Eckes Finishes 14th in Portland Debut
Christian Eckes’ debut at Portland International Raceway (PIR) resulted in a 14th-place finish on Friday evening at the 1.96-mile road course. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet SS made his second ARCA Menards Series West (AMSW) start with BMR on Friday evening.
Eckes began the day posting the sixth-fastest time in the morning practice session but was unable to qualify to due an oil leak. He took the green flag from the 16th position and instantly drove the NAPA Auto Care Chevy towards the front. Eckes joined the top 10 on the opening lap and advanced towards the top five as the first stint wore on. After the race’s first caution, Eckes utilized the restart on lap 19 to jump from sixth to fourth and into contention. However, an oil leak resurfaced during a caution at the halfway point and forced Eckes to the attention of the BMR team on pit road. After repairs were made, Eckes returned to the track two laps down and finished 14th.
“Tough way to end the day, for sure,” Eckes said. “The NAPA Auto Care Chevy had decent speed to drive up to fourth. I would have liked to see what we could have done with the top-three on another restart. It was good to get some laps, and will for sure help us in the Xfinity car on Saturday.”
Start / Finish: 16 / 14
Next Race: Saturday, Sept. 13, All American Speedway, Roseville, Calif.
How to Watch or Listen: Floracing.com
NAPA: @NAPARacing
Christian Eckes: @christianeckes
Bill McAnally Racing: @BMR_NASCAR
Bill McAnally Racing View All
Bill McAnally Racing (BMR) holds the ARCA Menards Series West (AMSW) record with 11 championships and eclipsed the 100-win mark in 2022. The team has piled on six titles in the last eight seasons with four different drivers since 2015. BMR will campaign the NAPA Auto Care entry with a newly renumbered No. 19 Chevrolet SS. Daniel Hemric will begin the 2025 AMSW behind the wheel at Kern County Raceway on Saturday, January 25th.