Christian Eckes eclipses 1,000 laps led on season in Martinsville
Christian Eckes’ dominant performance in the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 Friday night propelled the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver over the 1,000 laps led mark in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
Eckes earned his fourth win of 2024 with his victory at Martinsville Speedway and became the fifth driver in series history to hit the quadruple-digit lap led mark in a single season and the first in 14 years.
No other driver will lead enough laps to join Eckes with 1,000 or more laps led in a single season. The highest lap leaders after Eckes are Corey Heim (666), Ty Majeski (468), Grant Enfinger (263), and Kyle Busch (263).
1995 series champion Mike Skinner was the first driver to do it in the series’ inaugural season, who won his only championship that year.
Skinner followed up 1996 with another four-digit lap led season with 1,533, the current record for the series. He did it once more in 2007.
Ron Hornaday Jr., the four-time series champion, accomplished the feat three times, most recently in his 2009 championship year.
Jack Sprague, the three-time series champion, had four-digit lap led seasons three times, two of which included championship-victory seasons in 1997 and 2001.
Kyle Busch was the most recent before Eckes, accomplishing the feat in 2010 in a partial-season schedule.
If Eckes can win the championship next Friday at Phoenix Raceway, he will become the third driver in series history to have won a championship in a season featuring 1,000 or more laps led.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.