In the Next-Gen era, aggression is the norm. When the Gen 7 Cup Series car debuted in 2022, one glaring problem stood out. Short tracks, the lifeblood of NASCAR’s grassroots, took a toll as drivers found it harder to get close to each other, let alone pass. This resulted in aggressive moves as we saw in Richmond this year – Austin Dillon fiercely dumped two rivals to snatch the victory. Now this tendency is rubbing off on Truck Series drivers, and Chase Elliott is far from happy.

The NASCAR playoffs have reached the penultimate stage and emotions are tense. Right at the threshold of the title race, a chaotic tendency hit the Craftsman Truck series. Christian Eckes got carried away by the soaring excitement and into offensive mode against two rivals. And Chase Elliott shook his head at this egregious display of aggression.

Chase Elliott disapproves of reckless driving

The caveat lies in the fact that Christian Eckes would have advanced regardless of his antics. He already had three wins under his belt entering Martinsville and booked the first starting position at the Paperclip. Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 also witnessed the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver sweep both stage wins. Those marked his series-best 10th and 11th of the season, and he led 187 of the 200 laps. But then a 6-car accident on lap 190 caused the sixth and final caution of the race. It threw his winning chances into uncertainty, and Eckes got desperate.

On the restart with five laps to go, Eckes first shoved Taylor Gray’s Toyota and then Ben Rhodes’ Ford. He did not mind using his front bumper twice just to aggressively secure the victory – and this bothers Chase Elliott. In a pre-race presser for the upcoming Cup Series race, Elliott laid down his disapproving verdict: “Yeah, I was watching. You know, that’s really tough. We see this stuff time and time again at this place. I don’t love it but it has become very much normal. It’s not that I like that. I’m a big Christian Eckes fan, I think he does a great job. I enjoyed watching him (race) and really be a great competitor…I can see his side of the fence.”

Chase Elliott has seen the same thing happen in the Cup Series. Top of that list this year is Austin Dillon violently spinning out Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano to grab the Richmond win. Last year, Hamlin also pushed Kyle Larson on the way to his Pocono victory. So Elliott is mad that NASCAR continues to host such egregious acts of aggression. He empathized with Christian Eckes‘ competitors. “I can see his side of the fence. And I can also see Taylor’s side of the fence and also Ben’s side too. I get it, I totally understand. I try to look at things from all the different directions…I get it, I don’t love it. But…odds are, if you’re not the one taking advantage of things, you’re probably going to get taken advantage of. That’s the unfortunate truth of what things have come to in this arena now.” 

Yet Eckes may have paved a destructive circle for himself, given his competitors’ vengeful stance.

Payback incoming?

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Loud boos reverberated through the grandstands when Christian Eckes posed at Martinsville’s Victory Lane. “Everybody’s really happy with me — but I don’t really care,” Eckes said. Yet the future Kaulig Racing Xfinity racer may be up for a surprise. Both Gray and Rhodes are teammates of drivers who are locked into the Championship 4. So it might not come as a surprise if Eckes’ No. 19 gets a hard time from two rivals at Phoenix Raceway. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray is also set to compete in the Xfinity Series next year. The 19-year-old will be joining Joe Gibbs Racing, the winningest team in Xfinity Series history, with 214 wins, including 10 this year.

So Gray’s words of warning for Eckes should sound alarm bells for the McAnally-Hilgemann driver. “I got sent to the fence when I raced him perfectly clean in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Gray said. “What goes around comes around. I have to race him next year all year long (when both move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series). The 19 (Eckes) was the class of the field, right? But it’s not my fault we had better strategy than he did. We came out on tires; we drove through the field and we drove to him. I raced him clean, and he drove me in the fence. I guess the only thing I could have done is wreck him like he wrecked me.”

Evidently, Christian Eckes may need to pay heed to Chase Elliott and reform his driving. For now, the deed has been done – let us see if his rivals teach him a lesson.