Christian Eckes Goes Wire-to-Wire in Music City

In A Nutshell

Absolute domination.

That’s the best way to describe Christian Eckes‘ night at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday night (June 28).

Eckes led all 150 laps en route to his third Craftsman Truck Series win of the season. He also pocketed an extra $50,000, as Nashville was also the third and final race of the Triple Truck Challenge. It’s the first time since Timothy Peters at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2012 that a driver led a Truck Series race wire-to-wire.

What makes it more impressive is that Eckes started third. Polesitter Stewart Friesen never even led a single lap, nor did second-place starter Grant Enfinger.

Eckes’ teammate Daniel Dye finished a career-best second, followed by Corey Heim in third.

The Top Truckers at Nashville Superspeedway

Winner, Stage 1 and 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (All 150 laps): Christian Eckes
Polesitter: Stewart Friesen
Biggest Mover: Matt Mills (Started 36th, finished eighth)
Rookie of the Race: Conner Jones

Top Storylines of the Race

• 39 trucks showed up to qualify, the most since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The three unlucky drivers to miss the show were Keith McGee, Bryan Dauzat and Justin Carroll.
• Friesen set a blistering lap of 158.980 mph in qualifying to win the pole. Astoundingly, the pole is his first since the spring race at Martinsville all the way back in 2019.
• The big one broke out on lap 1 as seven different trucks were caught up in a turn 3 crash. The only driver greatly affected by it was Bret Holmes, who spun a few laps later and crunched the back end of his No. 32, ending his race.
• Kaden Honeycutt, who has normally produced great finishes in his part-time schedule with Niece Motorsports, was in the midst of another great run before he lost gear oil and had to go behind the wall, spoiling what was sure to be another great night for the No. 45.
• Despite a caution-filled first and second stage, the final stage only saw one caution for a spin by Jack Wood on lap 114.

The Winning Move

For someone who led all 150 laps, it’s hard to say there was a ‘winning move’. But Eckes indeed made the winning move on lap 1.

Starting third meant that Eckes had the inside lane on the opening lap. As the field sailed into turn 1, Eckes pushed Friesen out to the lead. However, Friesen washed up the hill through turn 2, allowing Eckes to take the lead going down the backstretch.

As the field came around to complete lap 1, the…