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With 90 laps to go, the race restarted with Ty Majeski in the lead on a different strategy. Christian Eckes who swept the opening two stages of the race restarted all the way back in the 19th position. It didn’t take him long, however, for him to start marching his way back up towards the front. Following a caution involving Daniel Dye and the No. 45 of Kaden Honeycutt, Eckes found himself already back at the Top-5.
We got a handful of green flag laps under our belt until the seventh caution flag of the night flew following an incident between Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger, and Dean Thompson. Thompson’s No. 5 would get the worst of the tangle as his truck would slam hard into the outside SAFER barrier, ending his night. The remaining 2 trucks were able to continue.
The eighth caution of the night would come when the No. 90 of Justin Carrol and the No. 32 of Bret Holmes got together. Holmes was hit from behind by an eager Kaden Honeycutt which then sent the 32 Chevy around and into the 90. Carrol in the No. 90 would receive a large amount of damage, ending his race. We restarted with less than 40 laps to go.
With 26 laps remaining, Christian Eckes retook the lead but not without a hard-fought battle with Ty Majeski in the No. 98. After several laps running side-by-side, beatin’ and bangin’ (respectfully?) Eckes regained the lead and started to put a gap between himself and Majeski…until, yet again, the caution flew for the 10th time.
With 17 laps to go, the race restarted. Christian Eckes got a massive restart, pulling away from Ty Majeski and Nick Sanchez. One final caution flew with under 10 laps to go which saw Matt Mills’ hood on his No. 42 truck fly up and cover his windshield on not one, not two, but three separate occasions. Eventually, they would see the hood off the truck, to the cheers of the Martinsville crowd.
The race would restart with 3 laps to go and, somehow, we would finish off without incident and without going into overtime. Christian Eckes would not be denied in frosty Martinsville tonight. This win marks Eckes’ second win on the season, making him the first repeat winner of the 2024 NCTS season. This was certainly a max-points night for that No. 19 NAPA team.
The dominator tonight was certainly Christian Eckes. Despite some creative strategy on the part of some of the others in the field, that No. 19 truck could not be denied. He swept both stages and the race win for a maximum points night.
From all of us here at The Daily Downforce, congratulations to Christian Eckes on this statement win!
Daniel Dye was one of the most aggressive drivers of the night, getting into a couple of on-track altercations with veteran Matt Crafton. The sixth caution of the night would come after he got into the No. 45 of Kaden Honeycutt. The 45 would spin around and make light contact with the wall. He was, fortunately, able to continue.
Dean Thompson’s bad luck continued with an incident with 60-laps-to-go. The incident occurred as Ben Rhodes got into the back of Grant Enfinger which got him out of shape and sent him up the track. Enfinger then tagged Dean Thompson who had nowhere left to go but hard into the outside wall. You can relive the incident in the clip below provided by NASCAR on FOX.
The trouble continued for Kaden Honeycutt after he got into the No. 32 of Bret Holmes. Holmes then got into the No. 90 of Justin Carol who would slam hard into the outside SAFER barrier. Following the incident, Honeycutt and his crew chief were both summoned to the NASCAR officials’ hauler after the conclusion of the race. You can watch the incident in the clip below.
The ninth caution of the night went down only a few laps after the restart as 4 trucks piled up. The trucks involved in this incident were Jake Garcia (No. 13), Jack Wood (No. 91), Daniel Dye (No. 43) Lawless Alan (No. 33), and Cam Waters (No. 66). What triggered this multi-truck incident was too many drivers arguing for too little space several rows ahead. Rajah Caruth got out of shape and was able to save his No. 71 but this stacked up the field for several rows. From there, things only got worse and more aggressive. You can relive the incident in the clip below.
The troubles for Lane Riggs continued late into the final stage. He would go around and collect Cam Waters in the No. 66 who would suffer heavy damage in the wreck. Despite it all, Riggs continued to roll and remained on the lead lap despite its battered exterior.
Following an incident with Grant Enfinger, Matt Mills was found with his hood flopped over his windshield. But it’s fine, everything is fine.
As they came to the checkered flag, Stewart Friesen and Timmy Hill would get together, causing Hill’s No. 56 truck to go around. Hill would approach a frustrated Friesen post-race and the two would exchange some heated words.
Look it up Leo dogs on NASCAR’s decision to ride around under caution (presumably during the Matt Mills hood fiasco) for only 4 laps of green flag racing. Fair criticism? Yay, or nay, Daily Downforce readers?
Chris Rice’s Crossfit Routine criticizes Timmy Hill for confronting Friesen after the race. I don’t know, man…based on radio transmissions, Friesen was out for blood!
Charles calls this race just another embarrassment for the truckers. Do you agree? Personally, yeah, it got kind of ugly near the end.
That wraps up the truck action in Martinsville! What did you think of this race, NASCAR fans? Were you pleased with Christain Eckes’ win? Regardless of your thoughts on him, he certainly earned that one! What did you think of the racing product itself? Was it boring? Were the truckers too aggressive? Let us know! And be sure to tune right back here at DailyDownforce.com again tomorrow night as the Xfinity guys take to the paperclip!
