Christian Eckes holds off Kyle Busch to win Saturday’s night truck race at Bristol

Win gives Eckes some redemption after dramatic loss in last year’s Bristol playoff race

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Christian Eckes answered the challenge.

Eckes and NASCAR Cup Series racer Kyle Busch led 249 of the 250 laps of Saturday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The only questions were; which one would win and, less importantly, who led that one lonely lap?

Eckes edged Busch for his first NASCAR Truck Series win of the season, his first at Bristol and sixth of his career.

Zane Smith led that one lonely lap, Lap 136.

Eckes led twice; the first 52 and the final 92 laps, keeping Busch at bay at the end.

For Eckes, it was a bit of redemption after finishing second in last Fall’s Truck Series playoff race at Bristol.

Eckes held the lead in that race but gave it up to Corey Heim with six laps to go, finishing second and missing his shot to advance to the Championship 4.

“Oh, man, it’s so sweet,” said Eckes. “There’s just so much behind this win from last year, missing out on the Championship 4 and losing the race with (six) to go. To come back and redeem ourselves was our number one goal.” 

Eckes won the pole.

Nick Sanchez started second, Taylor Gray third, and Busch fourth.

Eckes jumped to the early lead and held a nearly one-second lead over Sanchez and Busch when the caution flag flew on Lap 43 when Keith McGee’s truck got loose on the backstretch, collecting Taylor Gray and Stefan Parson in the ensuing crash.

Busch raced to the lead on the restart and kept it through the end of Stage 1.

Busch led all the way in Stage 2, the fourth straight year a driver has swept both stages of the Bristol Truck race.

Also continuing for the fourth straight year – none of those drivers would go on and win the race over the 0.533-mile Speedway oval.

In Stage 3, Eckes was finally able to get by Busch on Lap 159, with Busch on his rear bumper for the final 92 laps.

Busch got close many times but couldn’t summon the horsepower to make a winning pass, finishing second, just 0.141 seconds back.

“The crazy part about it is, we fought loose all through practice, all through qualifying, all through the beginning part of the race on older date codes,” Busch said. “Then we put on the newer date codes of tires and were instantly tight. So, just not being able to prepare and practice on what you expect to race on hurt us. Didn’t have enough rubber on the road to outduel him.” 

Zane Smith finished third, followed by Matt Crafton, Tyler Ankrum, Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger, and Layne Riggs. 

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Weather Guard Truck Race 

Bristol Motor Speedway 

Bristol, Tennessee 

Saturday, March 16, 2024 

Statistics provided by NASCAR

1. (1) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 250. 
2. (4) Kyle Busch(i), Chevrolet, 250. 
3. (7) Zane Smith(i), Chevrolet, 250. 
4. (20) Matt Crafton, Ford, 250. 
5. (9) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 250. 
6. (15) Corey Heim, Toyota, 250. 
7. (3) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 250. 
8. (6) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 250. 
9. (13) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 250. 
10. (28) Layne Riggs #, Ford, 250. 
11. (12) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 250. 
12. (8) Kaden Honeycutt, Chevrolet, 250. 
13. (10) Daniel Dye, Chevrolet, 250. 
14. (17) Jake Garcia, Ford, 250. 
15. (21) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 250. 
16. (16) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 250. 
17. (2) Nick Sanchez, Chevrolet, 250. 
18. (25) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 249. 
19. (14) Conner Jones #, Ford, 249. 
20. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 249. 
21. (19) William Sawalich, Toyota, 248. 
22. (23) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 248. 
23. (22) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 247. 
24. (27) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 247. 
25. (18) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 247. 
26. (33) Thad Moffitt #, Chevrolet, 246. 
27. (29) Lawless Alan, Ford, 246. 
28. (31) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 245. 
29. (36) Mason Maggio, Ford, 244. 
30. (30) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 242. 
31. (24) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 242. 
32. (34) Keith McGee, Ford, 238. 
33. (11) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 228. 
34. (5) Ty Majeski, Ford, Engine, 170. 
35. (35) Trey Hutchens, Chevrolet, Suspension, 113. 
36. (32) Justin Carroll, Toyota, Brakes, 57. 

Average Speed of Race Winner: 80.017 mph. 

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 39 Mins, 55 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.141 Seconds. 

Caution Flags: 6 for 50 laps. 

Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers. 

Lap Leaders:  C. Eckes 1-52;K. Busch(i) 53-135;Z. Smith(i) 136;K. Busch(i) 137-158;C. Eckes 159-250. 

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Christian Eckes 2 times for 144 laps; Kyle Busch(i) 2 times for 105 laps; Zane Smith(i) 1 time for 1 lap. 

Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,19,2,98,91,17,18,99,45,9 

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,2,19,98,91,18,52,88,99,38