LAS VEGAS: NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Rookie of the Year candidate Christian Eckes saw his first potential top-five finish of the season spoiled during State 3 of Friday night’s STRAT 200 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
After finishing second to team owner and teammate Kyle Busch in the opening two stages, Eckes’ while quietly running inside the top-five at Lap 73 made contact with Todd Gilliland exiting Turn 2 – pushing Eckes’ No. 18 Toyota Tundra into the outside wall.
The damage subsequently caused a tire rub with Eckles hitting the Turn 1 wall a lap later and triggering the fourth caution of the race with an apparent blown right front tire.
“We had a really fast Safelite AutoGlass Tundra tonight – ran up front most of the race until the final stage when I got put in the wall by the 38 truck,” Eckes said. “After contact with the wall, we blew a right-front tire from the damage and in the end went a few laps down and ended up with a 23rd-place finish.”
Before the accident, Eckes had led the race twice for 10 laps and earned 18 stage points overall which cushioned his finish, four laps behind Busch.
“Great @safelite Tundra tonight,” Eckes, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion tweeted after the race. “Restart performance was poor on my end and put me in a position to get put in the fence, end of story. I’m ready for Atlanta already, hungry.”
Although not able to challenge Busch who scored his seventh straight Truck Series win in his hometown, Eckes said he had a blast battling the reigning Cup Series champion.
“It was fun — we both had fast Toyota Tundra and were by far the class of the field,” Eckes said of racing Busch. “We were a little bit off of him, but I felt like we were one adjustment away from being able to keep up with him.”
Despite touted as one of the early Truck Series championship contenders in 2020, after two races Eckes is eighth in the championship standings, 27 points behind leader Austin Hill. Despite finishes of 22nd and 23rd at Daytona and Las Vegas respectively, stage points have been Eckes’ saving grace with 21 races remaining.
The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series returns to competition at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway on Mar. 14 as part of a doubleheader with the Xfinity Series.
Yep … gonna take a little extra to buff that one out. 😣@christianeckes makes heavy contact with the wall to bring out the caution flag in the final stage. pic.twitter.com/hh9kVVMX9f
— NASCAR Gander Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 22, 2020
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
