Christian Eckes raised the dander of Taylor Gray in the closing laps of last week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Martinsville Speedway. Eckes, who didn’t need to win the race to advance to the Championship 4, wasn’t content to let Taylor Gray work past him for the win. Eckes had dominated the race, and despite being cooked due to pit strategy, Eckes was determined to walk out of Martinsville Speedway with another grandfather clock — the trophy handed to race winners at the 0.526-mile short track.
Eckes executed a massive shove of Gray heading into Turns 1 and 2, which sent Gray up the track, and nearly into the wall. Not only did Gray lose the lead, but he fell to the fourth position. Without the win, Gray failed to advance to the Championship 4 field for this weekend’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
It was a bold, brazen even, move by Eckes considering the situation both drivers were in. With the move, the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado created an unnecessary enemy heading into a race, where he will battle for a championship on Friday evening. At NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday, Eckes said he’s not stressing about retaliation from Gray…