Christian Eckes earns Kansas Truck win with daring three-wide pass

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KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Christiam Eckes took his three wide with Zane Smith and Cory Heim and  won the playoff NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway on Friday night.  Eckes lined up fourth on the final restart with Corey Heim out front. He went to the outside of Heim and Zane Smith in Turn 3 and the three briefly bounced off each other before Eckes darted to the inside to clear them both for the lead.

Eckes then held off Taylor Gray by 0.363 seconds at the checkered flag to secure his third victory of the 2023 season but first since Darlington in May.

“That was wild. I didn’t know if I could win or not,” Eckes said. “We had sixth place truck all day but that caution came out and I thought we had a shot at it. We hadn’t won in a really long time and I kind of wanted to set the tone. What a hell of way to end the Round of 10 – second, third, first.”

Matt DiBenedetto ended up third, Heim fourth and Smith completed the top five.Joining Eckes in the three-race semifinal round of the Truck playoffs are Heim, Smith, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, Nick Sanchez, Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski. DiBenedetto and Matt Crafton were eliminated from further title contention.

Sanchez claimed the Stage 1 win when a spin by Kaden Honeycutt placed the race under caution with three of 30 laps remaining. It was his third stage victory of the 2023 season Chase Purdy was second, Rhodes third, Heim fourth and Eckes completed the top five.

Hocevar cruised to the Stage 2 win by 2.189 seconds over Sanchez. Heim was third, Smith fourth and Enfinger fifth. Hocevar went to the inside of Sanchez with 11 laps to go in the stage and came away with the lead for the first time in the race.

Multiple champion Crafton, who was battling for a playoff spot, hit the wall hard off of Turn 2 on Lap 72 and began falling back through the field.

With 61 laps remaining, Rhodes fell off the pace after he made contact with the wall as well.

Heim was the first to hit pit road with 39 laps to go to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Grant Enfinger was caught speeding during his pit stop and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty. He dropped to 17th in the running order. Once the cycle of stops was completed, Heim led the way with 27 laps remaining.

Mason Maggio wrecked off Turn 4 which set up a restart with nine laps to go and Heim leading Hocevar and Smith. A wreck involving Rajah Caruth and Tanner Gray set up another restart with two laps remaining and Heim still in command.

 Heim was the first to hit pit road with 39 laps to go to kick off a final round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Enfinger was caught speeding during his pit stop and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty. He dropped to 17th in the running order. Once the cycle of stops was completed, Heim led the way with 27 laps remaining.

Mason Maggio wrecked off Turn 4 which set up a restart with nine laps to go and Heim leading Hocevar and Smith.

A wreck involving Rajah Caruth and Tanner Gray set up another restart with two laps remaining and Heim still in command. He cma thro0ugh all of that for the win.

Unofficial Results: Kansas Lottery 200, September 8, 2023, Kansas Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 8, Christian Eckes (P), No. 19 PEAK/NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet, 134, 5, 1, 2, 5, 6, 51, Running
2) 16, Taylor Gray #, No. 17 JBL Toyota, 134, , , , , 10, 36, Running
3) 11, Matt DiBenedetto (P), No. 25 Rackley Roofing/WAR Shocks Chevrolet, 134, , 1, 2, , 9, 36, Running
4) 15, Corey Heim (P), No. 11 Safelite Toyota, 134, 4, 3, 40, , 3, 48, Running
5) 14, Zane Smith (P), No. 38 RTA rtatel.com Ford, 134, 6, 1, 1, , 4, 44, Running
6) 17, Carson Hocevar (P), No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, 134, 9, 3, 32, 1, 1, 43, Running
7) 20, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 134, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 2, Nick Sanchez # (P), No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 134, 1, 4, 43, 1, 2, 48, Running
9) 21, Tyler Ankrum, No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota, 134, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 10, Jake Drew, No. 61 Cyclum Truck Stops Toyota, 134, 7, , , , , 31, Running
11) 5, Jake Garcia #, No. 35 Quanta Services Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 19, Rajah Caruth #, No. 24 Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet, 134, , , , , 8, 28, Running
13) 9, Jesse Love, No. 1 HomeSmiles Toyota, 134, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 1, Chase Purdy, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet, 133, 2, , , , , 32, Running
15) 13, Dean Thompson, No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota, 133, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 4, Jack Wood (P), No. 51 High Fives Foundation Chevrolet, 133, , 1, 2, , , 21, Running
17) 12, Grant Enfinger (P), No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, 133, 8, 1, 4, , 5, 29, Running
18) 3, Ty Majeski (P), No. 98 Bommarito Auto Group/CurbRecords Ford, 133, 10, , , , , 20, Running
19) 32, Colby Howard, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 133, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 24, Bret Holmes #, No. 32 Precision Garage Doors Chevrolet, 133, , 1, 2, , , 17, Running
21) 22, Bayley Currey, No. 41 Unishippers Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 34, Lawless Alan, No. 45 Niece Products of Kansas Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 23, Daniel Dye #, No. 43 Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 33, Timmy Hill, No. 56 UNITS Storage Toyota, 132, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 6, Ben Rhodes (P), No. 99 Kubota Ford, 132, 3, 1, 2, , 7, 24, Running
26) 18, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Dead On Tools Toyota, 131, , 1, 4, , , 11, Running
27) 25, Kaden Honeycutt, No. 02 RANDCO Industries Chevrolet, 131, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 36, Chase Janes, No. 33 Butlerbuilt Ford, 131, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 29, Justin Carroll, No. 90 Carroll's Automotive/Duratrain Toyota, 130, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 7, Hailie Deegan, No. 13 Ford Performance Ford, 130, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 27, Spencer Boyd, No. 12 Workman/Campcowboy.org Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 28, Greg Van Alst, No. 20 CB Fabricating Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 31, Matt Crafton (P), No. 88 Flex Seal/Menards Ford, 125, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 30, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Concierge Motorsports Chevrolet, 125, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 26, Mason Maggio, No. 22 Professional AG Services Ford, 117, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 35, Spencer Davis, No. 04 Carquest Ford, 1, , , , , , 1, Suspension
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs

Total Race Length: 134 Laps, 201. Miles
Time of Race: 1 Hr, 47 Mins, 43 Secs.
Average Speed: 111.96 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.363 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 2, 4, 99, 11, 19, 38, 61, 23, 42, 98
Stage 2 Top 10: 42, 2, 11, 38, 23, 19, 99, 24, 25, 17

Comments: Christian Eckes has won the Kansas Lottery 200 at Kansas Speedway, his fourth career victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 33, 04, 56, 45 (unapproved adjustments) and Nos. 88, 9 (backup trucks).

Cautions: 5 for 34 laps;
Laps: 15-20 (#41 Spin Turn 2 [90]);
28-35 (#02 Spin Turn 3 / Stage 1 Conclusion [20]);
62-68 (Stage 2 Conclusion [12]);
119-126 (#22 Incident Turn 4 [16]);
128-132 (#15, 24 Incident Frontstretch [35]).

Lead Changes: 18 among 11 drivers;
C. Purdy 0;
N. Sanchez # (P) 1-30;
G. Enfinger (P) 31-34;
N. Sanchez # (P) 35-36;
B. Rhodes (P) 37-38;
N. Sanchez # (P) 39-48;
C. Hocevar (P) 49-63;
N. Sanchez # (P) 64;
C. Heim (P) 65-76;
C. Hocevar (P) 77-80;
C. Heim (P) 81-82;
C. Hocevar (P) 83-95;
Z. Smith (P) 96;
M. DiBenedetto (P) 97-98;
T. Gray 99-102;
J. Wood (P) 103-104;
B. Holmes # 105-106;
C. Heim (P) 107-132;
C. Eckes (P) 133-134.