• Thursday, November 7th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Christian Eckes likes his chances in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck title race

Christian Eckes makes his debut in the Championship 4 as an absolute favorite to hoist his first series trophy.

Not only is he coming off a dramatic win in last weekend’s Martinsville (Va.) Speedway race, but he is also the only one among the four title contenders to have a past win at the Phoenix Raceway mile—claiming the trophy last year although he wasn’t part of the Championship 4.

The 23-year-old New York native likes his chances but says he’s kept his week purposely ‘business as usual’ entering Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“We have momentum, but it’s Phoenix, anything can happen,” said the driver of the No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado, who has an amazing 21 top-10 finishes in the 22 races this year, including four wins.

“All you have to do is be good at one race and that’s this weekend. You can be good all year or you can be bad all year, come win this race and you’re a champion. I don’t necessarily look at momentum, but I’d say it was on our side if there was some.”

Further, Eckes says he’s not overly concerned with payback in Friday night’s race following the thrilling finish at Martinsville—a race he dominated but had to come back and make aggressive passes in the closing laps to win. That involved contact with two-time series champion Ben Rhodes and Taylor Gray, who was racing for a Championship 4 position.

“I talked to Ben because I felt like, he hit me first for sure, I hit him and then I hit him again so I was disappointed with the second contact, although it wasn’t intentional,” Eckes said. “I reached out to him because I felt it was warranted. I did not reach out to Taylor, because I didn’t think he wanted to hear what I had to say.

“Same deal though, he hit me before that caution came out, and I hit him back—maybe a little harder than I probably should have—but at the end of the day, I’m happy we won the race and just moving on to Phoenix.”

With new deal for 2025, Corey Heim is focused on NASCAR Truck Championship Race

For Corey Heim, last year’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship Race fell apart in the final stage—in a big way.

After starting from the pole, finishing second in the first stage and winning the second stage, Heim was collected in an accident on Lap 120 triggered by fellow championship contender Carson Hocevar.

His title hopes gone, Heim retaliated against Hocevar on Lap 147 and took the checkered flag in 18th-place after 29 crash-filled laps of overtime. Ben Rhodes won his second series championship with a fifth-place finish to Grant Enfinger’s sixth.

Heim has learned a lot since then. In 2024, he has six victories to his credit, doubling his total from a year ago, and he comes to the Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway armed with a contract to drive for TRICON Garage full-time for a third straight season.

“I don’t flash back to last year as a redemption by any means, but I’m as motivated as anyone sitting in the room,” Heim said on Thursday during NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship 4 Media Day at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert.

“I certainly learned a lot from last year, just circumstantially and how to handle myself in tough situations, but I feel like every race this year I’ve grown as a driver, and I feel like I’ve done that every race with TRICON ever since I started out with those guys.”

Though the 22-year-old from Marietta, Ga., has won more races this year, he also has been more inconsistent.

“A lot of people talk about how we’ve been more hit-or-miss this year,” Heim said. “Compared to last year, I feel like we were always top five but couldn’t quite close the deal out. This year, it seems like we’re dominating (and) winning, or we’re kind of struggling a little bit.

“I feel like our stuff is as good as anybody’s when we’re on point, and we’ve just got to be on point this weekend.”

As to his future beyond the Championship Race, Heim felt another season with TRICON was his best choice.

“There’s always options on the table,” said Heim, who also has run 13 NASCAR Xfinity Series races for owner Sam Hunt this season. “But I never had a doubt that my development with Toyota Racing has led me to where I am today, and it’ll get me through the future as well—so it wasn’t a hard decision.”

• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship
• Pole Winner: Ty Majeski
• Age: 30
• Team : No 98 - Road Ranger Ford
• Owner: Mike Curb
• Crew Chief: Joe Shear Jr
• Ty Majeski won the Pole Award for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship with a lap of 26053 seconds, 138180 mph
• This is his 11th pole in 89 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his sixth pole and 20th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in four races at Phoenix Raceway
• Corey Heim (second) posted his 15th top-10 start of 2024 and his third in three races at Phoenix Raceway
• Stewart Friesen (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Phoenix Raceway It is his 10th in 23 races this season
• Layne Riggs (11th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 35
• Laps Scheduled: 150
• Margin of Victory: 03.945 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 44 Minutes 19 Seconds
• Average Speed: 86.276
• Cautions: 6 for 43 laps
• Lead Changes: 7
• Green Flag Passes: 979 (9.1 passes per green flag lap)

• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship
• Race Winner: Ty Majeski
• Age: 30
• Team : No 98 - Road Ranger Ford
• Owner: Mike Curb
• Crew Chief: Joe Shear Jr
• Ty Majeski won the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship, his sixth victory in 89 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his third victory and 14th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in four races at Phoenix Raceway
• Corey Heim (second) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Phoenix Raceway It is his 18th top-10 finish in 2024
• Christian Eckes (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in six races at Phoenix Raceway
• Layne Riggs (10th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Ty Majeski has won the 2024 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship
• Layne Riggs has won the 2024 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award
• Chevrolet has won the 2024 NCTS Manufacturers Championship
• Driver Champion: Ty Majeski
• Team: No 98 ThorSport Racing Toyota
• Ty Majeski has won the first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship of his career becoming the 21st different driver to win the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver championship all-time
• Majeski won the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck season finale at Phoenix Raceway to win the title
• Majeski finished the 2024 season with 23 starts, three wins, 10 top fives, 14 top 10s and six poles
• During the Playoffs this season, Majeski has posted three wins, four top fives and six top 10s
• Majeski, from Seymour, Wisconsin, is the fourth NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion from the state of Wisconsin; joining Travis Kvapil (2003 champion, Janesville, WI), Ted Musgrave (2005 champion, Franklin, WI) and Johnny Sauter (2016 champion, Necedah, WI)
• Owner Champions: Duke and Rhonda Thorson, Mike Curb - ThorSport Racing
• This is ThorSport Racing’s sixth all-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver championship (Matt Crafton, 2013, 2014, 2019; Ben Rhodes, 2021, 2023; Ty Majeski, 2024) – the most driver titles by an organization in the series all-time
• This is ThorSport Racing’s third NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner championship (2021, 2023, 2024), which ties them with Hendrick Motorsports (1997, 1999, 2001) and Kevin Harvick Inc (2007, 2009, 2011) for the second-most owner titles in the Truck Series all-time
• ThorSport Racing is one of 16 different organizations to win a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner championship all-time
• ThorSport Racing has posted 48 wins in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series among seven different drivers – Terry Cook, Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Ty Majeski
• ThorSport Racing fielded their first truck in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with driver Terry Cook at the Milwaukee Mile Speedway on July 6, 1996
• Crew Chief Champion: Joe Shear Jr
• This is Joe Shear Jr’s second career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship (Johnny Sauter, 2016; Ty Majeski, 2024)
• Shear Jr is one of 23 different crew chiefs to win a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship, and just the seventh different crew chief to win multiple CRAFTSMAN Truck Series titles; joining Carl Joiner (2013, 2014, 2019), Dennis Connor (1997, 1999, 2001), Mike Hillman Jr (2006, 2010), Rick Ren (2007, 2009), Ryan Fugle (2015, 2017) and Rich Lushes (2021, 2023)
• Shear Jr has 30 career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victories among four different drivers – Johnny Sauter, Cole Custer, Kasey Kahne and Ty Majeski