Christian Eckes, driver of the No. 19 NASCAR Chevy Silverado RST, outdueled Bristol ace Kyle Busch to the line for his first victory of the 2024 Truck Series season, winning by 0.141 seconds on the half-mile concrete oval.
Eckes passed Busch’s No. 7 Silverado for the lead on Lap 159, and he didn’t look back until the checkered flag waved. Busch mounted a charge as the laps ticked down, but he just couldn’t make it stick, finishing second to the younger Eckes.
“Oh, man, it’s so sweet,” said Eckes. “There’s just so much behind this win from last year, missing out on the Championship 4 and losing the race with (six) to go.”
He added, “The first three races [of this season], how terribly they’ve gone. We had a lot of issues, and to come back and run really good just shows the resilience of the team.”
Busch, meanwhile, was satisfied with his second-place result after battling with the handling of the No. 7 NASCAR Chevy truck.
“The crazy part about it is, we fought loose all through practice, all through qualifying, all through the beginning part of the race on older date codes,” Busch said. “Then we put on the newer date codes of tires and were instantly tight. So, just not being able to prepare and practice on what you expect to race on hurt us.”
Zane Smith finished third in the No. 91 Silverado, followed by Matt Crafton’s No. 88 Ford F-150. Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top five in the No. 18 Silverado.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 19 | Christian Eckes | NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet | 250 | 144 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
2 | 4 | 7 | Kyle Busch(i) | Group 1001 Chevrolet | 250 | 105 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
3 | 7 | 91 | Zane Smith(i) | Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet | 250 | 1 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
4 | 20 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Great Lakes Flooring/Menards Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
5 | 9 | 18 | Tyler Ankrum | Ullico Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
6 | 15 | 11 | Corey Heim | Safelite Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
7 | 3 | 17 | Taylor Gray | Factory Canopies Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
8 | 6 | 71 | Rajah Caruth | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
9 | 13 | 9 | Grant Enfinger | Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
10 | 28 | 38 | Layne Riggs # | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
11 | 12 | 41 | Bayley Currey | Niece Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
12 | 8 | 45 | Kaden Honeycutt | Chevy Accessories Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
13 | 10 | 43 | Daniel Dye | Champion Container Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
14 | 17 | 13 | Jake Garcia | Quanta Services Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
15 | 21 | 15 | Tanner Gray | Dead On Tools Toyota | 250 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
16 | 16 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | TSPORT Ford | 250 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
17 | 2 | 2 | Nick Sanchez | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 250 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
18 | 25 | 75 | Stefan Parsons | popsells.com Chevrolet | 249 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
19 | 14 | 66 | Conner Jones # | Farm Paint Ford | 249 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
20 | 26 | 25 | Ty Dillon | Rackley Roofing Chevrolet | 249 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
21 | 19 | 1 | William Sawalich | Starkey/Soundgear Toyota | 248 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
22 | 23 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar International Toyota | 248 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
23 | 22 | 5 | Dean Thompson | Thompson Pipe Group Toyota | 247 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
24 | 27 | 56 | Timmy Hill | Hill Motorsports Toyota | 247 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
25 | 18 | 42 | Matt Mills | J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet | 247 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
26 | 33 | 46 | Thad Moffitt # | Petty's Garage Chevrolet | 246 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
27 | 29 | 33 | Lawless Alan | AUTOParkit Ford | 246 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
28 | 31 | 02 | Mason Massey | RANDCO Chevrolet | 245 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
29 | 36 | 21 | Mason Maggio | Rock Hill ACE Hardware Ford | 244 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
30 | 30 | 76 | Spencer Boyd | Freedom Warranty Chevrolet | 242 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
31 | 24 | 32 | Bret Holmes | David's Electric Chevrolet | 242 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
32 | 34 | 22 | Keith McGee | More Core Ford | 238 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
33 | 11 | 77 | Chase Purdy | Bama Buggies Chevrolet | 228 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
34 | 5 | 98 | Ty Majeski | Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford | 170 | 0 | Ford F-150 |
35 | 35 | 14 | Trey Hutchens | Quality Roof Seamers Chevrolet | 113 | 0 | Chevrolet Silverado RST |
36 | 32 | 90 | Justin Carroll | Carroll's Automotive/Duratain Toyota | 57 | 0 | Toyota TRD Tundra |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comment
It was a pretty good race compared to the stinker the Cup Series put on.