Capping Off a Career Year … Christian Eckes arrives at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) season finale at Phoenix Raceway to cap off a career season and a breakout campaign for the MHR organization. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet Silverado RST may have narrowly missed out on joining the Championship 4, but he has consistently been one of the elite drivers in the series. His first campaign with MHR has yielded a career-high number of wins, top-five’s, laps led, and pole positions. His three victories were the first NCTS wins for MHR and he enters Phoenix fifth in the championship standings.
Playoff Run … Despite coming up four points shy of the championship finale, Eckes constructed a thrilling playoff run highlighted by his overtime victory at Kansas Speedway in September. He began the playoffs with four-consecutive finishes in the top three and led 168 laps in the first five playoff events. Eckes has led laps in five of the last six races and has been on fire in the last nine races with an average finish of 7.33. He’ll look to underscore the best season of his career with another poignant moment in his fifth Phoenix start. In four previous starts at Phoenix, Eckes has recorded one top-five and three top-10 results, which includes his best finish of fourth in the 2020 finale.
Season to Date … Through 22 of the 23 races, Eckes has set career highs with nine top-five finishes, 315 laps led, and is guaranteed to improve his career-best finish in the season long standings. His previous best point standings finish was eighth (2020, 2022), and enters Phoenix fifth in points and will finish at least sixth in the championship chase. He has earned three race wins, six stage wins, nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes this season with an average finish of 11.6.
Tune In … FOX Sports 1’s coverage of the finale in Phoenix begins with qualifying at 6:00 p.m. ET Friday evening followed by NASCAR Raceday (FS2) on at 9:00 p.m. ET and the green flag at 10:00 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 entering the season finale at Phoenix:
“This race team and everyone at MHR deserved to be fighting for a championship this week, but we’re looking forward to another opportunity to race for another win. We’ve had a really strong year with three wins and making the run that we did in the playoffs. Our NAPA Auto Care team was really consistent with the speed we’ve shown all season and all playoffs. It’d be great to end the season on a strong note and get back to victory lane one more time heading into the offseason.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
