Eckes Grabs Third
Christian Eckes celebrates with the pole award at Martinsville Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)
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Eckes Grabs Third Career Truck Pole In Virginia

October 26, 2019

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Fresh off winning the ARCA Menards Series championship eight days earlier, Christian Eckes rolled to the pole for the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 on Saturday morning at Martinsville Speedway.

Driving the No. 51 SiriusXM Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Eckes rolled to a lap of 19.844 seconds (95.424 mph) around the .526-mile paper clip, backing up his leading effort from opening practice on Friday.

The pole is the third of Eckes’ Truck Series career in 11 starts, and he’ll chase his first series win on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know how we got that, to be honest,” Eckes admitted. “It’s so slick out here with how hard the tires are and how this race track is when it’s cold that I actually drove pretty slow right there.

“Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and the guys did a great job,” he added. “We struggled in second practice and kind of threw everything at it, so I’m glad all that worked out for us. It’s the third time we’ve won the pole; it’s great to be with this team and I’m really looking forward to the race this afternoon.”

Defending Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt will join Eckes on the front row, after a time of 19.860 seconds (95.347 mph) in the No. 24 CMR Construction & Roofing Chevrolet Silverado.

Eckes’ KBM teammate Harrison Burton and ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton, who is subbing for the ailing Matt Tifft on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series side, will share the second row for Saturday’s 200-lap race.

Tyler Ankrum completed the top five, followed by Johnny Sauter, Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek.

Todd Gilliland, the overall practice leader from Friday, starts 11th.

Meanwhile, the lowest of the six remaining playoff drivers in qualifying was Austin Hill, who will roll off 17th for defending championship team Hattori Racing Enterprises.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 kicks off at 1:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series; Martinsville Speedway; Oct. 26, 2019

  1. #51 – Christian Eckes, 19.844 seconds (95.424 mph)
  2. #24 – Brett Moffitt, 19.860 seconds (95.347 mph)
  3. #18 – Harrison Burton, 19.908 seconds (95.118 mph)
  4. #88 – Matt Crafton, 19.926 seconds (95.032 mph)
  5. #17 – Tyler Ankrum, 19.940 seconds (94.965 mph)
  6. #13 – Johnny Sauter, 19.951 seconds (94.913 mph)
  7. #52 – Stewart Friesen, 19.954 seconds (94.898 mph)
  8. #99 – Ben Rhodes, 19.987 seconds (94.742 mph)
  9. #98 – Grant Enfinger, 20.003 seconds (94.666 mph)
  10. #8 – John Hunter Nemechek, 20.007 seconds (94.647 mph)
  11. #4 – Todd Gilliland, 20.013 seconds (94.618 mph)
  12. #45 – Ross Chastain, 20.059 seconds (94.402 mph)
  13. #02 – Tyler Dippel, 20.064 seconds (94.378 mph)
  14. #2 – Sheldon Creed, 20.119 seconds (94.120 mph)
  15. #15 – Tanner Gray, 20.137 seconds (94.036 mph)
  16. #12 – Gus Dean, 20.175 seconds (93.859 mph)
  17. #16 – Austin Hill, 20.183 seconds (93.822 mph)
  18. #9 – Codie Rohrbaugh, 20.226 seconds (93.622 mph)
  19. #30 – Danny Bohn, 20.244 seconds (93.539 mph)
  20. #22 – Austin Wayne Self, 20.245 seconds (93.534 mph)
  21. #21 – Sam Mayer, 20.245 seconds (93.534 mph)
  22. #56 – Timmy Hill, 20.267 seconds (93.433 mph)
  23. #20 – Spencer Boyd, 20.338 seconds (93.107 mph)
  24. #44 – Jeb Burton, 20.489 seconds (92.420 mph)
  25. #3 – Jordan Anderson, 20.527 seconds (92.249 mph)
  26. #54 – Natalie Decker, 20.715 seconds (91.412 mph)
  27. #33 – Dawson Cram, 20.844 seconds (90.846 mph)
  28. #49 – Ray Ciccarelli, 20.990 seconds (90.214 mph)
  29. #34 – Josh Reaume, 21.414 seconds (88.428 mph)
  30. #6 – Norm Benning, 21.624 seconds (87.569 mph)
  31. #10 – Jennifer Jo Cobb, 22.116 seconds (85.621 mph)
  32. #0 – Cody McMahan, 32.067 seconds (59.051 mph)