Eckes Comes Close with Runner-Up Finish at Kansas

Christian Eckes righted his Chase journey and continued his elite performance at Kansas Speedway on Saturday evening. The driver of the No. 91 Motion Industries Chevrolet Silverado RST recorded a runner-up finish for his fourth-straight podium finish at the 1.5-mile speedway. Eckes’ put on a show after starting from 25th position and recorded a 48-point effort which advanced him three positions in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series Chase standings to fifth.

As Friday’s wet weather forced the cancellation of practice and qualifying, the opening 30-lap segment of Saturday’s race featured Eckes carving his way through the field. From the outset, he utilized every open lane of Kansas’ wide surface to advance to 17th on the opening lap and cracked the top-10 by lap eight. Eckes’ Motion Industries Chevy began to build free as the first run progressed, yet that didn’t hamper his progress as he drove to sixth position by the end of Stage 1 on lap 30.

Crew chief Dave Elenz and the No. 91 team armed Eckes with four tires, fuel, and air pressure adjustments during the first pit stop and gained three positions. Eckes restarted third on lap 37 and immediately grabbed the runner-up spot. Impending weather began to creep in, further intensifying the action on a lap 49 restart as the race’s distance was in question. Eckes briefly dipped to fourth after the restart yet collected eight points in third position as the Stage 2 checkers waived. Once under yellow, a steady shower forced a nearly five-hour red flag before action resumed at 6:30 p.m. CT.

When the green flag was finally unfurled, Eckes restarted sixth on lap 78 and once again began to surge towards the front. It only took four laps for him to briefly reclaim second position and settled into third before a caution flew on lap 95. Eckes took four tires, fuel, and a wedge adjustment to tighten his loose balance under the yellow flag. Once more, Eckes momentarily jumped to second on the ensuing restart and established the third position on lap 105. A caution on lap 116 allowed most of the field to bolt on the final set of fresh tires and Eckes subsequently restarted seventh on lap 122. He survived a helter-skelter restart and lined up third for the race’s final restart on lap 128. He pursued the lead duo and took the runner-up position in the closing laps to record a second-place finish and his seventh top-five result of the year.

“It’s nice to get a good finish, because these last two weeks have been pretty miserable,” Hemric remarked following the runner-up result. “Man, I just want to win for this No. 91 group. I feel like we’re bringing race-winning trucks a lot and just haven’t been able to come home with one. Proud of them. Huge thanks to Motion Industries, NAPA, Gates Hydraulics, all of our partners. Disappointed for sure. That last restart didn’t go our way at all. I wanted to go with the leader but I was hoping I could get out and get clear, but I didn’t get clear so fell back to seventh or something. It is what it is. We’ll go to Charlotte.”

Start / Finish: 25 / 2
Points Standing / Total: 5th / 2,115 pts. (-82)

Next Race: Friday, October 9, Charlotte Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 5:00 p.m. ET on FOX or SiriusXM

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Christian Eckes: @christianeckes
Bill McAnally Racing: @BMR_NASCAR