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Tracking the Trucks: Christian Eckes Makes New Enemies Ahead of Title Race

In A Nutshell

He had to earn it in the end (in turn, earning the ire of his competitors) but Christian Eckes capped off a dominant Friday (Nov. 1) at Martinsville Speedway with a win and a ticket into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4.

Despite dominating the whole race, Eckes had to fight with Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes to win his fourth race of the season, his first since the summer months at Nashville Superspeedway.

Eckes and championship rival Corey Heim both advanced as a result, along with Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski, to fight for a title next Friday (Nov. 8).

See also
Christian Eckes Wins Martinsville in Controversial Fashion, Advances to the Championship 4

The Top Truckers at Martinsville Speedway

Winner, Polesitter, Stage 1 and 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (187 of 200): Christian Eckes
Biggest Mover: Grant Enfinger (started 33rd, finished ninth)
Rookie of the Race: Layne Riggs

The Winning Move

It became quite clear that if you wanted to beat Eckes, you needed a late restart and you needed to execute perfectly.

That’s exactly what Taylor Gray did, taking the lead on the final restart with five laps to go. However, that edge would be short-lived, as Eckes would straight up move the No. 17 into turn 3, sending Gray back to around fifth. Meanwhile, Rhodes saw what Eckes did and decided he’d do the same to the No. 19.

As Rhodes cleared to the lead, Eckes immediately put the bumper to him in turn 1 before running the No. 99 all the way up the hill in turn 3. That allowed Chase Purdy to sneak through to second. However, Rhodes and Purdy continued to fight for that runner-up spot, allowing Eckes to escape with the win.

The stat sheet said it was a dominant win, but the truth became anything but in the end.

http://twitter.com/NASCAR_Trucks/status/1852502919985147970

Championship Rundown

The Championship 4 is set.

Eckes joins Enfinger, who won twice in the Round of 8, as the two winners of the round. Heim and Majeski complete the Championship 4 as the two drivers to make it in on points.

For Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum, Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray, their 2024 Truck Series title hopes are over.

Caruth found his race and subsequent championship hopes ending early with brake issues midway through the race that forced him behind the wall. Meanwhile, it took Ankrum, Sanchez and Taylor Gray nothing short of a win to advance, something that wasn’t going to happen with Eckes’ dominance.

Taylor Gray almost came out on top with a walk-off win before the contact with Eckes ended any hopes of that happening.

We have our four. Now, whom of that quartet will come out on top?

Rookie Report

It’s not a surprise at this point Riggs came home as the top rookie, earning his sixth-place finish and Rookie of the Race honors for what feels like the millionth time this season. Riggs has really found his stride in the second half of the year, making it fun to see how he and the No. 38 team build on their momentum heading into 2025.

No. 7 — Connor Zilisch (12th)
No. 16 — Landen Lewis (35th)
No. 22 — Clayton Green (24th)
No. 25 — Dawson Sutton (15th)
No. 38 — Layne Riggs (sixth)
No. 44 — Matt Gould (27th)
No. 81 — Corey Day (18th)
No. 90 — Justin Carroll (25th)

Rookie of the Year update: Riggs is once again the lone ROTY contender in the field. Thad Moffitt continues to sit out due to funding issues, while Conner Jones was suspended from this race after his intentional crash with Matt Mills last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnny Sauter took over Jones’ No. 66 (leaving Lewis to replace Sauter in the No. 16), while the No. 46 was not entered. Riggs clinched 2024 Rookie of the Year honors at Kansas Speedway in September.

See also
Taylor Gray Confronts Christian Eckes After Contact Costs Title Shot

One Big Takeaway From This Race

Eckes may have won his way into the Championship 4, but at what cost?

Eckes made two potential enemies in Gray and Rhodes with the way he raced both of them in the final five laps. Gray arguably was more egregious than Rhodes, as the driver of the No. 17 raced Eckes cleanly before getting moved.

What Eckes needs to think about is that both Gray and Rhodes are teammates of drivers who are locked into the Championship 4. Gray’s teammate Heim is arguably the favorite while Rhodes’ teammate Majeski is also a title contender.

Now, one should not insinuate either Gray or Rhodes will conspire with their Championship 4 teammates to headhunt Eckes in the title race. Doing so would likely warrant penalties for those drivers. But the duo might race Eckes extremely hard, giving the No. 19 a hard time trying to advance through the field and win the title.

The problem is Eckes was already going to advance (more than likely) on points. He didn’t need to win the race. Eckes made the argument that the truck was too good to not win, which is fair. But with the way Gray raced him to take the lead, Eckes absolutely did not need to make an enemy out of a driver he will face full-time next season in the Xfinity Series.

Eckes had five laps to cleanly pass the No. 1, and yet he chose to drive through Gray before Gray even had a chance to take off with the lead. With as fast of a truck as Eckes had, he could’ve passed Gray back cleanly.

But he chose not to, which doesn’t help his case heading to the season finale. Gray promises nothing but clean racing next week, but drivers have long memories, and it’ll be interesting to see if Eckes can still walk away with the title – or do so without overcoming any in-race conflict.

Talkin’ Truckers

Rhodes (second) Purdy (third) and Brett Moffitt (30th) break down their evenings:

Sanchez (fifth), Heim (seventh) and Ankrum (eighth) break down their playoff runs, some of which ended at the checkered flag:

Taylor Gray (fourth) irate with Eckes after the two made late contact:

Gray’s crew chief Jeff Hensley also gave his thoughts on the incident:

Matt Mills (19th) finally gives his side of the contact with Jones last week at Homestead:

Caruth (31st) describes what took him out of contention for a win and title:

Dylan Lupton (34th) suffered a brake failure and crashed out of the race in stage 2:

Paint Scheme of the Race

Earlier this season, in the ARCA Menards Series, William Sawalich and Joe Gibbs Racing changed up the paint scheme for their Starkey/Soundgear No. 18 at Elko Speedway, celebrating Sawalich racing at his home track. They ditched the usual black car with orange numbers for a primarily orange-and-white car that looked really good.

For Martinsville, Sawalich and TRICON Garage again ditched its usual paint scheme for the Starkey/Soundgear No. 1. Normally, the team runs a half-orange, half-black truck when Sawalich gets behind the wheel.

This week, however, the team ran a ‘Snow Camo’-themed paint job, creating a slick, cool-as-ice-looking scheme for the 18-year-old at The Paperclip.

http://twitter.com/williamsawalich/status/1852531870191280558?s=61

Sawalich will be going full-time Xfinity Series racing next season, and it’s unclear how many, if any, Truck Series races he will run.

But if this is one of the last paint schemes Sawalich runs in a truck, it’s a damn good one. Sawalich started 12th and finished 14th in the snow camo No. 1.

Next Stop

It’s time to decide a champion and end the season.

The Craftsman Truck Series wraps up 2024 by kicking off NASCAR’s Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Eckes won last year’s event, while Rhodes took home his second title in three years. However, let’s hope this year’s race doesn’t devolve into a farcical embarrassment like last year. Please.

Coverage for the Craftsman 150 begins at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 8. FOX Sports 1 wraps up its exclusive television coverage of the Truck Series playoffs, while Motor Racing Network concludes its season-long radio coverage of the Truck Series.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

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.

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