Eckes Claims Points Lead with Podium Finish and Stage Win at Daytona
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By NAPA
Chase Elliott qualified 13th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. The 30-year-old driver earned points in each of the first two stages, finishing sixth and fourth, respectively. While visiting pit road ahead of the final stage, Elliott got blocked in his stall and lost several positions. He made his way back inside the top 10, ultimately earning an eighth-place finish. It was his 14th top-10 finish at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Elliott leaves Kansas sixth in the Cup Series points standings, 152 markers behind the leader.
Chase Elliott and the No. 9
link hidden, please login to view team qualified 13th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. The 30-year-old’s No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet showed speed from the drop of the green flag. He was up to 11th by lap 21, where he remained until pit stops got underway on lap 33. Elliott stayed out until crew chief Alan Gustafson called him to pit road on lap 39 for four tires and fuel. He worked his way up to 10th by lap 47 and used his slightly fresher tires in the closing laps of stage one to advance to sixth before the green-and-white checkered flag waved on lap 80.
During the stage break, Elliott reported that he “hurt the right rear a little worse.” He brought his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. A fast pit stop gained Elliott multiple positions, making him third to choose for the restart. He opted for the outside of row two to start the second stage on lap 89. Elliott improved to second initially before dropping to fourth on lap 97. He relayed to his team that his Chevrolet was “consistently just a little more snug.” Shortly after, another round of green-flag pit stops got underway. Elliott visited pit road on lap 121 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He returned to the track in 14th and was running in second once the field completed the pit cycle on lap 128. Elliott continued to run inside the top five, ending the second stage in fourth place on lap 165.
Under the stage-ending caution, Elliott brought the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet to the attention of his crew for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He unfortunately got blocked in when trying to exit his pit stall, which cost him several positions. The 2020 Cup Series champion was 12th to choose for the restart, opting for the inside of row six. He settled into 12th early in the final stage before fading to 14th on lap 186. The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet got stronger as the run went on. Elliott improved to 11th on lap 190, where he remained until teams started visiting pit road on lap 214. Gustafson called Elliott to pit road for four tires and fuel on lap 220. Elliott found himself back inside the top 10 on lap 245 and was running in ninth when the caution flag waved with just two laps to go. Varying pit strategies came into play, with some teams opting for two tires while others took four. The No. 9 team put right-side tires on the NAPA Chevrolet, and Elliott lined up on the inside of row four for the overtime restart. He battled hard to try to stay ahead of the cars on four fresh tires, ultimately earning an eighth-place finish.
Start / Finish: 13 / 8
Points Standing / Total: 6th / 305 pts. (-152)
Next Race: Sunday, April 26, Talladega Superspeedway
How to Watch or Listen: 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX, SiriusXM or MRN
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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 was building towards a top-10 run at Rockingham Speedway on Friday evening before an ill-timed caution crossed up his effort. The driver of the No. 91
link hidden, please login to view / Black’s Tire Chevrolet Silverado RST was credited with a 13th-place finish after post-race technical inspection altered the final results. Eckes sits seventh in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) standings after five of 18 regular season events.
Eckes made his first start at “The Rock” in the NCTS from deep in the field, 22nd, after qualifying was briefly delayed due to weather during the early afternoon. The opening 45-lap stage flew by in a flash as it ran clean and green on the one-mile track’s ultra fast pavement. The quick race pace and narrow groove made passing extraordinarily challenging as Eckes moved to 18th by the end of the first stage.
Crew chief Dave Elenz gave Eckes four tires, fuel, and an adjustment to improve his rear security during the first pit stop. The NAPA Auto Care / Black’s Tire team gained him two positions as he restarted 16th on lap 55. Eckes was able to maneuver his Chevrolet forward in the second stint up to 12th by lap 69 and maintained that position until the end of Stage 2 at lap 90.
During the second stage caution, Eckes’ team executed another four-tire pit stop with adjustments as the No. 91 restarted 13th on lap 99. Eckes held the 12th position again until a round of green flag pit stops began to unfold with less than 50 laps remaining. Elenz called Eckes to pit road for the final stop on lap 163 but an ominous caution flew on lap 166 and trapped him two laps down. Eckes took the “wave around” after the leaders pitted under the caution and lined up 16th for the day’s final restart on lap 173. He was able to dice his way through a jumbled lineup of lapped trucks to pick off two positions and crossed under the checkers in 14th. As a result of a post-race technical infraction to the No. 38 truck, Eckes was credited with a 13th-place finish.
“Tough day, for sure, Eckes said after the race.” We didn’t qualify well and that put our NAPA Auto Care / Black’s Tire Chevy behind the eight ball to start. We know we need to improve there to not make it hard on ourselves. Our balance was ok, just lacked rear security at times. We had the speed to run a lot higher but it’s so hard to pass here after the repave. We’ll go to Bristol, try to start farther towards the front and get some points back there.”
Start / Finish: 22 / 13
Points Standing / Total: 7th / 143 pts. (-47)
Next Race: Friday, April 10, Bristol Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM
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By NAPA
Ron Capps and the
link hidden, please login to view Funny Car team turned chaos into a commanding victory Sunday afternoon at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park. The three-time world champion overcame a rocky start in qualifying and bounced back from an engine explosion in the quarterfinals to earn his 78th career national event Wally and his 10th since becoming a team owner in 2022. The veteran wheelman set low E.T. of all four elimination rounds, including the final, where he defeated second-year driver Spencer Hyde. Capps is now ranked third in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car points standings.
Capps’ weekend began with adversity in qualifying as he smoked the tires in both Friday sessions and went into Saturday outside the 16-car field. Crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli mastered the third session, guiding Capps to a 4.023-second pass at 317.79 mph to move into the top half of the field. It was also the second-quickest performance of the round, landing Capps two bonus points. Like almost every other Funny Car driver, Capps’ machine lost traction early in the fourth session and he locked in the No. 7 position for Sunday eliminations.
Capps kicked off race day in a big way, as he left first against three-time NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia Funny Car champion Jason Rupert and set low E.T. of the round with a 3.980-second pass at 323.19 mph to advance. Capps then led wire-to-wire in his second-round match against Daniel Wilkerson, winning with a 4.144 E.T. to Wilkerson’s 4.157 E.T. But just as Capps crossed the finish line, a massive engine explosion split his Funny Car body in half and sent him into the wall. The incident was eerily similar to the one Capps suffered at this race one year ago, but he managed to scuff the wall, saving the chassis. The NAPA Auto Care team thrashed to rebuild the car fitted with a spare body and made it to the ready line just in time for a semifinal race against defending event winner Paul Lee. The two drivers left the starting line together before Capps pulled ahead to win with a 4.124-second pass at 303.09 mph.
Capps went into the final round with lane choice over No. 1 qualifier Spencer Hyde. The NAPA Auto Care Funny Car led the way from starting line to finish line, posting another 4.124 E.T. at 303.23 mph for the win. It was Capps’ 77th Funny Car win and fourth at Phoenix, but this time, he hoisted a special diamond edition Wally to commemorate NHRA’s 75th anniversary season.
“This is the coveted one right here,” Capps said as he held up the trophy. “You just think of the legacy and what’s gone into this. This is unbelievable. Thank you to Wally Parks, first of all. Katherine (Wooten) and everyone at NAPA, all the NAPA Auto Care people. We knew this was going to be a battle of attrition and dropped cylinders today. A couple of those runs, there was no way I would imagine that would have got us lane choice, but it did. It was like a bracket car. This win reminded me a lot of first my win in St. Louis [1997] because it was hot and we had 150-degree track temps there and we dropped cylinders all day but still won the race.
“You want to just take these (trophies) and chop them up into 6,000 pieces for all the different NAPA stores and NAPA Auto Cares,” he continued. “Carlyle Tools came on board and has done so much fun stuff with Maddi and me. NHRA, 75 years, it’s so awesome to win here. Everybody said I had bad luck, but look, we ended up winning. Monster Energy coming on board has been so much fun. Ron Capps Motorsports, we’re having fun right now.”
Next up for Capps and the NAPA Auto Care Funny Car team is the NHRA Winternationals, April 10-12, at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif., where he will also compete in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge. As a California native, it’s one of the tracks Capps calls home. He’s also won the Winternationals four times, most recently in 2021.
Start / Finish: No. 7 / winner in final round
Points Standing / Total: No. 3 / 151 pts. (-23)
Next Race: April 10-12, NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, Calif.
How to Watch or Listen: FS1,
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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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