Christian Eckes wins pole position for Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol
Christian Eckes was on a rocket ship of a Chevy Silverado. He earns the seventh pole position in his NASCAR Truck Series career. Eckes won the pole in the fall last season at Bristol, he hopes tonight ends with him in front.
When you can out-qualify Kyle Busch at Bristol, then you know you’re doing something right. There were a few of these young Craftsman Truck Series drivers who were able to best Rowdy in their two-lap efforts. Busch will start P4.
Last season, Christian Eckes looked like championship material, but just couldn’t make that transition to the Championship 4. He’s started 2024 right where he left off and will lead the field to green tonight at 8:00 PM EST on FS1.
Christian Eckes is a driver capable of winning a championship. His McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team were all fast. Daniel Dye, Tyler Ankrum, and Zane Smith were all very solid in their own qualifying efforts.
The top-10 in qualifying were: Eckes, Nick Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Kyle Busch, Ty Majeski, Rajah Caruth, Zane Smith, Kaden Honeycutt, Tyler Ankrum, and Daniel Dye.
Last season at the fall race, Eckes started P1 and finished P2. Now, he has his eyes set on redemption and his first win of the season.
Christian Eckes hoping to win from the pole
In his career, Christian Eckes has competed in 80 Truck Series races. In those races, he has 48 top-10s and five wins. He has been great since moving up from the ARCA Menards Series, where he won the 2019 championship, to the Truck Series.
At least, in recent years he has been great. It took some growing and changing, but Eckes had his breakthrough season last year. With MHR in 2023, Eckes won four races, including the season finale at Phoenix.
Three times, Eckes has raced at Bristol, on the concrete in the Truck Series. In those three starts, his worst finish is P12 back in 2020. In the last two seasons, he has finished P8 and P2 on the concrete track.
Christian Eckes is a driver to keep an eye on. The 23-year-old took a few years until he got to his winning ways. Now that he’s broken through, won a handful of races, he’s ready to chase after a championship.