Eckes Ends ’26 with Tremendous Drive to Finish Second in Miami

Christian Eckes closed out the 2026 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series (NCTS) season with a tremendous drive on Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway that resulted in his fourth runner-up finish in the Chase. The driver of the No. 91 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST led three times for a race-high 46 laps en route to finishing 1.03 seconds away from victory. Eckes ended the ’26 campaign fifth in the NCTS drivers’ standings with 10 top-five’s and 16 top-10 finishes.

Eckes’ outstanding effort on Friday night began from the 17th position as he boldly drove up the leaderboard in the first 30 laps of the finale. Despite a loose condition hampering his NAPA Auto Care Silverado RST, Eckes cracked the top 10 by lap 16, all while having one of the fastest trucks on older tires. As the Stage 1 checker flew at lap 30, Eckes was scored in eighth position and pocketed three points.

Crew chief Dave Elenz armed Eckes with a fresh set of tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment during the first stage caution. The NAPA crew gained two spots on pit road and allowed Eckes to select the fifth position for the lap-38 restart. The balance improved during the abbreviated second stint and was scored fourth by lap 60.

Blazing work on the second four-tire pit stop of the night netted Eckes the second spot during the stage caution. He restarted second on lap 67 and took the lead with a thrilling three-wide maneuver. Eckes took control of the race over the next 30 laps before a cycle of green-flag stops ensued. Elenz called him to pit road from the lead on lap 98 and the team preserved the race lap through the cycle. A caution on lap 105 instantly changed the event’s complexion and offered the field an opportunity to take a final set of fresh tires.

As five trucks elected to stay out on tires, Eckes and most of the lead trucks pitted for fresh rubber. He restarted fifth on lap 114 and instantly took the race lead on the restart while another caution was triggered mid-pack. The event’s final restart came on lap 121 but Eckes was unable to adequately defend the race lead. Ultimately, he ran out of laps to chase down the leader and took the checkered flag in second position.

“They (No. 11 truck) fired off better than us most of the day,” Eckes said. “He chose a little bit different line than I did in [turns] three and four and that was kind of the end of it. Obviously, really disappointed. I felt like we had the best truck by a good amount, especially after the green flag stop. The caution came out and survived one restart, didn’t survive the second one. Proud of the effort. We made a lot of gains this year. We’ll just move on to next year.”

Start / Finish: 17 / 2
Final Points Standing / Total: 5th / 2,308 pts. (-163)

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