No. 19 NASCAR Chevy Truck Wins Drama-Filled Martinsville

Christian Eckes wielded his No. 19 NASCAR Chevy Silverado RST like a battering ram on his way to the win at Martinsville Speedway on November 1^st, 2024. He moved two competitors out of the way during the race, and one of them marched across the track to confront him on the front stretch after the checkers dropped.

Eckes first laid the bumper to the No. 17 Toyota TRD Tundra of Tanner Gray before taking on the No. 99 Ford F-150 of Ben Rhodes. He nudged both of them out of the way before rounding the track to win, despite the fact that they had 40-lap-fresher tires on their race trucks than Eckes did on his No. 19 NASCAR Chevy.

Eckes easily gapped the competition, finishing 1.191 seconds ahead of Rhodes, the runner-up.

“Like I told everybody, I wasn’t going to lose this race. This truck was too good,” Eckes said. “The 17 [Gray] was hard racing. I feel bad about the 99 [Rhodes]. I just got way too loose entering the corner.”

As the crowd booed, he added, “Everybody’s really happy with me – but I don’t really care. I’m proud of everybody for working hard, and we’re going to Phoenix.”

Gray exited his race truck and stalked toward Eckes while the latter was giving his victory interview on the front stretch. Followed closely by track security, Gray confronted Eckes, but the situation diffused before it came to blows.

“I got sent to the fence when I raced him perfectly clean in [Turns] 1 and 2,” Gray said. “What goes around comes around. I have to race him next year all year long [when both move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series].”

Gray was eliminated from the Championship 4 and will not race for the Truck Series title next weekend. Eckes will, along with Ty Majeski, driver of the No. 98 F-150; Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Tundra; and Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 9 Silverado.

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
P – Playoffs eligible