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By NAPA
Christian Eckes vaulted himself back into championship contention with a stout effort at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night. The driver of the No. 91 Columbia Bank Chevrolet Silverado RST finished fifth, earned a stage victory and scored the most points of all drivers with 48. Eckes paced the field for 132 of the 250 circuits which helped him advance to fifth in the championship standings, just 17 markers out of the lead.
The Columbia Bank Chevrolet started second after Eckes delivered his best qualifying effort of the year, narrowly missing out on the pole by 0.02 seconds. On lap three, Eckes swiftly claimed control of the event by hooking the bottom of the speedway and held a comfortable lead for 62 of 65 laps in Stage 1. He efficiently navigated lapped traffic to secure his second stage victory of the season and pocketed 10 championship points on lap 65.
In an effort to preserve critical track position, crew chief Dave Elenz elected to keep Eckes on track during the stage caution, along with most lead-lap competitors. When the race restarted on lap 79, Eckes jumped out to another lead and reported his handling had moderately improved from the first segment. He held the lead until a caution on lap 118 flipped the race’s script. Eckes pitted for four tires, as did the majority of the field, but restarted eighth on lap 128 after multiple trucks stayed out on older tires. He was able to regain two positions to run sixth by the end of Stage 2 on lap 130 and tally five points.
Eckes stayed on track to begin the final segment and restarted third on lap 142. A sequence of three cautions over the next 25 laps featured mad scrambles on restarts amongst the top four as Eckes vied to retake the lead. After briefly claiming the lead on the lap-179 restart, Eckes and the No. 1 truck made contact racing for the lead, sparking a multi-truck incident in Turn 1, which he narrowly escaped. He restarted as the leader on lap 179, but a loose balance would eventually hamper his pace over the final 27 laps. Eckes took the checkered flag in fifth for his third top-five result of the year and his second-highest point total of the season.
“It was a step in the right direction for sure,” Eckes said. “I think we led the most laps, had the fastest lap, so we’re bringing fast trucks. Qualified second. Qualifying has been kind of an issue for us for the last couple weeks. I feel like we’re heading in the right direction on there. Just need to clean up a lot of mistakes on my end. I lost the handling a little bit and track position is so important. I just screwed up the restart pretty bad and screwed up the restart before then. Lot of mental decisions I got to make better and we’ll make them at Texas.”
Start / Finish: 2 / 5
Points Standing / Total: 5th / 191 pts. (-17)
Next Race: Friday, May 1, Texas Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM
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By NAPA
Christian Eckes nailed down his second podium result of the season at Darlington Raceway on Friday night with a third-place finish. The driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST captured his first stage win of the season and gained three positions in the championship standings with a stellar run throughout the 200-mile event.
Eckes put on a showcase in the first 45-lap stage after taking the green flag from 16th position. He wasted no time charging towards the front, cracking the top-10 by lap nine despite firing off with a snug balance. After restarting 10th on lap 19, Eckes charged up the leaderboard and into the top five by lap 27. He steadily worked the extreme bottom line in Turns 3 and 4 to perfection to chase down the leaders and claimed the lead by lap 42. He held on to capture 10 critical points and his first stage checker of the season.
After making a four-tire pit stop under the first stage caution, Eckes restarted sixth on lap 54 and quickly returned to the top-five. Unlike the first segment, he contended with an exceedingly loose balance and a lack of rear grip. The final 30 laps of the second stage ran under green-flag conditions, and Eckes padded his point total by securing six points in fifth position at lap 90.
Crew chief Dave Elenz made a small chassis adjustment to add rear grip during the No. 91 team’s second four-tire stop of the race. Eckes restarted seventh on lap 99 and returned to pit road shortly thereafter as a quick caution allowed the field to bolt on another set of sticker tires. Eckes restarted 13th on lap 109 but rapidly returned to fifth by lap 120. He took his final set of tires under a lap 120 caution and restarted fourth on lap 128. The night concluded with two frantic, green-white-checker restarts as Eckes briefly grabbed second and took the checkered flag in third position. The result advanced him to sixth in the championship standings as he has scored three top-five finishes in three races at “The Lady in Black” with MHR.
“Just needed a little more pace,” Eckes said after the race. “Really good on a long haul, especially in Stage 1. I just kind of lost the grip level and competitiveness of that stage for the rest of the race. Overall, really proud of these Adaptive One guys. It’s been a rough stretch. To get a stage win and complete all night is definitely good.”
Start / Finish: 16 / 3
Points Standing / Total: 6th / 119 pts. (-53)
Next Race: Friday, April 3, Rockingham Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM
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By NAPA
Christian Eckes displayed a perfect example of resilience by posting a 15th-place finish in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series inaugural outing on the Streets of St. Petersburg Saturday afternoon. The driver of the No. 91
link hidden, please login to view Chevrolet Silverado RST rallied from two incidents and being caught a lap down to deliver a blue-collar result. Eckes collected 22 points on the day and advanced to ninth in the series standings.
A rain shower on Friday afternoon washed out qualifying and placed Eckes 31st on the grid as the rulebook set the starting lineup. The first 20-lap stage played out relatively uneventful and saw the NAPA Auto Care Chevy methodically advance into the top-15. Eckes sliced his way to 13th by the end of Stage 1 on lap 20 while nursing a lack of forward drive on the tight city thoroughfares.
After crew chief Dave Elenz and the NAPA crew gave Eckes four tires, fuel, and adjustments during the three-minute stage break, Eckes restarted 13th and continued his march forward. However, Eckes was squeezed into the Turn 8 concrete barrier when the No. 5 machine chopped across his nose on lap 26. The contact caused significant damage to the nose of Eckes’ Silverado RST, but the MHR squad made ample repairs to clearance the splitter and fenders despite losing a lap.
Eckes eventually regained his lap with a fortuitous caution on lap 52 and earned the Lucky Dog award. After he received additional repairs, Eckes’ balance remained reasonable and he restarted his climb through the field. More contact from the No. 42 entering Turn 4 on lap 65 sent him for a loop and briefly lost track position outside the top-20. Nevertheless, Eckes righted his No. 91 and regained positions without the aid of a caution. He advanced to 15th at the checkered flag to gain one position in the standings.
“We had some speed in our NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet today,” Eckes said of the top-15 effort. “We had that damage from when the No. 5 got into us, hurt the nose and the splitter and lost all our track position. That really put us behind and down a lap, but the guys made a lot of progress fixing the damage. We had pretty good pace after that, got turned again, it stayed green and still managed to get back to 15th. Like I said, we had some really good pace before all that, just glad we were able to minimize the damage and gain some points.”
Start / Finish: 31 / 15
Points Standing / Total: 9th / 69 pts. (-83)
Next Race: Friday, March 20, Darlington Raceway
How to Watch or Listen: 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM
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By NAPA
Christian Eckes returned to EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Ga., as one of the favorites for the second round of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (NCTS) season. However, the driver of the No. 91
link hidden, please login to view Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST was credited with a 36th-place finish after suffering a broken driveshaft on the second lap.
Eckes clocked in 15th-quickest in Friday afternoon’s qualifying session, tucked in behind MHR teammate and NAPA brethren Daniel Hemric. After the duo worked the bottom lane on the opening lap, Eckes pulled to the apron on lap two with a broken drive shaft and also lost third and fourth gears. Despite the early exit, Eckes is 10th in the NCTS standings entering next week’s inaugural event on the St. Petersburg, Fla., street circuit.
“Unfortunate to say the least. This obviously cost us a lot of points and we need to focus on responding at St. Pete next week and put NAPA Nightvision, NAPA Auto Care, Gates Hydraulics up front again and get back at it. Hopefully we can move on from this and be better in the next few weeks.”
Start / Finish: 15 / 36
Points Standing / Total: 10th / 47 pts. (-56)
Next Race: Saturday, February 28th, Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
How to Watch or Listen: 12:00 p.m. ET on FOX or SiriusXM
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By NAPA
Christian Eckes’ “Revenge Tour” kicked off in exhilarating fashion as he scored a third-place finish in his reunion with MHR. The driver of the No. 91 Columbia Bank Chevrolet Silverado RST was a fixture near the front of the field in Friday night’s season opener at Daytona International Speedway and made a staggering 271 green flag passes throughout the night. Eckes collected 12 stage points, and 46 overall, which has him initially positioned second in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series standings.
Eckes and the Columbia Bank team narrowly missed the second round of qualifying on Friday afternoon and lined up 11th for the green flag. From the outset, Eckes made himself one of the most active drivers in the field, making moves and slicing in traffic to work his way forward. He cracked the top-10 in the opening five laps before making a furious charge to the front on lap 19. A massive swell of momentum on the bottom lane catapulted him from outside the top-15 to run third at the end of Stage 1 on lap 20.
The strategy by crew chief Dave Elenz to keep Eckes’ tank packed full of fuel was on display beginning with the first pit cycle. After taking left side tires and fuel, Elenz brough Eckes back to pit road to top-off with gas before the restart. Despite restarting 31st on lap 28, Eckes gave the fans in attendance full value for their ticket by cutting through the field to run seventh at the end of Stage 2 on lap 40.
Eckes pitted again for fuel, and another top-off prior to the restart under the second stage caution. He efficiently cut from 20th on the lap 46 to challenge for the lead by lap 58 when the yellow flag flew. Just outside the fuel window to make the finish, Eckes pitted for fuel only, and again for four tires under a caution at lap 80. After restarting 15th on lap 85, Eckes created a mammoth surge of momentum to challenge for the lead on lap 93. A late caution set up a green-white-checkered finish as he took the green from fifth position. Eckes’ precision moves helped him challenge for the lead of the final lap but crossed the line third in a four-wide finish at the checkered flag.
“It was fun, for sure,” Eckes remarked after the podium result. “I thought all night our truck was really solid and was able to do a lot of things. Just thanks to Columbia Bank,
link hidden, please login to view, Gates Hydraulics, Chevrolet, everybody involved. We weren’t very good [Friday] but the guys went to work and got it better…I’d have to go back and look at [the finish]. It’s kind of hard with no help out back. The situation that unfolded, we started fifth or sixth, it’s just hard to have a chance at it. Obviously, we want to win, but we’ll keep moving on.” Start / Finish: 11 / 3
Points Standing / Total: 2nd / 46 pts. (-19)
Next Race: Saturday, February 21st, EchoPark Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM
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