NASCAR reached its shortest short track to find its final four in the 2024 Truck series season. Grant Enfinger, after winning the first two races of the round of 8 was the only one to bag a spot at Phoenix. However, after the thrilling Martinsville race, he will be joined by Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, and Christian Eckes. While Eckes won the high-octane drama at Martinsville, it wasn’t the cleanest race we have seen from the #19 as it left Taylor Gray fuming by the end.

If fans boo you after taking the checkered flag, you definitely did something wrong. In the race, which was a must-win for Taylor Gray, the Tricon Garage driver was denied a spot in Phoenix by Eckes after getting shoved away from the victory lane. Naturally Gray was furious as he did not receive the same treatment that he gave Eckes in the race.

Tylor Gray misses out on first championship 4 appearance

Taylor Gray was -24 points below the cutline when he entered the Martinsville race. After a good qualification session, the Florida native was in the position to win his way in. This was after he pretty much stayed in the top 10 throughout. He only momentarily dropped to 12th but was quick to climb back. In the final stages, he stayed in the top 5 and eventually took P2 before the final restart. Anything less than a win wasn’t probably going to be enough. And with 5 laps to go, he took the outside line and passed race leader Christian Eckses.

However, Christian Eckes who was +38 points entering the race, would have made it to the next round with a P2, but was determined to take the win. Exiting turn 2, Eckes bumped the #17 out of winning contention, and Gray ended up in P4. Post this, Eckes’s teammate, Ben Rohdes, also tried to take the lead but faced the same treatment as Gray. While Rohdes was already out of the playoffs, Gray had the championship chance within reach. Naturally, the 19-year-old was disappointed as, while taking the lead, he too could have chosen the inside line and did the same to Eckes but chose to keep it clean.

In the post-race interview, Gray said, “I could have and I could have just went in there and shipped him but I wanted to race straight up. We see it time after time when we come to Martinsville that it becomes a joke. I do not want to become the reason Martinsville turns into a joke. I chose the outside to race him clean, we got through one and two fine, I did not have a problem with that. I cleared him off of two and he just drove through me. (Was in disbelief) I don’t know.”

What Taylor Gray is trying to iterate is that just because Martinsville is a race where it becomes a do-or-die situation doesn’t mean ethics should be forgotten. However, this is probably not what Eckes believes, as he showed no remorse for his actions. “Like I told everybody, I wasn’t going to lose this race — this truck was too good. The 17 (Gray) was hard racing. I feel bad about the 99 (Rhodes). I just got way too loose entering the corner. (Hearing boos from the crowd). Everybody’s really happy with me — but I don’t really care. I’m proud of everybody for working hard, and we’re going to Phoenix,” Eckes said post the race.

However, past such incidents have shown that Gray might choose to take revenge in the next race, which is the finale! After the race, Gray walked over to Eckes to let him know that it wasn’t cool how he raced. Although unclear, there was some mention of Phoenix. Gray has warned the #19 to watch out going forward. Post the race Gray said, “I got sent to the fence when I raced him perfectly clean in (Turns) 1 and 2. What goes around comes around. I have to race him next year all year long.” Here, take a look at their tussle:

While it remains to be seen if Taylor Gray would go for a tit-for-tat approach, Ben Rohdes feels that this could prove to be a risky move for Eckes.

Ben Rhodes opens up on why Eckes should have not done that

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Entering the race, Corey Heim was the top-seeded driver with +49 points, but Eckes wasn’t far behind with +38. And with Heim ending the race in P7 and Eckes winning both the stages plus a P2 finish would have been enough for him to progress. It could have saved him from getting all the backlash. However, the #19 remains unbothered. “I mean, you can look at it from that way, but you know, at the same time, Bill McAnally hired me to win races. That’s what we’re here to do and championships. So you know it’s definitely a risk to race like that but you know at the same time I felt like our truck was good enough and our guys deserve to win this week,” This is what Eckes said in the post-race press conference defending his aggressive moves.

Clearly, Eckes doesn’t care what the consequences of his actions might be. However, Rhodes believes it could cost him dearly.“When you’re locked in and you’re running really rough and making enemies like Taylor Gray, that’s really a big deal because he’s not going to Phoenix now. I think Christian was going to make it on points but he’s at Taylor’s mercy next week. What I’m trying to say is, you really need to play big-picture racing when you want to run for these championships.”

The defending champion has been in this position several times. Rhodes has won the Truck Series twice (2023, 2021) and only narrowly missed out on making it a three-for-three when he ended up in the runners-up position in the 2022 season. So you can definitely take his word for it when he says it was a risky move. “That’s what we did for our two championships. We weren’t the most dominant truck but we tried to play the game to the best of our ability…I think that speaks volumes about the key people that are involved. The spotter, the driver, the crew chief to be able to have those calm heads to know, ‘Hey, I know you want to win the race, but let’s think about next week and the big trophy that we’ve worked all year for.’ Not knocking anybody but that’s just my own experience,” Rhodes added.

What do you think of Christian Eckes’s move? Was it called for? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below.