For Christian Eckes, A Third Chance Means Becoming A Team Leader

Christian Eckes failed. It’s OK. It’s been nearly three years since he received the boot from Kyle Busch Motorsports, and he’s reinvigorated what he once thought was a dying dream.

“There was some stuff that went down at KBM, and it was partially my fault for not doing what I needed to do,” Eckes said of his first Craftsman Truck Series team. “If you go to KBM, you’re supposed to win and it just never worked out that way. Ever since then, it’s been a struggle.”

Eckes struggled to find sponsorship, which resulted in struggling to find a team that was willing to hire him. That adversity only made the 22-year-old stronger. After two partial seasons and a full-time campaign in 2020 with Kyle Busch Motorsports, he was left searching for a new home at just 20 years old.

He eventually landed a 10-race gig with ThorSport Racing, one of KBM’s rivals. Finally, he scored the elusive victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his penultimate race in 2021. The win landed him another chance to compete full time in Nascar’s third-tier division.

Once again, Eckes didn’t win. Once again, Eckes was left searching for a new ride.

“I’m very lucky for Duke and Rhonda [Thorson] for giving me the opportunity to give me the part-time schedule to prove myself, to win and then get a full-time ride,” Eckes said of his opportunity with ThorSport.

Now, Eckes is starting over for a third time, this time, however, for McAnally-Hilgermann Racing, a team that made the jump to the Craftsman Truck Series full time in 2020 after decades of competing in the ARCA Menards Series West. The now two-truck organization selected Eckes as the driver of its flagship No. 19 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet this year, and he’s already making the most of it.

Eckes started the year off with plenty of speed at Daytona International Speedway, leading 19 laps en route to a third-place finish in a rain-shortened race. In the second race of the year, he finished solidly in sixth position to give the team back-to-back top 10s.

But come Atlanta Motor Speedway — a track recently reconfigured to give it the feel of a Daytona or Talladega Superspeedway — Eckes was on a mission. He led the first 32 laps and stayed near the front of the field for the majority of the race. Late in the race, he had to overcome a speeding penalty on pit road, only to find himself in position late in the going. Over the final three laps, he soared past rookie Nick Sanchez to take home his second-ever Truck Series victory.

“Not winning last year and going through everything that happened over the offseason, changing teams and manufacturers, there was a lot of change overall,” Eckes said. “It was good to see all of those decisions work out and have what I envisioned happening on a regular basis occur at Atlanta. It was really cool.

“I figured we’d get locked into the playoffs because I never missed it [when running a full schedule]. To get that out of the way and not worry about points that much – although we are still worried about points for the regular season championship – it’s nice to know we’ll most likely be locked into the playoffs. There’s a little more work that needs to be done, but it’s nice insurance for sure.”

Eckes has since struggled to get respectable results in his No. 19 truck. In the four races since his win, he has a best finish of 15th (twice).

But it’s OK. He is most likely locked into the playoffs, and got back into the the win column.

“I’ve been with competitive race teams like KBM and ThorSport,” Eckes said. “I’m bringing what they’ve done in years’ past and a different mindset of things, elevating the shop to thinking that winning is the new baseline.

“[BMR] has never made the playoffs, they ran in the top five, but they never finished in the top five last year. I feel like I brought that tenacity to want to succeed and to want to win at all costs. I feel like that’s what I’ve brought over.”

For the first time in Eckes’ young career, he can focus solely on racing. He doesn’t need to spend his days searching for sponsorship or teams that are interested in him.

Now, it’s all about getting the job done. Atlanta, he believes, was not a fluke. More wins will come.

Eckes said, “I’m super thankful to Bill McAnally and Bill Hilgemann and everyone at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for the opportunity. It’s been really fun to race these fast trucks. To know they want me there is the coolest part of it. Hopefully, we can just keep building like I said and we can build this into a championship-winning organization.”