RIDGEWAY, Va. — Taylor Gray had his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win and a spot in the Championship 4 right in front of him.
Then came contact. A shot from Christian Eckes sent Gray’s No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota up the racetrack and out of contention on Friday night (Nov. 1).
Eckes went on to win the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway. Gray settled for fourth. On a night where he essentially had to win to make the Championship 4, that wasn’t good enough.
“I expected him to move me,” Gray said of the contact. “I didn’t expect him to ship me to the fence. Especially when I raced him like I did in [turns] 1 and 2.”
As soon as Gray got out of his truck, he made a beeline from turn 1 on pit road to victory lane on the start/finish line. It looked like something out of a Rocky movie as a crowd gathered behind Gray and walked with him while the fans in the stands were the loudest they had been all night.
When Gray finally got through the sea of people in between he and Eckes, he pointed his finger at the race winner while the two had a serious talk. The 19-year-old then shoved Eckes and walked away.
“I just said it doesn’t matter,” Gray said. “It’s between me and him.”
Gray had pitted when the caution came out with 38 laps to go, giving himself a tire advantage as the leaders stayed out. The Denver, N.C., native restarted 10th and methodically worked his way up to third before the the yellow flag waved again with 20 laps to go.
On the ensuing restart, Gray chose the outside front row alongside Eckes and quickly filed in behind the No. 19 as the race resumed. He managed to work his way under Eckes, but another caution came out before Gray could complete the pass.
Coming to five laps to go, the TRICON driver once again restarted outside of Eckes. But this time, Gray took the lead coming off turn 2. Unfortunately for him, the time out front proved to be short lived, as Eckes got hard into the bumper of the No. 17 entering the next corner and sent Gray way up the racetrack.
While the contact wasn’t unexpected, it was frustrating for the teenager afterward as he wrestled with what could have been.
“I raced him the cleanest,” Gray said. “Let’s be fair, he was a truck in his own league. I came down to take tires; (crew chief) Jeff Hensley made a great strategy call. (I had) way fresher tires and yarded him, raced him super clean, and he ships me into the fence in [turns] 1 and 2.
“He races like that with everybody. He does that all year long. He’s done it to everybody. He races Corey [Heim] like that. He races everybody like that. Nobody cares because he’s won four races now.
“It’s dumb. I don’t know. Martinsville, people are going to move you out of the way, but don’t ship me to the fence whenever I raced you like that down here. Also, he has so much more to lose than I do. I’m racing to win to lock in; he’s locked in and won both stages.”
Gray scoffed when asked about paying Eckes back next week in the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.
“What do you mean what happens next week?” Gray said. “If I do anything, I’m going to get fined or I’m going to get penalized. That’s the way NASCAR works. They can wreck you all they want, but as soon as you want to go get them back, you’re going to get penalized for it. I have to race him clean.”
Eckes said he thought the move was “fair.”
“It’s Martinsville, you have to race hard,” Eckes said. “He moved me, and I probably moved him back really hard. It’s a product of this racetrack. We had a straightaway lead before that caution came out, and then those new tires getting that close put us in a bad position.
“[I] refuse to lose.”
With the win, Eckes moved onto the Championship 4 for the first time in his career. But he also would’ve made it in had he finished second to Gray.
Gray will now have to wait another week to try to get his first career Truck win. But more importantly, he misses out on a final chance to win a Truck Series title. The Toyota prospect will move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series next year with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Follow Mike Massie on X at @m_massie22
About the author
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
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That was excessive by Eckes especially since Taylor Gray had just passed him cleanly and he probably should’ve been thinking a little more about the big picture of winning the championship. Taylor is correct, if he plants Eckes firewall deep on lap one, he will get penalized and fined. But nothing says he can’t make the race a bit of hell anytime he’s around Eckes.
This playoff format is a joke. Did anyone racing for the win try to pass anyone clean in this race? Its garbage racing and even the booth kept saying that its what drivers need to do. No they don’t. If you can’t pass them clean, take the L and move on. Or better yet, get rid of this crap playoff system. It’s not real racing and this demo derby crap makes these races unwatchable.