CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Christian Eckes, driver of the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet, enters the Chase ranked fourth among the 10 championship-eligible drivers – 40 points off Rigg’s lead.
This is the first time he’s competed in the series full time since 2024 when he finished third in the championship and won four races. Eckes is still winless on the year but is taking a big picture approach to this title run.
Nearly half (four) of his nine career wins in the series have come at tracks in this postseason stretch. And his 11 top-10 showings on the year are as many as the points leader Riggs.
“For us, it’s definitely not dragging us down at all,” Eckes said of going into the Chase without a victory yet. “If anything, I’d say it really puts us into a position where we don’t have anything to lose because we’re not the [championship] favorite and we haven’t been the best running truck throughout the year. So, it puts us in a spot, where whatever happens, happens and we’ll do the best we can.”
• All of the 10 drivers competing for the 2026 NASCAR CARFTSMAN Truck Series title allowed a slight smile or shook their head when asked about the challenging Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway to open the Chase this week.
Many spoke of the action-packed NASCAR Cup Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase openers that have already immediately impacted the championship standings.
TRICON Garage’s Gio Ruggiero, who drives the No. 17 Toyota and is making his first Chase appearance did not mince words. The 21-year-old finished third in the series’ Spring visit to Bristol and acknowledges the intensity will be picking up this go-round at the half-mile Bullring.
“We’ve been off for a couple weeks now and everybody’s hungry to get back out there and race,” said Ruggiero, who is ranked fifth in the reseeded Chase standings. “Starting up the Chase, everybody’s trying to make up those points now. I feel like it’s going to be a hectic race for sure. I think everybody’s going to race each other hard and restarts there are super important because it can be a hard track to pass at, if the bottom lane is super gripped up. I think the restarts; you’re going to see some really good racing and hopefully not too many wrecks.”
• Proven Chase-track winner Enfinger believes championship is within reach Series veteran Grant Enfinger may head into the Chase ranked seventh among the 10 drivers, but the 41-year-old Alabama-native sounded optimistic about his ability to contend in the right circumstances.
The driver of the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet is a 14-time race winner, hoisting his most recent trophy this July at the Lime Rock, Conn. road course. He’s finished seventh or better in the championship in seven of the last eight years with a career best showing of runner-up in 2023.
He’s won at four of the Chase tracks, including the site of the finale, Homestead Motor Speedway.
“We can absolutely do this,” Enfinger said.
• Two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes believes the five week break between the regular season finale at Richmond Raceway and Thursday’s Chase opener at Bristol Motor Speedway was beneficial to his ThorSport Racing team.
“I was appreciative of the break, really. Honestly, if any of these truck teams are being honest with themselves, I would say that they would all consider it a good thing. We have eight weeks with seven races going forward,” Rhodes said. “That’s a lot for the Truck Series schedule. At least from what I know in our own shop and from other race teams in the Truck Series, a lot of these road crew guys are the same ones that are putting in a lot of effort at the shop to get these things assembled and built.
“What that means is that they’re doing monstrous hours, just huge hours getting these things assembled and set up and pulled down. It’s just a lot of work, so in the heat of the season you don’t get as much time for R&D as you would like. You’re building the trucks and building them with your best foot forward the way you think you need to, but the two weeks we used it as a building session. I can go into the race shop right now at ThorSport Racing and I can see a fleet of trucks ready to go. So, that’s a really good, comforting sign and that allows us the time to really massage on it and start working ahead. That’s really what you need to do. You’ve got to do that right now.”
• The 10 drivers competing for the Truck Series championship are Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Gio Ruggiero, Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric, Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum.
