MARTINSVILLE, Va: A bold late-race strategy appeared to be the right call for Taylor Gray and his No. 17 TRICON Garage team in Friday night’s Zip Buy Now Pay Later 200 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
In the closing laps of the race, Gray, who bolted on four new tires during the fourth caution of the night, had caught leader and Championship 4 hopeful Christian Eckes with an opportunity to earn one of the coveted spots in the Championship 4 race next weekend at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
A caution for a pileup in Turn 3 on Lap 182 brought Gray closer to Eckes’ back bumper setting up for a 12-lap shootout.
Two laps later, though, a gaggle of trucks collided in Turn 2, igniting the final caution of the race and setting up a four-lap dash to the checkered flag on the restart.
Utilizing the high lane on the restart, Gray fought side-by-side with Eckes through Turns 1 and 2 before clearing him on the backstretch and initially taking the lead.
Eckes, determined to seal another win this season for his McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team, put the bumper to Gray in Turns 3 and 4, shooting his No. 17 Tricon Garage Toyota Tundra up the race track and allowing Eckes to battle Ben Rhodes for the lead and eventual win.
In a must-win position, Gray would view that Eckes put the same move on ThorSport Racing’s Rhodes that he did a lap earlier, causing Rhodes to roll out of the throttle and allow Eckes to cruise to his fourth win of 2024 by 1.191 seconds.
Gray finished fourth, the second highest amongst the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff drivers.
His gut-wrenching performance, however, didn’t matter. His Playoffs were officially over.
After climbing out of his truck, Gray made the long walk from the exit of the pit road to the center of the frontstretch where he walked over the crossover bridge and entered the victory celebration scene where Eckes was celebrating his Championship 4 guaranteed slot with Gray fuming after being eliminated following the Round of 8.
Gray, in a firm tone, expressed his displeasure with Eckes about being raced dirty, especially considering that the TRICON driver believed he raced Eckes cleanly and respectfully not only in his effort to claim a spot in the Championship 4 but also to earn his first Truck Series win.
While much of the dialogue could not be heard, bystanders and audio microphones at the scene picked up a few obscenities from Gray to Eckes.
“What the fuck was that?” said Gray.
Eckes replied, “It’s Martinsville.”
Gray added, “You don’t ship (Rhodes) into the fence! You race him like I fucking did with you! I fucking barely got you off the bottom with tires! You know how many chances I had to ship you into the fucking fence?”
Offered Eckes, “Maybe you should have, I guess.”
Gray responded, “Okay. I’ll remember for next week.”
A few moments later, Gray, with a firm poke to the chest to Eckes, exited Victory Lane and returned to pit road where he further unloaded his anger with reporters.
“Raced 19 (Christian Eckes) clean into (turns) one and two on the restart and times before that I was on tires,” explained Gray. “I barely even touched him. Drove underneath him, and the caution came out. So clean for Martinsville, especially for the tire advantage.
“I could have drove into (turn) one and shipped him completely out of the way and not be worried about it. I raced him clean. I didn’t want to be that guy at Martinsville. We go on the restart, and raced him clean through (turns) one and two. Clear him off of (turn) two, and he goes into (turn) three and completely ships me to the fence.”
With so much on the line, Gray said he expected some sort of “payback” from Eckes but for the Denver, N.C. native, he felt it was a little overboard.
“Now granted, it is Martinsville, I was expecting to get moved – I wasn’t expecting to get moved to the fence,” sounded Gray. “Especially, with how I raced him, and he is locked into the final four, so I don’t know.
“The only thing he did was put a target on his back, and unfortunately, and this day and age I can’t go to Phoenix and do anything about to him, because I’m going to go get a $20,000 fine, so he gets away with that crap and doesn’t get any repercussion.”
Gray did not vouch to retaliate against Eckes in the Truck Series championship race at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway on Nov. 8, but instead insisted that he would race Eckes cleanly.
Will he hold true to his word? We’ll find out in seven days.
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected]
