Christian Eckes Wins at Martinsville, Fights for Truck Title

Christian Eckes raises his arms in victory in Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)

RIDGEWAY, Va. — Martinsville Speedway is a place known for carnage to occur and tempers to flare. Both were on display during Friday evening’s elimination Playoff race for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

For the most part, Christian Eckes, driver of the No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet, crushed the field for the first 160 laps. Eckes surpassed the 1,000 laps led mark on what has been his best season yet of his young NASCAR career.

On the other hand, Rajah Caruth, driver of the No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, had issues from the beginning of the race that plagued his chances of battling for the championship in Phoenix. Caruth had mechanical issues from Lap 49 until the end of the race, putting him 21 laps down and out of contention, bringing his “why not us” approach to an uneventful end.

But the course of the race changed quickly when Kaden Honeycutt made contact with the wall in between Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 163. “The Paperclip,”, Martinsville’s moniker, started to show why it is one of the most beloved tracks in the sport.

Eckes held onto the lead on the next restart, but the caution was out again when Brett Moffitt and Corey Day caused an accident with under 20 to go, helping drivers with fresher tires, like Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes, to have a shot at challenging Eckes at the end.

The race went green again with 11 laps to go, but the yellow flag came out immediately when Stewart Friesen, battling for the sixth position with Grant Enfinger and Chase Purdy, spun out, bunching up the field for one last restart to the finish.

This restart will likely be on Gray’s mind for the near future at Phoenix Raceway.

Taylor Gray driving through the field during the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Joshua White | The Podium Finish)

Gray, driver of the No. 17 JBL Toyota, ran second to Eckes when the last yellow flag flew, was in prime position to win the race with tires that were 40 laps fresher than those on Eckes’ No. 19 truck.

But, like any Martinsville race, there is always a bump and run at the end. When the field took the green flag for the last time, Gray drove by Eckes in the first two corners.

Eckes was in close proxmity to Gray’s rear bumper before sending him up the track in the middle of Turn 3, ending Gray’s chances of racing for a title next week.

Although Rhodes took the lead from Eckes in the closing laps, Eckes applied the chrome horn to retake the number one spot.

Coming to the stripe, Eckes scored the victory in a memorable finish.

After celebrating on the frontstretch, Eckes conveyed to the fans at the track, “Everybody’s really happy with me [after hearing boos for the crowd] — but I don’t really care. I’m proud of everybody for working hard, and we’re going to Phoenix.”

After bringing his truck down pit road, Gray stormed his way from the front of pit road to the frontstretch to express his contempt towards Eckes.

Chistian Eckes and Taylor Gray having an exchange of words after the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Joshua White | The Podium Finish)

As Gray started to walk back to his team after his brief exchange of words with, he told Amanda Busick, FOX NASCAR pit reporter, “What goes around, come around.”

Those words will likely echo for a long time in the upcoming NASCAR offseason, as Gray, who is heading to Joe Gibbs Racing’s NXS Program, and Eckes, who signed with Kaulig Racing’s XFINITY Series venture, will compete with each other again on a regular basis next year. This leads to the question of whether there is a potential rivalry in the developing stages.

For now, Eckes will pursue a Truck Series championship next Friday night while Gray will try to bring home a good finish to wrap up his time with TRICON Garage.

The four drivers battling for the Truck Series’ Championship 4 in Phoenix are Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim and Ty Majeski, all who have been extremely competitive and have wins on the 2024 campaign.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Christian Eckes
2. Ty Majeski
3. Nicholas Sanchez
4. Taylor Gray
5. Layne Riggs
6. Corey Heim
7. Kaden Honeycutt
8. Chase Purdy
9. William Sawalich
10. Connor Zilisch

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Christian Eckes
2. Ty Majeski
3. Nicholas Sanchez
4. Corey Heim
5. William Sawalich
6. Stewart Friesen
7. Ben Rhodes
8. Kaden Honeycutt
9. Tyler Ankrum
10. Grant Enfinger

Christian Eckes gets gone from Ben Rhodes and the ensuing pack during Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)

Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway Race Results