Christian Eckes didn’t just retain his crown as the concrete king in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series; he made history doing so.
Eckes became just the second driver in Truck Series history to lead from green to checkered on his way to a win in the Rackley Roofing 200 on Friday (June 28) at Nashville Superspeedway. Timothy Peters was the first to achieve the feat, leading all 204 laps on his way to victory lane at Bristol back in 2012.
After starting third, Eckes led all 150 laps in his No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado, earned a maximum 60 points to extend his series points lead. The win is Eckes’ third of the season and eighth in his career.
McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate Daniel Dye had a career-best finish of second. Corey Heim finished third after a late battle with Rajah Caruth, who took fourth. Tyler Ankrum, another M-HR driver, rounded out the top five.
Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Matt Mills, Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia made up the rest of the top 10.
After most of the opening 15 laps were spent under caution, Eckes won the first stage. Layne Riggs, Heim, Enfinger and Dye made up the top-five finishers in the stage.
The opening lap saw Dean Thompson spin in turn three and collect Akinori Ogata, Bret Holmes, Timmy Hill and Tanner Gray. Holmes spun out again on lap 10 to bring out another caution before retiring.
It took two restarts in stage two before a lengthy green flag run. Taylor Gray spun off the bumper of Ben Rhodes on the first restart, relegating him to a 33rd-place finish.
A stackup at the front of the field on the following restart accordioned back to Dawson Cram. Clint Bowyer, running his first NASCAR race since 2020 in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevy, sustained heavy damage and ultimately settled for 17th.
Eckes won stage two with Heim, Caruth, Dye and Enfinger rounding out the top-five point getters.
Stage two ended under caution after a back-and-forth spat between Riggs and Stefan Parsons came to an end when Riggs spun Parsons in turn three. Riggs was handed a two-lap penalty for reckless driving as a result. Riggs finished 25th, just ahead of Parsons in 26th.
Eckes continued his domination of the evening in stage three. Jack Wood spun out on lap 115 to bring out the seventh and final caution of the race. This tightened the field back up for a final restart with 32 laps remaining, but Eckes drove away and cruised to the checkered flag.
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