Christian Eckes wins maiden Truck race in ThorSport 1–2–3–4

The first round of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs was dominated by Sheldon Creed, John Hunter Nemechek, and Chandler Smith. The second round, on the other hand, have forced them into an uphill battle after just one race as wrecks in Friday’s Victoria’s Voice 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway took out many playoff hopefuls. Christian Eckes and his ThorSport Racing team-mates were on the lucky side as they finished 1–2–3–4, with Eckes scoring his maiden Truck win.

Kyle Busch Motorsports team-mates Nemechek and Smith, who respectively finished third and first in the last race at Bristol, started on the front row. While Nemechek led every lap to win Stage #1, Todd Gilliland leapfrogged Smith for second. Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Zane Smith, Eckes, Creed, Austin Hill, and Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top ten. The lone incident of the opening stage came just five laps in when Chris Hacker spun and hit the wall; he subsequently tweeted, “Learned the definition of ‘dirty air’ tonight… sad to experience it but not much I could’ve done.”

Nemechek’s night began to sputter when engine problems caused him to fall off the pace. He eventually stopped on the track on lap 54 for the only race-related caution (the other was for debris on lap 41). Meanwhile, Gilliland dominated the stage to win ahead of Rhodes, Carson Hocevar, Friesen, Creed, Tanner Gray, Hill, Matt Crafton, Eckes, and Smith.

It was only five laps into Stage #3 before Creed and Smith found themselves as the next playoff victims: Ankrum spun and collected Smith; as Smith’s truck rolled onto the apron billowing smoke, Creed tried to speed through but could not avoid Smith and slammed into him, setting Creed’s truck ablaze. Hailie Deegan also spun into Ankrum, resulting in damage for the two.

“Tyler got loose up at the top. He got completely sideways,” said Smith. “Some tracks like this I’ve got experience with, they come back down the race track and take a good portion of the field with them. My spotter told me to go low. I should have listened to him. It’s completely my fault. I went high, I went with my gut, and bit the bullet for it. It is what it is.”

At the front, Hocevar led until the wreck, from which Hill became the leader on the restart. Nemechek’s truck stopped yet again for another caution and Gilliland went back into the top spot for the ensuing green-flag run. Jack Wood and Drew Dollar tangled on lap 115 for a yellow.
Despite a solid performance to begin Stage #3 as he led eight laps, Hocevar’s night took a literal turn when he spun while heading to pit road, which NASCAR deemed was intentional and held him for a lap. The penalty, while generally regarded as reasonable, also raised eyebrows as many felt Nemechek should have gotten the same for his two cautions, both of which saw his truck stop before re-firing.

Hocevar’s Niece Motorsports team voiced its displeasure on social media in since-deleted tweets. Such messages included calling the penalty the “most laughable thing I’ve ever read” and saying the spin was “as intentional as the four (Nemechek) stopping on the track today and pulling over for his teammate to win last week.” The latter was in reference to Nemechek battling with Smith for the lead late at Bristol before seemingly slowing and relinquishing the position to allow Smith to win and lock himself into the next round.

Eckes took the lead with four laps remaining. As ThorSport team-mates Rhodes, Crafton, and Johnny Sauter organised behind him, a last-lap wreck between Tyler Hill and Kris Wright ended the race under caution. The victory marked the second straight week with a first-time winner, while ThorSport enjoyed its first 1–2–3–4 finish, which had never been achieved at the Truck level before. Such a run was accomplished in the Cup Series at Dover in June with Hendrick Motorsports.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	15	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	134	Running
2	7	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	134	Running
3	6	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	134	Running
4	11	13	Johnny Sauter	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	134	Running
5	8	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	134	Running
6	3	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	134	Running
7	23	9	Grant Enfinger	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
8	13	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	134	Running
9	14	40	Ryan Truex	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
10	10	16	Austin Hill	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	134	Running
11	35	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	134	Running
12	12	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Toyota	134	Running
13	19	23	Chase Purdy	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	134	Running
14	33	12	Tate Fogleman	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
15	34	11	Spencer Davis	Spencer Davis Motorsports	Toyota	134	Running
16	26	02	Kris Wright	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
17	24	56	Tyler Hill	Hill Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Running
18	28	30	Danny Bohn	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	133	Running
19	31	20	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Running
20	30	33	C.J. McLaughlin*	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	133	Running
21	36	34	Dylan Lupton	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	133	Running
22	5	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	132	Running
23	29	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	132	Running
24	18	51	Drew Dollar	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	132	Running
25	22	25	Brett Moffitt*	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	131	Running
26	25	3	Howie DiSavino III	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	130	Running
27	32	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Ford	129	Running
28	21	04	Cory Roper	Roper Racing	Ford	121	Running
29	4	21	Zane Smith	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	115	Running
30	20	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	114	Accident
31	17	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	101	Accident
32	37	49	Keith McGee	CMI Motorsports	Ford	91	Too Slow
33	1	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	85	Running
34	16	26	Tyler Ankrum	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	70	Accident
35	2	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	70	Accident
36	9	2	Sheldon Creed	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	70	Accident
37	27	45	Chris Hacker	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	6	DVP

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Truck points