Eckes Maintains Points Lead with North Wilkesboro Top-10

Christian Eckes turned in a solid effort on Sunday afternoon at North Wilkesboro Speedway which resulted in a sixth-place finish. The driver of the No. 19 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet Silverado RST recorded his eighth top-10 finish in a row and maintained the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series points lead by four markers after 10 of 16 regular season events.

Eckes started the event from the pole after qualifying was washed out by inclement weather Saturday morning. The 250-lapper went green under threatening skies on Saturday and Eckes continued his dominant short track ways by leading the first 62 laps. He made a pit stop for left side tires under a lap-58 caution and restarted 10th on lap 68. He advanced to seventh position by lap 70 to collect four points at the conclusion of Stage 1. Severe thunderstorms and torrential rains overcame North Wilkesboro during the caution period and postponed the remainder of the race until Sunday morning.

When the event resumed under sunny skies on Sunday, Eckes restarted sixth and immediately charged into the top-five. He ran as high as third on lap 103 until a caution slowed the field at lap 117. Crew chief Charles Denike called Eckes in for his second and final pit stop of the event for right sides during the caution. He restarted 10th and utilized the outside lane to perfection and instantly climbed to seventh. The move on the restart netted Eckes another four points at the end of Stage 2 on lap 140.

After briefly dropping to 10th after a restart on lap 147, Eckes regained his footing and reentered the top five by lap 190. He remained a threat by lining up third for a restart with 37 laps to go but was pinned on the bottom lane. After waging war in a multi-truck battle for a top-five position over the final 30 laps, Eckes took the checkered flag in sixth position for his best finish in two starts at North Wilkesboro.

“I kind of struggled all day,” Eckes said. “Balance wasn’t great. Just proud of the Instacoat guys for the effort. We weren’t very good on Friday when we were practicing and we got it better, but it still just wasn’t enough. Just way too tight at the end. We’ll move on to Charlotte with the number one pit stall, so excited for that.”

Start / Finish: 1 / 6
Points Standing / Total: 1st / 426 pts. (+4)

Next Race: Friday, May 24, Charlotte Motor Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN or SiriusXM

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Christian Eckes: @christianeckes
Bill McAnally Racing / McAnally-Hilgemann Racing: @BMR_NASCAR