By Christian Eckes’ lofty standards, the result at Milwaukee Mile was a disappointing one. The 23-year-old driver led 71 out of 175 laps, the most in the race, and won Stage 2, collecting a playoff point. However, he lost the lead in the Stage 3 restart, forcing him to settle for a P3 finish. However, the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver was hoping to start the Truck Series playoff round of 10 with his fourth win of the season, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Not many drivers will be upset after securing their sixth straight podium finish, but expectations are at an all-time high for Christian Eckes. With two races to go before the Round of 8 playoffs for Truck Series begins at Talladega, it’s unsurprising that the New Yorker considers the result at LiUNA! 175 a missed opportunity.

A dominant top-3 finish for Christian Eckes

Ahead of the race at the Milwaukee Mile, Christian Eckes finished third in qualifying, behind ThorSport Racing driver Ty Majeski and Tricon Garage’s Tanner Gray. Eckes maintained his position, even though the two drivers who finished above him in qualifying fell below the pecking order after 55 laps. The No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado driver picked up the pace during Stage 2, finishing in first place ahead of Ty Majeski and the eventual race-winner Layne Riggs. However, things took a turn for the worse in Stage 3, when Eckes lost his lead to Majeski during the restart, while Riggs showed lightning-quick speed to eventually take the lead.

Speaking to FOX Sports after the race, Christian Eckes was asked if he faced difficulty in handling his Chevy, which may have contributed to his third-place finish. The 23-year-old replied, “Yeah, I mean, the Chevy was really good all day. I was leading on the bottom and it bottomed out for the first time all day. Shot it up the racetrack and just couldn’t recover. I was way too tight. Felt like it was going to go tight and it did. We just weren’t aggressive enough on adjustments. Proud of everybody but definitely a pretty big missed opportunity. This Truck will go to Phoenix since it’s our Phoenix truck, and it felt like it has a lot of potential so let’s see what happens. But yeah, disappointed in that.”

The word dominant would be an understatement to describe Eckes’ Truck Series campaign so far. He finished as the regular series champion at Richmond recently, having secured three wins in 17 races. However, that doesn’t paint an accurate picture of his consistency, as Eckes has only finished outside the top 10 once this season, which was a 32nd-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the second race of the season. He hasn’t finished lower than third place in his last six races, which could explain his “disappointment” at the result in Wisconsin.

Christian Eckes’s highest-ever finish in the competition has been 5th in 2023, but the 23-year-old has the chance to not just win the elusive championship, but dominate it in a manner that hasn’t been seen in a very long time. Naturally, his performances in the season have led to significant attention, with Xfinity Series teams vying for his signature. If he does end up winning some silverware by the end of the season, could a Cup Series team take a gamble on Christian Eckes for 2025?

How is Eckes on the verge of creating NASCAR history?

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When you think of dominant Truck Series drivers, the likes of Ron Hornday Jr., Mike Skinner, and Jack Sprague would come to mind. After all, the trio are true icons of the competition, with Skinner leading 35.01% laps in the 1995 season, which remains to this date a record. He nearly matched that the following year, leading 33.80% laps in 1996. Such has been Christian Eckes’ consistency so far that the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing can also be brought into the conversation.

As things stand, he has led over 30% of the laps raced so far, which puts him in sixth place for the most dominant Truck Series season in history.

Sandwiched between Skinner’s second-best season and Christian Eckes lies Ron Hornaday Jr., who dominated in the 1995 and 2008 seasons, as well as Jack Sprague, who won 32.38% of races during the 2001 season. However, with six races remaining before the Truck Series season concludes, there is a good chance Eckes might climb up the ladder if his performance at the Milwaukee Mile is anything to go by.

With two races remaining before the Round of 8 begins, Eckes will hope that he doesn’t get complacent. He crashed out of the Truck Series last season at this stage and will hope to do better this time around. His meteoric rise in the competition has taken everybody by surprise, and anything less than a championship by the end of the season would be a disappointing outcome for Christian Eckes.

What are your thoughts about Eckes’ third-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile? Let us know in the comments!