Christian Eckes presses on after Heim tangle, ends up just short of IRP victory

CLERMONT, Ind. — For the second straight season at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Christian Eckes knew he had a truck capable of contending for the TSport 200 victory. This year, his No. 19 Chevrolet handled the opposite from 2023.

The No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team approached IRP with a different setup from last year. But for the second straight year, Eckes finished runner-up to Ty Majeski despite leading a race-high 73 circuits.

Grant Enfinger dominated the opening stage until Eckes powered by for the lead on a restart. The No. 19 truck cruised to the stage win, tying Corey Heim for the most in the series.

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Early in the race, Eckes and Heim raced hard off Turn 2. The two dominant drivers during the 2024 regular season have combined to lead nearly 51% of all laps run through the opening 15 races (1,161 of 2,281) and have typically raced respectfully, even while chasing race wins. Heim was squeezed into the fence and later blew a left-front tire. During the caution flag, he took a swipe at the No. 19 truck, brushing alongside.

Heim charged to second on fresh tires to end Stage 2 but faded to 17th during a caution-free final stage.

“It wasn‘t bad until we had the damage,” Heim told NASCAR.com as he marched down to Eckes on pit road after the race. “I‘m sure it wasn‘t on purpose; I‘ll go talk to him. We‘ll be fine, it‘s not a big deal.”

Eckes took blame for the incident.

“I just misjudged it down the backstretch,” Eckes said. “[Heim] was upset; he should be. I don‘t know if it ruined their night or not, he got back up to second and faded that last stage. Just misjudged it on my end and I hate it for them. It‘s not like it was intentional or anything like that.”

Eckes controlled the final stage until Ty Majeski got by with 56 laps remaining. Majeski, who had to serve a drive-through penalty earlier in the race for a restart violation, had a stout truck, Eckes said.

“I think the 98 was just that much better,” he said. “They were good. Kind of the same thing as last year, so congrats to them. I think we were a P2 truck with some different handling characteristics this year. Same result, same distance back. We have a little bit of homework to do to try to get better.”

The margin of victory this year slightly increased by seven-tenths of a second, but by tallying a race-high 55 points, Eckes has increased his regular season championship lead to 50 points over Heim with only the .75-mile Richmond Raceway remaining before the playoffs. While the 15 additional playoff points haven‘t been secured yet, Eckes won‘t let himself look ahead.

“I‘m not really worried about that right now,” he added. “Just focused on going to Richmond and having a good truck.”

With the victory, Majeski punched his postseason ticket. With top five finishes, both Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger locked into the 10-driver playoffs as well.

Three spots are up for grab at Richmond. Taylor Gray will enter the 250-lap regular season finale with a 48-point advantage over the elimination line. Defending series champion Ben Rhodes sits 22 points above. Tanner Gray has a five-point lead on Daniel Dye for the 10th and final spot. Despite finishing six laps down at IRP, Stewart Friesen lost just 12 points to the elimination line and will enter Richmond 16 points below 10th spot.