Christian Eckes back to NASCAR Trucks with MHR in 2026
STATESVILLE, N.C. — Christian Eckes is headed back to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in 2026.
Eckes will drive the No. 91 Chevrolet for MHR with Dave Elenz as his crew chief in 2026. The team will have sponsorship from Columbia Bank and NAPA.
Eckes is back at MHR after racing full-time for Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team in 2025. Kaulig’s NOAPS team shut down after 2025, leading to the Eckes-MHR reunion.
“I couldn’t be happier to be back at MHR,” Eckes said. “We had a lot of success in 2023-24 and we want to get back to that next year. Bill [McAnally] and I have always had a great relationship and we’re putting a lot of quality people and pieces together. We had two great years here.”
In the last season Eckes spent at MHR, they had 22 top-10s in 23 races, led 1,050 of 3,524 laps and won the regular season championships. Across 46 races in 2023 and 2024, Eckes scored:
- 8 wins
- 25 top-five finishes
- 35 top-10 finishes
- …but no championship
“We’re excited to have Christian back,” team owner Bill McAnally said. “He certainly has his fingerprints on our program, and all of us were proud to see him in the Xfinity Series last year, but we have unfinished business.”
The secret weapon could be Elenz.
As a crew chief at JR Motorsports, he won 15 NOAPS races and back-to-back NOAPS championships with drivers William Byron and Tyler Reddick in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Elenz went on to work with Erik Jones in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2022 to 2024. They won the Southern 500 together in 2022.
“I’m looking forward to working with Christian and everyone at MHR,” Elenz said. “This will be a new challenge, and there’s a lot of optimism for what we can accomplish together. It’ll be great to have a full off-season to prepare so we can show up to Daytona ready to compete for wins.”
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com