AVONDALE, Ariz. — 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.
“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.”