Christian Eckes Clinches the Pole Ahead of Nick Sanchez for Weather Guard Truck Race, Busch to start 4th

Christian Eckes from McAnally-Hilgemann Racing has won the pole position for the Weather Guard Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The #19 Chevrolet Silverado was the quickest of all the entries. Eckes with the best lap time of 15.122 seconds now finds himself in the prime position to get better results later during the main event.

Nick Sanchez, who also showed good speed in his two lap attempts, will join Eckes on the front row. Whereas, Taylor Gray secured third place with driver Kyle Busch behind him, who will start 4th on the field. Rajah Caruth, who won in Las Vegas, will start in the #6 starting position.

Here’s how the field is set for the Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway

The Weather Guard Truck Series race will mark the first event that will see Bristol return to its traditional racing surface after three years of dirt racing. The qualifying rounds did allow the Truck drivers to understand the new track better, as they now gear up for the main event.

Taking the pole position, Christian Eckes will start up front. Joining him on the front row will be Nich Sanchez. In the second row, we have Talyor Gray and Kyle Busch taking up third and fourth-place starting spots. Whereas, Ty Majeski will round off the top five positions.

Rajah Caruth, who won his first-ever NASCAR race at Las Vegas, will complete the third row alongside Majeski. Zane Smith and Kaden Honeycutt make the fourth row, whereas drivers Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Dye complete the top-10 starting position on the grid ahead of the start of the main race.

Qualifying rounds at the newly paved Bristol did come with its tweaks. The drivers were asked to run three laps around the race tracks; out of those three, two were to determine the starting position for the drivers on the grid.

Christian Eckes will be eyeing his first win of the season after securing the pole for the Bristol race

The 23-year-old driver has competed in 80 NASCAR Truck Series races. In those races, he has managed seven pole wins and 48 top-10 finishes and has been able to take the win five times. The 2023 season was a big breakthrough for him racing under MHR, and out of those five Truck wins he has under his belt, four came in 2023.

Eckes has competed at Bristol Motor Speedway three times, and his best finish came last season, finishing the race second. Now that he is back on the front row, he will be looking to settle his account for not winning the race last time around. In doing so, Eckes will become a serious contender for this season’s Truck Series championship.

With consistent performances backing him in the Truck Series, the 23-year-old MHR driver is certainly one to watch out for. Given that he has now gained experience and bagged a bunch of wins, he could well be a serious threat to the big-name drivers and teams.

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