Strong truck and cautions aid Christian Eckes’ Martinsville win
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Starting stage three midpack didn’t stop Christian Eckes from becoming the first repeat winner of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
Eckes took the lead from Ty Majeski and led the first 104 laps, claiming stages one and two before pitting for the first time. That pushed him outside of the top-15.
Ty Majeski was okay with that. After having the second-fastest car all night, he now had clean air and clean racetrack to command the lead.
Timing was everything, however. While stage three went caution-free for the first 26 laps, the longest green-flag run of the final 65 laps was only eight laps.
That let Eckes catch up in a hurry, especially as Majeski faced a successful — for one lap — challenge from Nick Sanchez on a lap 154 restart.
Eckes gained a couple critical restarts by that point. After another caution on lap 159 for Kaden Honeycutt dumping Brett Holmes and Justin Carroll, and another caution on lap 166, collecting Holmes, Jake Garcia, Lawless Alan, Jack Wood, Cam Waters and Daniel Dye in turn four, Eckes made his move.
Christian Eckes passed Ty Majeski during a restart on lap 172. Eckes fended off challenges from Majeski and led the final 29 laps en route to victory.
Eckes is the first repeat winner in the Truck Series this season. Now, all three series have had a repeat winner.
TOP-10 FINISHERS: Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Chase Purdy, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Sammy Smith, Kaden Honeycutt, Corey Heim
STAGE ONE
The race started with a 31-lap green flag run. The longest run of the night ended when Thad Moffitt spun in turn three. It was the only caution in stage one.
TOP-10: Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski, Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Chase Purdy
STAGE TWO
During the caution before stage two, Eckes, Sanchez, Ankrum, Garcia, Honeycutt and Purdy stayed out. Rajah Caruth, Matt Mills, Bayley Currey, Timmy Hill, Cam Waters, William Sawalich, Dean Thompson, Brett Holmes and Jack Wood all stayed out.
Layne Riggs was one of the drivers who pitted. His pit stop didn’t go well as the jack malfunctioned, slowing his stop and sending him back in the field.
With the shuffled running order, stage two wasn’t as caution-free as stage one. Just six green flag laps into it, on lap 66, it looked as though Matt Crafton had troubles steering his truck and bumped Tanner Gray in turn two.
“My steering locked up. I tried everything I could do to steer it away from him but I couldn’t. I didn’t have any power steering and couldn’t turn away from him,” Crafton said.
After a quick caution for Jack Wood and Layne Riggs, the latter whom had a very rough night, the race went green for 16 laps. Then, Daniel Dye drove into turn one hard and spun Spencer Boyd.
The wreck collected — you guessed it — Layne Riggs and ended the stage.
TOP-10: Christian Eckes, Tyler Ankrum, Chase Purdy, Kaden Honeycutt, Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia, Dean Thompson, Bayley Currey, Taylor Gray, William Sawalich
With 50 points earned Friday (second-most), Ty Majeski vaulted to the championship points lead by seven points over Corey Heim and Tyler Ankrum.
After a maximum points day, Christian Eckes is -11 to Majeski in fourth.
POINTS STANDINGS BEFORE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
- 7:30 p.m. ET, April 5; FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
- Christian Eckes: 2 wins
- Corey Heim: 1 win
- Nick Sanchez: 1 win
- Rajah Caruth: 1 win
- Ty Majeski: +106
- Tyler Ankrum: +99
- Taylor Gray: +70
- Matt Crafton: +31
- Grant Enfinger: +12
- Ben Rhodes: +6
- Tanner Gray: -6
- Jake Garcia: -23
- Daniel Dye: -25
- Bayley Currey: -28
- Stewart Friesen: -28
- Chase Purdy: -30
- Bret Holmes: -32
- Timmy Hill: -45
- Dean Thompson: -47
- Ty Dillon: -54
- Layne Riggs: -57
- Mason Massey: -66
- Spencer Boyd: -67
- Lawless Alan: -84
- Matt Mills: -88
- Thad Moffitt: -98
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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