Eckes Delivers Sturdy Points Outing in Nashville

Christian Eckes made a valiant bid for a second Gibson guitar at Nashville Superspeedway but ultimately recorded an eighth-place finish late Friday night. The driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST scored 43 points, third-most on the night, and notched his third consecutive top-10 finish. His steady outing kept him third in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series points standings after 11 races.

After a slightly abbreviated practice session on Friday afternoon, light rain washed out qualifying and placed Eckes fifth on the starting grid. A second band of showers pushed the green flag back nearly three hours but Eckes was ready to go from the outset, claiming fourth position on lap two. The 45-lap first segment ran entirely under green flag conditions as the former Nashville winner ran inside the top-five for the duration. His Adaptive One Calipers Chevy gradually built too tight, yet he held the fourth position to score seven points at lap 45.

On the first pit stop of the evening, crew chief Dave Elenz armed Eckes with four tires, fuel, and a small adjustment to aid his significantly tight balance. The second stage was littered with four caution flags, yet the restarts allowed Eckes to jump into contention. After restarting third on lap 68, he claimed the second position on lap 69. The fifth restart of the stage saw Eckes restart on the outside of the front row in an effort to challenge the lead, but he was overpowered by the dominant bottom groove and slipped to fourth, once again earning seven points at the end of Stage 2 on lap 95.

The second stage caution featured a wide array of strategies unfolding. Eckes and Elenz elected to take four tires on their final pit stop of the night, which resulted in restarting 16th on lap 104. The ensuing 15-lap run saw Eckes masterfully craft his way through traffic and gain 10 positions, slicing his way to sixth. The final restart of the night on lap 135 was a helter-skelter land rush into Turn 1 and resulted in Eckes being shoved up the banking and shuffled to ninth position. Eckes quickly recovered his momentum and retook the eighth spot on lap 137. He maintained that position over the final 14 circuits to tally his seventh top-10 finish of the 2026 campaign.

“We made a lot of gains on our Adaptive One Calipers Chevy from practice,” Eckes said after the race. “Proud of Dave [Elenz] and the guys for that. We executed fairly well tonight. Just lined up behind a bunch of trucks with two tires and no-tires to start the final stage. We got knocked up the hill, top of three wide on the last restart but was able to rebound and still have a decent points night. We had some track position around halfway, just need to find a little more speed and balance going to Michigan next week.”

Start / Finish: 5 / 8
Points Standing / Total: 3rd / 365 pts. (-93)

Next Race: Saturday, June 6, Michigan International Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 or SiriusXM

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