In true Darlington Raceway fashion, it all came down to a series of thrilling Overtime finishes for the Truck Series race on Friday, May 12th, 2023 – and the No. 19 NASCAR Chevy Silverado RST of Christian Eckes held on until the end to take the win as a caution flag flew on the last lap.
Eckes and the No. 19 Silverado led 82 laps, the best of any truck in the field, and he was due for a stroke of good luck – since winning at Atlanta in March, he’s finished 30th three times, and 15th twice.
However, Eckes was rather calm in Victory Lane, thanks to the performance of his No. 19 NASCAR Chevy truck.
“I don’t really feel that excited, because the truck was so good it drove itself,” said Eckes. “It’s been a really, really rough couple of weeks.To come back and win shows the resilience of this team, and how we had to win it just shows the fight in this team… I was really determined. It’s really, really fun to be here, man, and when you have a truck like this, you’ve just got to finish it out.”
Ultimately, the race was decided by a yellow flag on the last lap during the second of two NASCAR Overtime finishes called for on-track incidents. Since Eckes’ No. 19 Silverado was out front when the caution was called, he was declared winner.
Eckes’ No. 19 Silverado was a contender throughout the race, as was the No. 51 Silverado of William Byron and the No. 11 Toyota Tundra of Corey Heim. Byron, a Cup Series regular, ultimately brought the No. 51 Silverado to a fourth-place finish, tailing the No. 52 Tundra of Stewart Friesen and the No. 15 Tundra of Tanner Gray.
“Hopefully, we learned some stuff for the Cup race [on Sunday],” Byron said. “We usually run really good here, so it’s just a matter of trying to put it all together and learn some nuances with the race track, so hopefully we did that.”
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 19 | Christian Eckes | Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet | 158 | 82 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 2 | 6 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar International Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 3 | 11 | 15 | Tanner Gray | Black's Tire Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 4 | 8 | 51 | William Byron(i) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 158 | 7 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 5 | 18 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 6 | 13 | 24 | Rajah Caruth # | Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 7 | 15 | 1 | Bubba Wallace(i) | Annie Bosko Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 8 | 1 | 11 | Corey Heim | Safelite Toyota | 158 | 66 | Toyota Tundra |
| 9 | 25 | 5 | Dean Thompson | Thompson Pipe Group Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 10 | 24 | 20 | Kaden Honeycutt | Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 11 | 3 | 2 | Nick Sanchez # | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 12 | 19 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Ideal Door/Menards Ford | 158 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
| 13 | 16 | 41 | Ross Chastain(i) | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 14 | 2 | 23 | Grant Enfinger | Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 15 | 17 | 16 | Tyler Ankrum | LiUNA! Toyota | 158 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 16 | 29 | 7 | Corey LaJoie(i) | Schluter Systems Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 17 | 36 | 9 | Colby Howard | Grant County Mulch Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 18 | 14 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | Farm Paint Ford | 158 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
| 19 | 20 | 43 | Daniel Dye # | Race to stop Suicide Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 20 | 26 | 13 | Hailie Deegan | Ford Performance Ford | 158 | 2 | Ford F-150 |
| 21 | 12 | 17 | Taylor Gray # | Dead On Tools Toyota | 158 | 1 | Toyota Tundra |
| 22 | 22 | 38 | Zane Smith | RTA rtatel.com Ford | 158 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
| 23 | 34 | 32 | Bret Holmes # | Bret Holmes Racing Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 24 | 23 | 56 | Timmy Hill | UNITS Storage Toyota | 157 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 25 | 7 | 25 | Matt DiBenedetto | Rackley Roofing Chevrolet | 157 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 26 | 5 | 35 | Jake Garcia # | Crown Fiber Chevrolet | 157 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 27 | 32 | 30 | Ryan Vargas | KSDT CPA Toyota | 156 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 28 | 27 | 4 | Johnny Sauter | CarQuest/Roper Racing Ford | 156 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
| 29 | 35 | 2 | Kris Wright | WrightCars.com Chevrolet | 155 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 30 | 30 | 45 | Lawless Alan | AUTOParkit Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 31 | 9 | 98 | Ty Majeski | Tenda/Curb Records Ford | 123 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
| 32 | 10 | 4 | Chase Purdy | Bama Buggies Chevrolet | 100 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 33 | 33 | 12 | Spencer Boyd | Sad Daddy Hunting Blinds Chevrolet | 78 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 34 | 21 | 75 | Parker Kligerman(i) | Haagen-Dazs Chevrolet | 48 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
| 35 | 31 | 47 | Dawson Cram(i) | G2G Racing Toyota | 36 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
| 36 | 28 | 46 | Brennan Poole(i) | G2G Racing Toyota | 20 | 0 | Toyota Tundra |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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F&@*# Toyota!