stewart Friesen finished sixth through 10th.
Sanchez, Ankrum and Gray joined hard-luck Rajah Caruth in failing to advance into the Championship 4. Caruth struggled with his truck throughout the night, dealing with a mechanical issue. Falling a lap down before the end of stage two, he was ultimately forced to the garage for repairs. He returned to the race but ultimately finished 21 laps off the pace in 31st.
Until the wild ending, the race had been relatively clean. Eckes dominated a first stage where the only yellow was for Matthew Gould losing power.
Toward the end of stage two, Dylan Lupton caused the first caution for contact, backing into the outside wall in turns 1 and 2. That ended another stage with Eckes in another time zone, leading all of the race’s first 100 laps.
He continued out front in the third stage, but a caution caused by Kaden Honeycutt blowing a tire changed up strategy. Drivers like Gray and Rhodes used the opportunity to go off pit cycle, grabbing fresh tires knowing that was their only chance to grab the win.
Some late yellows gave them the chance. First, Gray’s TRICON teammate Dean Thompson shoved Tanner Gray into turn 3. Gray was pushed into Brett Moffitt, debuting for the new No. 4 Hettinger Racing team, who backed into the outside wall.
That gave Gray and Rhodes a chance to close their three-second gap on Eckes. But soon after the field got back going, Enfinger was shoved into the truck of Friesen, causing Friesen to spin on lap 191 and setting up the final restart of the race.
NASCAR Truck Series Martinsville Fall Results
In the end, it’s Eckes and his four wins who will face off against Heim and his series-best six victories out in the desert; the duo have been 1-2 in the Truck point standings most of the year. Enfinger and Majeski round out the field with two victories apiece; whomever amongst this quartet finishes the highest at Phoenix walks away with the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series championship.
The Championship 4 will go to battle Friday (Nov. 9) at 8 p.m. ET at Phoenix Raceway with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
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.