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23-year-old Christian Eckes is in the midst of his best season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He has recorded three wins, an average finish of 5.9 and won the regular season championship. Putting together one of the best seasons in Truck Series history should warrant consideration for a ride in the NASCAR Xfinity Series or NASCAR Cup Series. But it hasn’t been that simple for Eckes. While fellow young drivers like Corey Heim and Sam Mayer get linked to new rides, Eckes’s future options are more sparse. That begs the question: is Christian Eckes underrated?
Eckes has raced against some of the Truck Series’s best talents. Since he started full-time in 2020, he has raced against champions like Sheldon Creed and Ben Rhodes, and he currently shares the front with fellow phenom Corey Heim.
Let’s start with Creed and Rhodes. Creed won the title in 2020 and proved himself to be a hot commodity with his results in the Truck Series. While Creed was winning the championship, it took Eckes some time to find his footing as he went winless in his first season in Trucks. During this time, Rhodes has won two championships in 2021 and 2023, both years where Eckes was running part-time or failed to make the Championship 4. While Eckes was learning the Truck Series, these two stole the headlines with their championship prowess.
While Eckes took a few years to find his groove, Heim found it almost instantly. He won two races during his part-time run in 2022 before bursting onto the scene with three wins and a regular-season title in his first full-time season a year later. Heim is Toyota’s most promising prospect in the lower ranks and has been linked to a third 23XI Racing seat in the Cup Series for most of the year. Only a year younger than Eckes, Heim has quickly taken the Truck Series by storm, garnering headlines away from the driver of the No. 19 truck.
One thing that is in Eckes’ way is the seeming lack of support from a manufacturer. Despite driving one of the top Chevy teams in the Craftsman Truck Series, he doesn’t have direct loyalty from Chevrolet, Ford, or Toyota. Compare this to Heim, who is supported by Toyota Racing Development, or Creed, who was a Chevy driver for multiple years before his switch to Joe Gibbs Racing. Not having ties to a manufacturer makes it difficult for a driver to move up, and in Eckes’ case, this could explain why he has not been in consideration for a move to the Xfinity to Cup Series.
Eckes has been linked to one ride in the Cup Series: the third Front Row Motorsports car. He is one of three names dropped by Bob Pockrass as candidates for the seat. FRM is a Ford team, while Eckes currently drives for Chevrolet. However, Chevy doesn’t seem keen on promoting their young driver anytime soon, causing Eckes to look elsewhere for a ride. What goes in his favor is the lack of star talent in Ford’s pipeline. This could allow him to come in and join a “Tier One” Ford team, getting the support from a manufacturer he needs.
As stated before, Eckes is one of the names linked to the third FRM seat in the Cup Series. If he continues his strong season in Trucks, it would be hard not to consider him for a future Cup Series seat. He hasn’t been linked to any Xfinity Series rides recently, meaning it’s most likely the third FRM car or a return to the Truck Series for the 23-year-old.
It seems like Eckes will stick it out in Trucks if he doesn’t land the seat, which isn’t a bad thing. He has become one of, if not the guy to beat in the Truck Series and has separated himself from the rest of the field. Eckes is still really young, meaning there is plenty of time for him to continue to dominate and get his name out there like the rest of his peers.
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