I truly believe Christian Eckes made a miscalculation during Friday night's Martinsville cutoff race, and I'm not talking about the morality of the bump-and-run for the win, but the logic in it.
He may have just chosen a race win over a championship when we end up looking back on this season:"My kingdom for a 'clock'," to use the words of doomed king Richard III. Eckes went home with a Martinsville clock after Friday's race, but it could cost him a much bigger prize in the long run.
Eckes was safe! He was advancing into the Championship 4 on points! He didn't need to bump Taylor Gray! Looking at the 2024 season, no driver has more top-fives, top-tens, or laps led than Eckes. Alongside Corey Heim, he has bee dominating most of the year, but did he just throw away his chances of winning the 2024 NASCAR Truck Series title?
There are a few reasons why I think he did.
Taylor Gray drove a solid race, but he was only in that position because of a clever call to put on tires late. He had not won a race yet this year, or ever in in his young career. Wouldn't Eckes have preferred him in the final four over a consistent contender Ty Majeski?
History says beware
But beyond that, there's a much more pressing issue. Eckes had just made an enemy when he 100% did not need to. It's reminiscent of Joey Logano in 2015. He was unreal in the playoffs and won all three races in the Round of 12. However, it came at a massive cost. While chasing Matt Kenseth for the win at Kansas, he got into the back of him and spun him out. Logano was already advancing into the next round based on his win one week prior while Kenseth was ultimately eliminated after losing the victory. He didn't need to get that aggressive, and he certainly paid the price.
Logano was dominating once again in the Round of 8 opener at Martinsville. A win there would have solidified his place in the Championship 4, but while leading the race, Kenseth appeared while multiple laps down and sent the both of them careening into the wall. Logano was eliminated two weeks later. A eye-for-an-eye on full display.
"I was expecting to get moved – I wasn’t expecting to get moved to the fence," said Gray after the Truck race. "Especially, with how I raced him, and he is locked into the final four, so I don’t know. The only thing he did was put a target on his back, and unfortunately, and this day and age I can’t go to Phoenix and do anything about to him, because I’m going to go get a $20,000 fine, so he gets away with that crap and doesn’t get any repercussion.”
Gray makes a valid point there, as NASCAR doesn't take kindly to premeditated wrecks of title contenders. Kenseth was suspended for his move in 2015. But Gray doesn't need to flat-out wreck Eckes at Phoenix and he's certainly not going to announce anything else he might have in his mind. And in my mind, there is no doubt that he will do everything in his power to make Eckes' life miserable during that race. Simply holding him up and being in the way could be enough to deny him the championship.
Also, it didn't help that when Gray approached Eckes after the race and mentioned the many opportunities he had to dump the race winner at Martinsville, Eckes replied: "You should have, I guess."
That will only incite Gray to revenge even more than before. And remember, the other drivers saw this as well. His title rivals are very clear on what he was willing to do for a race win he didn't need and that will play into how things unfold when they face-off against him for the title at Phoenix.
Or perhaps it will be like 2022 when the entire world was against Ty Gibbs but he won the Xfinity title anyway. Maybe nothing will happen, but the fact that it's even a possibility is because of what Eckes chose to do when a must-win driver passed him cleanly on Friday night seems like a significant error.
"I guess the only thing I could have done is wreck him like he wrecked me," concluded Gray. In 2024 NASCAR, that appears to be the case more often than not.
