RIDGEWAY, Va. — Taylor Gray had his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win and a spot in the Championship 4 right in front of him.
Then came contact. A shot from Christian Eckes sent Gray’s No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota up the racetrack and out of contention on Friday night (Nov. 1).
Eckes went on to win the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway. Gray settled for fourth. On a night where he essentially had to win to make the Championship 4, that wasn’t good enough.
“I expected him to move me,” Gray said of the contact. “I didn’t expect him to ship me to the fence. Especially when I raced him like I did in [turns] 1 and 2.”
As soon as Gray got out of his truck, he made a beeline from turn 1 on pit road to victory lane on the start/finish line. It looked like something out of a Rocky movie as a crowd gathered behind Gray and walked with him while the fans in the stands were the loudest they had been all night.
When Gray finally got through the sea of people in between he and Eckes, he pointed his finger at the race winner while the two had a serious talk. The 19-year-old then shoved Eckes and walked away.
“I just said it doesn’t matter,” Gray said. “It’s between me and him.”
Gray had pitted when the caution came out with 38 laps to go, giving himself a tire advantage as the leaders stayed out. The Denver, N.C., native restarted 10th and methodically worked his way up to third before the the yellow flag waved again with 20 laps to go.
On the ensuing restart, Gray chose the outside front row alongside Eckes and quickly filed in behind the No. 19 as the race resumed. He managed to work his way under Eckes, but another caution came out before Gray could complete the pass.
Coming to five laps to go, the TRICON driver once again restarted outside of Eckes. But this time, Gray took the lead coming off turn 2. Unfortunately for him, the time out front proved to be short lived, as Eckes got hard into the bumper of the No. 17 entering the next corner and sent Gray way up the racetrack.
While the contact wasn’t unexpected, it was frustrating for the teenager afterward as he wrestled with what could have been.
“I raced him the cleanest,” Gray said. “Let’s be fair, he was a truck in his own league. I came down to take tires; (crew chief) Jeff…
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