MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The first 150 laps of an elimination race before the championship played out as calmly as a Martinsville Speedway showdown under the lights could play out.
Christian Eckes had the dominant truck in the penultimate event on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series calendar and was on his way to a clear berth to the Championship 4 after sweeping both stages.
As the laps wound down, however, tension began to crescendo as a string of cautions bunched the field together and split strategies.
Taylor Gray, whose only path to the Champ 4 was a victory, came down pit road after a Lap 164 caution for four tires and was able to surge to the front of the field after a pair of yellows. The No. 17 Tricon Garage driver was in prime position and left Eckes a sitting duck with under 10 to go and cleared the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgeman Racing wheelman on a restart with five to go.
However, Eckes delivered a shot to the rear bumper of Gray in Turn 3 that sent the No. 17 Toyota up the track and back into the swarm of the field as Eckes went to score his fourth victory of 2024, solidifying his Champ 4 bid.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Martinsville
“[Crew chief] Jeff Hensley had a great strategy call … on way fresher tires and yarded him … raced him super clean, and he ships me into the fence in [Turn 3 and 4],” said a fired-up Gray after confronting Eckes in Victory Lane. “He races like that [with] everybody. He does that all year long. He’s done it to everybody. He races [Tricon teammate] Corey [Heim] like that. He races everybody like that. But nobody cares because he’s won four races now.”
Eckes, who won the 2024 Regular Season Championship, said he wasn’t going to let a dominant truck lose the race.
“These guys work way too hard for us to lose a race regardless of the circumstances,” Eckes said. “I had to race harder than I probably would like to. But at the end of the day, I didn’t want to lose that race. We led 187 laps of 200 so it’s just kind of a situation where I don’t want to race like that, but at the same time, I wasn’t going to let us lose.”
WATCH: Gray lays out Martinsville frustration
Gray said he understood the circumstances that could unfold at short tracks in late-race situations but was left befuddled as to why Eckes felt the need to move him when Eckes’ title fate was all but decided after the first two stages.
“It’s dumb,” Gray said. “Yeah, probably because it’s Martinsville so people are going to move you out of the way. But don’t ship me to the fence whenever I raced you like that down here. Also, he has so much more to lose than I do. I’m racing to win to lock in. He’s locked in. He won both stages … like it’s just … whatever.”
Gray added that he “can’t do anything” in next Friday’s championship race at Phoenix Raceway with the thought of possible discipline.
“No, it’s just gonna make me myself look like an idiot, and I don’t want to look like that,” Gray said. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my career, done plenty of things. I’ve tried to clean it up the past couple years. And I raced him so clean down here [in Turns 1 and 2], and he ships me off into three.”
Tricon Garage owner David Gilliland said racers “don’t forget what happened” regarding Eckes’ move as Eckes begins to prepare for a bid at the Truck title. Had Eckes allowed Gray a win, Eckes likely would have advanced on points.
“He (Eckes) would have had nothing to lose to do that,” Gilliland told NASCAR.com. “Now he’s got everything to lose. So wasn’t very smart on his end but guess we’ll see what happens.
“Eckes is racing for a championship and that’s not a very good way to do it. Maybe that’s why he’s never won one.”
WATCH: Eckes defends late-race moves | NASCAR video highlights
Eckes shrugged off concerns about retaliation at Phoenix and emphasized the need to race hard for a win at the Virginia short track as well as why he’s in the position, and arguably the favorite, to win a championship.
“We’re just gonna go in the next week with our mind clear,” Eckes said. “Hopefully they understand that it’s just Martinsville and a product of that. I’d be mad if I was him, too, but it’s Martinsville and I feel like you have to race hard here.
“[Truck owner] Bill McAnally hired me to win races. That’s what we’re here to do, and championships. It’s definitely a risk to race like that. But you know, in the same time, I felt like our truck was was good enough, and our guys deserve to win this week.”