Eckes Leads From Start To Finish In The Music City

Christian Eckes celebrates with a burnout after his win at Nashville Superspeedway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

LEBANON, Tenn. – Christian Eckes dominated the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field in a way that hasn’t been done in more than a decade on Friday night.

After starting third and surging to the point in just two corners, Eckes led every lap of the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway for his third Truck Series win of the season.

Eckes passed both polesitter Stewart Friesen and second-starting Grant Enfinger before the first of seven cautions waved for a six-truck melee in turn three of the opening circuit.

From there, the 23-year-old Middletown, N.Y., native was untouchable around the 1.33-mile concrete oval. He mastered every restart and pulled away to victory by 2.028 seconds over runner-up Daniel Dye.

It was the eighth career win for Eckes in 101 starts, and easily his most dominant.

The last time prior to Friday that one driver led all the laps of a Truck Series race was Aug. 22, 2012, when Timothy Peters accomplished the feat at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Eckes also became just the second driver in Truck Series history to start behind the front row and lead every lap, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. in that elite category.

“Just a badass truck. I can’t say enough about these guys,” noted Eckes after climbing from his No. 19 NAPA NightVision Chevrolet Silverado RST. “I felt like we should have won last time out at Gateway ... finished second and came up a little bit short, but we were really motivated to get this truck better.

“That was an ass-kicking today.”

Dye’s second-place finish was his career-best mark and the first top five in the Truck Series. Four-time season winner Corey Heim crossed third, followed by Rajah Caruth and Tyler Ankrum.

Enfinger faded back to sixth in the rundown, with defending series champion Ben Rhodes, Matt Mills, Ty Majeski, and Jake Garcia closing the top 10.

Friesen was 11th after scoring his first pole since March of 2019.

Outside of the fracas that marred the opening lap, the night’s most dramatic incident came on lap 93, when Layne Riggs intentionally spun Stefan Parsons in turn three just before the end of stage two.

After two prior instances of contact, Riggs got into the back of Parsons’ No. 75 to finish the battle and sent Parsons sliding up into the outside wall. The damage cost Parsons two laps and left him 26th.

Riggs was held for a two-lap penalty by NASCAR officials and finished one spot ahead of Parsons in 25th.

With his win, Eckes leaves Nashville 40 points ahead of Heim in the battle for the regular season title.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season continues at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway with the running of the CRC Brakleen 175 at the 2.5-mile track known as the Tricky Triangle.

Race coverage begins Friday, July 12 at 5:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.