Eckes holds off Friesen in OT to win Darlington Truck race

What had been a very tame race, turned a bit chaotic down the stretch with six cautions in the final 56 of 158 laps.

Eckes, with fresh tires, powered past Hailie Deegan on older tires on a restart on lap 132 to move into the lead for the final time but then had to hold off various challengers through two two-lap overtimes.

Just as Eckes took the white flag in the second overtime, the race was placed back under caution when Grant Enfinger spun on the final lap. The caution froze the field and locked Eckes into the win, his second of the 2023 season.

Eckes, 22, is the first multiple Truck winner of the year, which is his first with McAnally Hilgemann Racing.

“I can’t say enough about this truck. I’m not that excited because it was such a damn good truck it drove itself,” Eckes said. “So proud of everyone on our team. It’s been a really, really rough couple of weeks.

“To come back and win shows the resilience of this team and how we had to win shows the fight in this team.”

Stewart Friesen was credited with second, Tanner Gray third, William Byron fourth and Carson Hocevar rebounded from an accident to finish fifth.

Completing the top-10 were Rajah Caruth, Bubba Wallace, Corey Heim, Kaden Honeycutt and Dean Thompson.

Stage 1

Eckes easily held off Heim by 1.797 seconds to take the Stage 1 win. Matt DiBenedetto was third, Byron fourth and Enfinger completed the top-five.

Heim started on the pole and led the first 26 laps until Eckes powered around him to move out front on lap 27.

Stage 2

Byron ran down and passed Heim with two of 45 laps remaining and claimed the Stage 2 win by 1.597 seconds. Eckes ended up third, Hocevar fourth and Wallace rounded out the top-five.

Ty Majeski, who lost power steering in the race, was forced to the garage for extensive repairs, which took him out of contention for the win.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap trucks all pit with Heim first off pit road. He led the way on the restart on lap 99.

Reigning series champion Zane Smith, Colby Howard and Chase Purdy were involved in a multi-truck accident on lap 101 that brought out the first caution for an on-track incident.

Eckes, who grabbed the lead on the previous restart, continued to lead the way on the restart on lap 107.

Hocevar spun around in Turns 1 and 2 after contact from Caruth on lap 114 to place the race back under caution.

Heim, who elected not to pit while the other lead-lap trucks did, led the way on the restart with 29 laps to go. Eckes quickly powered around him on the restart.

A wreck involving Lawless Alan sent most trucks down pit road again and set up a restart with 15 laps that saw Eckes move quickly back into the lead on new tires.

Timmy Hill’s spin in Turn 4 with one lap remaining in regulation sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Eckes still out front.

Jack Garcia got turned and wrecked on the backstretch to send the race into a second overtime and Eckes remained in command.