Tag: Christian Eckes

Austin Hill Gambles with Four Tires to Win at Vegas As Playoff Drivers Struggle

Las Vegas, NV — In the closing laps, Austin Hill fights his way through the field and passed Ross Chastain to win the World of Westgate 200 in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“That was a big statement win,” Hill declared in Victory Lane. “It means the world to me. This was the hardest one. We were going to stay out last caution, and everyone else pitted, so we needed to pit or we were screwed. So we came down pit road and restarted at the tail end of the longest line. Man, it stayed green, I had to drive all the way through the field and this truck was unbelievable.

“We’re two for two with this truck, so we’re going for three.”

Hill won the first race of the season at Daytona International Speedway, as well as the last race of the regular season at Michigan International Speedway, but he knew that wins, strong runs and no mistakes were evermore important during the Playoffs. He felt Friday night’s win was that strong run they needed to be a serious title contender.

“Coming into tonight, our number one goal was getting stage points and we did that, we got stage points in stage one and stage two. Got through that and after the second stage and we knew that some of the Playoff drivers had some issues, my only concern was going for the win,” Hill said later. “That’s all I really cared about. I didn’t think we were going to be able to catch them under green, but we did. It’s even more of a statement win because we had a little bit of an issue during practice and lost our truck chief. I know he was up watching us in the stands, but this is so special.”

It was a solid day for Chastain, but with old tires, he came up just a dozen laps short. After leading the most laps (88), the Niece Motorsports driver still finished second.

“Just (no) front tires,” Chastain shared on pit road after the finish. “They thought they got enough fuel in it on the final stop. Just all tires unfortunately.”

But the race was anything less than eventful. Three-wide action, including competitors making a five-wide pass on the front stretch early in the race, proved how each driver understood the value of every position. Unfortunately for some, mechanical issues began to unfold early throughout the race. Grant Enfinger won the regular season, but only raced for six laps, as he lost his engine and Playoff hopes. He became the first of many drivers with engine issues.

ThorSport teammates Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter both lost their engines on Lap 38, and it started to concern the eventual race winner. He shared his concerns both at that time, and later in the race where the engine seemed to lack power at various moments on restarts and while racing competitors.

“Yeah, we had to keep pulling tape each time,” Chastian continued when asked about his concern with competitors losing engines. “The first run, I had to let Austin (Hill) get in front of me to get some trash off the grill, and then the bugs were just terrible. Just a freak deal.”

Pole sitter Christian Eckes, Sheldon Creed and Todd Gilliland completed the top five. Brennan Poole, Brett Moffitt, Ben Rhodes, Harrison Burton and Dylan Lupton rounded out the top 10 positions.

Green flag flew for Christian Eckes, who won his second career pole in just his tenth career start in the Truck series. Ross Chastain quickly took over the lead and led the majority of the laps in the first stage, and went on to win Stage 1. Moffitt started the race in the rear of the field, but climbed his way up to ninth by the end of the stage.

The biggest news happened on Lap 6 when Grant Enfinger, who was the regular season champion, lost his motor on the front stretch. The team diagnosed the issue, attempted to repair the truck, but were unable to get back out on track. After starting the race just two points above the cutoff line, he would not collect enough points to make it into the next round of the Playoffs.

More Playoff drama unfolded during Stage 2. On the front stretch on Lap 38, teammates Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton both lost their engines at the same time. Crafton later shared that his truck appeared to lose power after running over debris that came from Sauter’s truck. That incident locked Enfinger out of the next round, and Sauter was left to the mercies of where Friesen and Ankrum finished.

More drivers began reporting engine issues, including Friesen. Natalie Decker began to come in and out of the garage, and a few other drivers retired from the race from mechanical issues. In the end, Chastain claimed the Stage 2 victory and set the pace throughout the first half of the race.

The field took the green flag to start the final stage on Lap 68, but quickly went back under yellow as Johnny Sauter eventually lost the entire motor. The troubled Playoff driver was looking to make up a couple more spots for the points required to make it into the next round, competing against Ankrum and Friesen for the final transfer position.

On Lap 82, Tyler Dippel lost his engine to bring out the caution. Teams had various strategies when they came to pit road. Chastain elected for fuel only, while Hill took four fresh tires. A mishap on pit road required him to come back down under yellow, forcing his team to restart toward the back of the lead lap trucks in the 16th position. The race was restarted on Lap 87, but many other trucks declared engine issues. Jennifer Jo Cobb and Natalie Decker went behind the wall with various engine issues

Hill fought his way through the field to catch Chastain in the closing laps, passing him on Lap 123. He led the final 12 laps to claim his third win of the season, winning by 2.116 seconds. Enfinger and Sauter were officially eliminated from the Playoffs when Ankrum and Friesen finished 11th and 19th respectively.

“We got lucky,” Ankrum stated after the race explaining his truck cutting in and out in the middle of the final stage. “On that last restart, the motor just fell on its face and I thought I just messed up on the restart, and that’s why I fell back so fast. About five laps later, it sounded like an old ‘69 Malibu. My heart sank, I thought we were blowing up. I was going to be mad, that was the first thing that was going to happen. But it cut back on, so I think it was just electrical.

It doesn’t matter how you get there (to the Round of 6), it’s just that you get there.”

The Round of 6 Playoff drivers have been set with Moffitt, Chastain, Hill, Friesen, Crafton and Ankrum. The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will compete next on October 12 in the Sugarlands Shine 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Truck	Laps	Status	Led	Pts	PPts
1	7	16	Austin Hill	Gunma Toyopet (Shigeaki Hattori)	Toyota	134	running	29	57	5
2	2	45	Ross Chastain	CarShield (Al Niece)	Chevrolet	134	running	88	55	2
3	1	51	Christian Eckes	SiriusXM (Kyle Busch)	Toyota	134	running	4	39	0
4	6	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet Accessories (Maury Gallagher)	Chevrolet	134	running	0	42	0
5	3	4	Todd Gilliland	JBL Fest (Kyle Busch)	Toyota	134	running	0	41	0
6	18	30	Brennan Poole	On Point Motorsports (Steven Lane)	Toyota	134	running	0	41	0
7	4	24	Brett Moffitt	CMR Construction & Roofing (Maury Gallagher)	Chevrolet	134	running	12	40	0
8	13	99	Ben Rhodes	Havoline (Duke Thorson)	Ford	134	running	0	36	0
9	9	18	Harrison Burton	Safelite Auto Glass (Kyle Busch)	Toyota	134	running	0	31	0
10	17	5	Dylan Lupton	DGR-Crosley (David Gilliland)	Toyota	134	running	0	27	0
11	16	17	Tyler Ankrum	B/X Custom Designs (David Gilliland)	Toyota	134	running	0	29	0
12	15	15	Anthony Alfredo	Sim Seats (David Gilliland)	Toyota	134	running	0	25	0
13	12	87	Tony Mrakovich	Street Stores Hardware (Joe Nemechek)	Chevrolet	134	running	0	24	0
14	14	3	Jordan Anderson	Bommarito.com / WCIParts.com (Jordan Anderson)	Chevrolet	134	running	0	23	0
15	23	12	Gus Dean	LG Air Conditioning Technologies (Randy Young)	Chevrolet	133	running	0	23	0
16	27	9	Codie Rohrbaugh	Grant County Mulch (Codie Rohrbaugh)	Chevrolet	133	running	0	21	0
17	26	22	Austin Wayne Self	Go Texan (Tim Self)	Chevrolet	133	running	0	20	0
18	20	11	Spencer Davis	All Pro (Mark Rette)	Ford	133	running	0	19	0
19	19	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar International (Chris Larsen)	Chevrolet	132	running	0	18	0
20	29	20	Spencer Boyd	ClickandBuyGuns.com (Randy Young)	Chevrolet	132	running	1	17	0
21	25	38	Colin Garrett	Wide Open Entrepreneurs (Al Niece)	Chevrolet	131	running	0	0	0
22	30	44	Angela Ruch	The Ruch Life (Al Niece)	Chevrolet	131	running	0	15	0
23	32	34	Justin Johnson	RedList (Josh Reaume)	Chevrolet	127	running	0	14	0
24	31	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Waldo’s Painting (Jennifer Jo Cobb)	Chevrolet	90	running	0	13	0
25	21	54	Natalie Decker	Ruedebusch Development (David Gilliland)	Toyota	87	electrical	0	12	0
26	22	02	Tyler Dippel	Lobas Productions (Randy Young)	Chevrolet	80	engine	0	11	0
27	24	19	Derek Kraus	Eneos / NAPA Filters (Bill McAnally)	Toyota	77	transmission	0	10	0
28	28	33	Mason Massey	Anderson Power Services (Josh Reaume)	Chevrolet	63	engine	0	9	0
29	10	13	Johnny Sauter	Tenda Heal (Duke Thorson)	Ford	45	engine	0	15	0
30	5	88	Matt Crafton	Fisher Nuts / Menards (Duke Thorson)	Ford	39	engine	0	16	0
31	8	98	Grant Enfinger	ThorSport Racing / Curb Records (Mike Curb)	Ford	6	engine	0	6	0
32	11	8	John Hunter Nemechek	Berry’s Bullets (Joe Nemechek)	Chevrolet	0	fuel pressure	0	0	0

September 14, 2019

Venturini Motorsports unveil throwback cars for Salem race

With one throwback weekend down, there’s one more to go. The ARCA Menards Series will have their own throwback race in a few weeks at Salem Speedway.

Salem Speedway has been home to some interesting throwbacks in the ARCA Menards Series over the past couple of years and this year’s race will be no exception.

Already revealing their paint schemes for the 2019 race is the dominant powerhouse Venturini Motorsports team. So far, two of its drivers, Christian Eckes and rookie Chandler Smith, will be paying homage to the team’s heritage at the short-track in Salem, Indiana.

Christian Eckes who currently sits second in points, will have a throwback to Bill Venturini’s (President of Venturini Motorsports) championship-winning seasons in 1987 and 1991. Eckes is excited to dedicate the No. 15 scheme to Venturini.

“It’s a great honor to run Bill’s championship colors, especially at Salem,” says current championship contender Christian Eckes. “I’ve known Bill and his family since I broke into the series back in 2016. He’s done so much for me personally and so many others over the years. It’s just a really cool deal. Hopefully, we’re able to put this JBL Audio Camry in victory lane for him.”

As for Smith, he will have a throwback to Venturini’s racing days in the USAC Series where Bill raced in 1978. Like Eckes, Smith is ready to run the No. 20 throwback scheme and get it to victory lane.

“It was so cool to see all the old school paint schemes at Darlington,” said Smith. “But nothing will compare to driving this throwback car under the lights at Salem. Salem has a rich history. The ARCA Series has been racing there almost forever and Bill and the Venturini family has been running there since the ’80s. I can’t think of another track or paint scheme I’d rather run.”

Both drivers have a great shot at getting one of the throwbacks to victory lane at Salem Speedway. In four starts dating back to 2017, Eckes has one win that occurred in spring of 2018. Other stats for Eckes includes one top-five, three top-10 finishes, 163 laps led and one DNF.

Smith and the No. 20 team have one win (Fall of 2018), two top-fives and three top-10 finishes with 319 laps led and one pole in his first race at Salem in the spring of 2018.

The ARCA Menards Series takes on Salem Speedway on Saturday night Sept. 14 live on MAVTV.

September 3, 2019
Eckes and Moffitt content with top-five finish at Pocono

After winning the ARCA race Friday afternoon at Pocono, Christian Eckes had to jump straight into the famed No.51 Kyle Busch Motorsports to compete in the Truck Series.

With the ARCA Menards Series win, the nearby Middletown, New York native was hoping to take the sweep at “The Tricky Triangle.”

Eckes started 13th at Pocono Raceway and eventually made his way up to the front. In Stage 1, he finished seventh while finishing outside the top-10 in Stage 2 after making a pit stop late in the stage to gain some track position in hopes of winning the race.

After pitting, Eckes restarted fourth for the final stage after staying out under the stage break.

It was clean and green for the rest of the way, and with fuel being somewhat of a concern for the race leaders, Eckes came home fourth.

“You know, it was a pretty good weekend overall,” Eckes said to MRN in his post-race interview. “I wish we could have swept the weekend a little bit, but you know, as a whole, the race was pretty exciting. It was a great weekend and it’s something we can build on for the next two races at KBM.”

Although Eckes was happy with his top-five finish, GMS Racing driver, Brett Moffitt was frustrated after finishing fifth.

Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Moffitt was hoping to put the Kentucky race behind him after running out of gas on the last lap in hopes of taking the checkered flag at Pocono.

The GMS Racing driver qualified his No. 24 Chevy in the fourth spot and placed fifth in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2.

He would restart seventh for the final stage but never could catch the lucky break or caution he needed in order to have a shot at the win. In the end, he finished fifth, earning his eighth top-five of the season.

“Very uneventful day here at Pocono,” Moffitt said to MRN Radio. “It’s frustrating, it’s so spread out, the PJ1 didn’t really come into play at all which was unfortunate. I applaud NASCAR on trying something, but we need to do something to make the racing better here. It’s just all about track position, getting out front and staying out front.”

“All in all, we had a pretty good No. 24 Chevy Accessories GMS Silverado. Jerry (Baxter, Crew Chief) and everyone did a great job working on what we had. It felt like we were fighting on some type of engine issue or driveline issue, where I couldn’t make runs on guys like they could get on me. It just plagued us all race on, I wasn’t able to be aggressive.”

July 27, 2019
Christian Eckes wins ARCA race at Pocono, earns essential points victory
After more than an hour delay and threatening skies around Pocono Raceway, the ARCA Menards Series drivers were able to get back on track for the FORTS USA 150 with nearby Middletown, New York native Christian Eckes grabbing the checkered flag.

It was Eckes second career ARCA Menards Series win of the season, his first since Nashville in May and the fourth career victory of his young racing career.

After starting on the outside pole and with a little bit of luck, Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes took the win at Pocono by 13 seconds over Todd Gilliland.

“Once they told me what happened to the 18 (Gilliland) it was all about keeping our heads down and not making any mistakes,” Eckes said. “We knew there was a long way to go and we needed to be perfect to close it out.”

Gilliland qualified on the pole earlier in the afternoon before the weather started to threaten Pocono Raceway as the race start time got closer. Lightning was detected within the eight-mile radius when the race was supposed to start, adding another 30 minutes to the delay.

Finally, after a little over an hour, the ARCA Menards Series drivers were able to take the green flag after 5 p.m. ET and it was all Todd Gilliland, well, almost all Todd Gilliland.

It was an eventful start as Michael Self and Chandler Smith made slight contact with each other. Gilliland put on a dominating performance leading the first 30 laps before making his scheduled pit stop.

Unfortunately, the No. 18 driver got caught with a penalty for going above the blend line before coming back on track safely. Smith was also penalized for speeding on pit road. While that happened, Christian Eckes, who pitted before Gilliland, was able to take the lead on Lap 34 as pit stops cycled out. Willie Mullins, driving his family-owned No. 3 machine, received a penalty as well for the same issue Gilliland faced, and he had to make a drive-through.

Gilliland got set back to the second position, but was well over 15 seconds behind Eckes. The Sherrils Ford, North Carolina native would need a lot of help from the leader, Eckes, or a lucky caution to give him one more shot at the win.

However, Gilliland was unlucky to catch the break he needed and Eckes went on to score the hometown win for the second time this season.

“We need to be perfect from here on out,” Eckes said. “Without missing the race at Salem, we’d be 150 points ahead. Without the last lap at Elko, we’d be within 50 points or so. We were perfect here today and we need to be perfect every week from here on out. I’ve won at three of the five tracks and my crew chief Kevin Reed has won at all five of them so I am confident we can make a run at it.”

Gilliland was able to rebound for a second-place finish after the blend line violation during his round of pit stops.

“The blend line rule is different in Trucks and ARCA,” he said. “In the truck, we can go above the line with the right side tires as long as we keep the left side tires below it. In ARCA they want you to keep all four tires below it until you’re between Turns 1 and 2. It wouldn’t have been a problem for me at all to keep them below the line. I should have known it but I didn’t.”

Championship points leader Michael Self came home in the third spot after giving up a top-five position earlier in the race for a right rear tire that was going down.

“We had a right rear tire go down and we had to pit early,” Self said. “Once the field cycled through and we didn’t get a caution it evened out for us. We weren’t close to second place and we were way ahead of fourth so we were just trying to make sure we didn’t do anything to give it away at the end.”

There were no cautions during the FORTS USA 150 at Pocono, which saw four lead changes among five drivers. Just four cars finished on the lead lap.
1. Christian Eckes
2. Todd Gilliland
3. Michael Self
4. Corey Heim
5. Raphael Lessard, One Lap Down
6. Austin Wayne Self, One Lap Down
7. Bret Holmes, One Lap Down
8. Chandler Smith, One Lap Down
9. Travis Braden, One Lap Down
10. Joe Graf Jr, Two Laps Down
11. Thad Moffitt, Three Laps Down
12. Bobby Gerhart, Four Laps Down
13. Ed Pompa, Five Laps Down
14. Willie Mullins, Seven Laps Down
15. Tim Richmond, 10 laps Down
16. Brad Smith, Did Not Finish, Handling
17. Tommy Vigh Jr., Did Not Finish, Electrical
18. Dick Doheny, Did Not Finish, Vibration
19. Mike Basham, Did Not Finish, Brakes
20. Don Thompson, Did Not Start
July 26, 2019
Stewart Friesen and Christian Eckes tangle late at Gateway

Christian Eckes had a great race truck all night long, started on the pole, finished fifth and fourth in both stages and led 57 laps. But he was accidentally taken out by Stewart Friesen on the last lap of the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series while Eckes was running third.

When the melee finally ended at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway settled, Eckes did not hit anything but wound up with a disappointing 14th place finish after having such a strong truck.

“I’m really not sure what happened exactly, but probably just got turned again for the second year in a row by Stewart (Friesen),” Eckes described to MRN Radio in his post race interview. “It’s unfortunate. Had a really fast Sirius XM Tundra tonight. I made a mistake, kind of lost to second there, but we had a really fast truck and that’s all you could really ask for.”

Friesen apologized for the late race incident with Eckes.

“We had a good (Chevy) Silverado,” Friesen said in his post-race interview. “Got to apologize to that 51 or whoever is in that thing, I guess it’s Eckes. Drove down in there, tried to cross up. Hard racing, I feel bad for turning him around, I wasn’t trying to do that. Good hard racing, I know he’s from Middletown, New York. If he ever wants to come run a Modified, we’ll gladly bring one for him to repay the favor there. He’s a good hard racer.”

Friesen finished third in the overall results, while finishing second in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. He sits second in the points standings, 54 points behind current championship leader Grant Enfinger.

June 23, 2019
ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

The 2019 ARCA Menards Series season heads to Michigan International Speedway this week for race number nine, almost reaching the halfway point of the season.

And what a season we have seen so far in the ARCA Menards Series. When the season opened up at Daytona, we saw upcoming superstar Harrison Burton take the checkered flag with the powerhouse team of Venturini Motorsports. The Venturini’s continued their dominance by winning back-to-back with Michael Self at Five Flags in Pensacola and Salem.

From there, it looked liked Self and the No. 25 Venturini team would run away with the championship. However, troubles were ahead after having early season success. They still had a decent run at Talladega finishing fifth, but frustrations started to grow at Nashville, Toledo and Charlotte.

At Nashville, the No. 25 of Self was caught up in an accident which took him out of contention and he wound up 15th in that race. Toledo had a better showing for the team, as they finished fourth after starting on the pole and leading 12 laps. Although, Self and company still felt like it was a race they had given away. His teammate, Chandler Smith would go on to win the Toledo race. Then Charlotte came and it looked like the 25 team was back on track to dig themselves out of a hole.

Self started on the pole once more and led a whopping 91 laps of the scheduled 100. But issues arose late in the going when oil and smoke came out of the back of the car. It would eventually go away on restarts, but then on lap 87 of 100, Self spun out when leading the race. The team never could rebound which led to a frustrating fifth place finish in a race they should have won.

Last week at Pocono, Self finished 11th but is starting to grow tired of not winning, even though they feel like they have a car capable of winning every race.

And now ARCA heads to Michigan International Speedway, not too far from the racing capital of the world. Manufacturers like Chevrolet and Ford, among others, are located there and it gives drivers like Self extra motivation to go out and win.

For Self and the No. 25 Venturini team, they only have one start together which came in last year’s race. The Park City, Utah native has one top-five finish in his only outing finishing third after starting third and leading 23 laps. Despite finishing third there last year, Self and the No. 25 team are hoping to finish the race this weekend after having some frustrating finishes of as late.

“After the last few weeks, I think I’m just really hoping for a completely smooth day at Michigan from the first lap of practice to the checkered flag at the end of the race.” Self said. “We’ve been off-kilter a bit, between mistakes by me and mechanical issues, I just want to focus on getting that cleared up. Once we do, we’ll be rock solid. The Venturini Motorsports guys bring the fastest cars to the racetrack every weekend, but we’ve beat ourselves the last two races on track where I feel like we should’ve excelled. I really like Michigan and think it’s a ton of fun to race there, and hope this is the place we can piece everything back together and have a shot at another win.”

Despite Self’s issues, another driver is starting to heat up their on-track performance and that’s Chad Bryant Racing driver Ty Majeski. He won his second consecutive race last week at Pocono after a late race charge to the lead passing Riley Herbst for the win.

At Michigan, Majeski has just one start that came two years ago finishing sixth. Majeski drove the Cunningham Motorsports car that is now owned by Chad Bryant.

Even with only one start at the track, Majeski and the No. 22 team are looking to continue their winning ways this week at Michigan after having much success as of late in a part-time schedule.

“It’s been a great few weeks,” said Majeski. “I can’t thank Chad (Bryant), Paul (Andrews) and the rest of the No. 22 Crestliner guys for their hard work and belief in me. We worked hard at Charlotte and Pocono to come away with the win and we’re going to take the same approach that we did the last two races and apply it to Michigan and hope for the same result.”

With only one ARCA start at Michigan, the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing driver hopes to build upon that sixth place finish two years ago.

“Michigan International Speedway is a beast, but it’s a blast of a place to race,” added Majeski. “It’s a very wide race track with a lot of room to race with incredibly fast speeds. I’m hoping I can apply some of what I learned a couple of years ago to our No. 22 Crestliner Ford Fusion during practice and qualifying on Friday.”

While Majeski and Self both have one start to their track record, the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes will be making his first ARCA start or stock car start of any kind this weekend at Michigan.

With no experience, Eckes is excited to get to the 2-mile racetrack that is Michigan International Speedway.

“I’ve done a lot to prepare for Michigan this week,” said Eckes. “I’m excited to make my first laps on track. I’ve spent time on the sim at TRD and just basic stuff like film and notes. I feel extremely prepared to go have another great run this weekend.”

Another possible future superstar will have added track time experience this weekend. Joe Graf Jr. will be running the ARCA race and also making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut for Richard Childress Racing at Michigan.

Graf Jr. has one start at Michigan that came last year, where he finished fifth after starting deep in the field. Even though he has only had one start at Michigan, he is ready for the additional track time and believes it will be his best finish yet.

“I’m very excited about Michigan this weekend,” said Graf Jr. “It’s been an incredibly busy week with preparation, testing and then getting to Michigan. I’m incredibly focused and look forward to the chance to have my strongest results of the year.”

Myatt Snider, a former NASCAR Truck Series regular and now a part-time driver for ThorSport Racing makes his return to the ARCA Menards Series this weekend. He had one win, three top fives and six top-10 finishes in just 10 races in his short ARCA career before making the move to trucks.

After completing a limited schedule, Snider made the jump to the Truck Series to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports in his rookie season and then to the dominant ThorSport Racing team in 2018. Snider’s best finish in the Truck Series was second at Talladega last fall.

At Michigan, he has one start in the Truck Series finishing 18th after starting eighth. In the ARCA Series, Snider started on the pole in his only race three years ago but finished a disappointing 23rd after crashing on Lap 38.

This time around, the 24-year old returns in a Venturini Motorsports No. 20 prepared Toyota.

“Glad we could put this deal (together) late in the game so I could make a return to the 2-mile superspeedway,” said Snider. “Michigan is one of the toughest tracks on the ARCA circuit. But that’s what makes it so fun. Really excited for the weekend.”

The ARCA Menards Series will see an 18 car field in Friday’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Other drivers include Dick Doheny, Morgen Baird, Tanner Gray, C.J. McLaughlin, Tommy Vigh Jr, Riley Herbst, Bret Holmes, Travis Braden, Brandon McReynolds, Thad Moffitt, Brad Smith, Scott Melton and Tim Richmond, who will all look to tame the 2-mile superspeedway located outside Brooklyn, Michigan.

Since 1980, Michigan International Speedway has seen 38 ARCA races and the winners are a list of whos-who.

The list of winners include Joe Rutmann, Tracy Leslie, Dave Mader III, Stanley Smith, Bob Keselowski, Jeff Purvis (who won three in a row), Ron Barfield Jr, Tim Steele, Mark Thompson, Frank Kimmel, David Keith, Kerry Earnhardt, Blaise Alexander, Chad Blount, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, David Stremme, Brent Sherman, Erik Darnell, Justin Lofton, Parker Kligerman, Mikey Kile, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brennan Poole, Austin Theriault, Ross Kenseth, Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed.

The ARCA Menards Series will see another different winner this weekend.

Qualifying is very important at Michigan where the winner has come from the pole position six times, occurring in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and the last in 2017. The lowest a race winner has come from to win was 28th in 1997 set by Tim Steele. Since then, the lowest a driver has ever started to win was ninth (twice, which occurred in 2001 by Kerry Earnhardt and 2012 by now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Chris Buescher).

The race winner has also come from the second starting spot, 10 times which occurred in 1994, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018.

The ARCA Menards Series teams will get on track early Friday morning with the only practice session taking place at 8:30 a.m. ET lasting until 10 a.m. ET, live on ArcaRacing.com.

Qualifying takes at noon ET and will also be live on Arcaracing.com.

The VizCom 200 green flag is scheduled to fly at 6:15 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1. There will be 100 laps to make up the 200 miles.

June 6, 2019
Christian Eckes Rebounds From Early Wreck In Series Debut at Iowa

Up and coming NASCAR star, Christian Eckes made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Saturday night driving the No. 46 Kyle Busch Motorsports Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra at Iowa Speedway.

On Lap 32, the second caution of the night was brought out due to an incident on the backstretch involving Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, and Christian Eckes. The Mobil 1 driver had slight damage from the wreckage, but that didn’t stop the talented breakout star from making his way forward.

In the last thirty laps in Stage 1, he managed to fight his way to the 10th position after the early incident. Some pit strategy was played by the 46 team and others. Eckes was on older tires than the rest of the field but salvaged a 14th place finishing position in the second stage.

With some track position and strategy that continued to play out, he fought his way up as high as fifth in the final stage. At the end of the night, he brought home the KBM machine in the eighth position for his first ever top-10 finish in the series. Not bad for the 17-year-old rookie who made his national series debut.

“It started out a little rough,” Eckes said. “Not sure what happened on the backstretch there but we got in a wreck and had to fight back all day. Everybody on this 46 Mobil 1 team did a great job today getting me where I needed to be. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the finish that I really wanted at the end, but a top-10 finish in my debut is definitely a positive.”

June 17, 2018