Road Course Redemption … The road to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) playoffs leads Christian Eckes to the winding 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the second road course event of the season. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST is looking for some road racing redemption after a promising run went awry in the first road course event of the season at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in March. Eckes jumped out to lead the race and captured the Stage 1 victory before a mechanical issue spoiled the No. 19 team’s stout performance. With three races left before the playoffs begin, Eckes is poised for another impactful road course effort to add to his playoff point total.
One for the Road … Eight of Eckes’ 81 NCTS career starts have come at road course venues, and he’s flexed his muscle at those tracks recently. His best road course finish in NCTS competition came at Mid-Ohio last summer when he tallied a fifth-place result. In fact, Eckes also posted a sixth-place run at COTA and was tied for the second-best average road course finish in 2022 (5.5).
Season to Date … Eckes enters Mid-Ohio sixth in the NCTS championship standings after 13 of 16 regular season races. His two victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway, plus four stage wins, have earned him 14 playoff points. Currently, Eckes is projected to start the playoffs in third place just six markers behind the lead. The Upstate New Yorker can close that gap, or erase it altogether, if he’s able to capture his first road course win on Saturday afternoon.
Chassis Selection … Eckes will climb behind the wheel of chassis No. 148 for the second time this season. He drove this Chevrolet Silverado RST to a stage win at COTA in March before suffering mechanical woes.
Tune In … FOX Sports 1 will have coverage of all on-track activity beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon with practice and qualifying. Race coverage begins on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Raceday on FS1 followed by the green flag at 1:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Christian Eckes Quote:
On the final road course event of the season:
“Mid-Ohio is a fun racetrack. We had a good top-five run last year, and hopefully I can improve on that this weekend with our NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet. Mid-Ohio has quite a few slower, hard-braking sections, but also some higher speed straightaways. The racing can get really physical there, and I’m sure the aggression level will keep increasing as we get closer to the playoffs. This truck was really fast at COTA, and we felt like we were one of the trucks to beat, so I’m looking forward to the weekend and hopefully running up front again on Saturday.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
