Eckes takes surprise Vegas Truck win as playoff drivers stumble

Todd Gilliland appeared to have the dominant truck in the race and led the way on a restart with four of 134 laps to go, but Eckes took the field three-wide and moved into the lead with a shove from Ben Rhodes.

Rhodes then began closing in on Eckes to challenge for the lead but a caution was displayed on the final lap for a wreck involving Tyler Hill. That froze the field and ensured Eckes’ win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – his first win in 44 series starts.

Eckes, 20, has been running a partial schedule this season for ThorSport Racing in the No. 98 Ford and was part of a 1-2-3-4 finish for ThorSport.

“You can look at my (stats) and see how bad it is and how tough it is (to race in Trucks),” Eckes said. “Damn, this is big. It’s been a tough year.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much all I can say, it’s been a tough year since last November. Hopefully, I showed I can still do this.”

Eckes competed fulltime last season for Kyle Busch Motorsports but did not return to the organization this year. A part-time ride at ThorSport was Eckes’ only NASCAR opportunity for the 2021 season.

Eckes’ surprise win came on a night when several playoff drivers – John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, reigning champion Sheldon Creed, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar – all had bad performances, finishing 22nd or worse.

With two races remaining before the Championship 4 is set, Rhodes now leads the playoff standings ahead of Nemechek, Stewart Friesen and Matt Crafton.

Rhodes finished second in the race, Crafton third, Johnny Sauter fourth and Gilliland ended up fifth.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several trucks pit but Hocevar stayed out and inherited the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 67. Gilliland restarted 14th, the first on four new tires.

On Lap 71, Tyler Ankrum got loose and started spinning in Turn 2 and Chandler Smith plowed into him, which triggered a multi-car accident that also collected Hailie Deegan, Creed and Chase Purdy.

Creed appeared to dive to the apron to avoid the accident but instead slammed into the stopped truck of Chandler Smith.

The race returned to green on Lap 78 with Austin Hill out front, followed by Hocevar, Tanner Gray, Sauter and Gilliland.

On Lap 81, Nemechek once again stopped on the track without power, which brought out the seventh caution of the race.

A number of trucks pit during the caution with Brett Moffitt the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 85, Tate Fogleman remained on the track and led the way followed by Bret Holmes and Moffitt.

Moffitt moved into the lead on Lap 85 only to see Gilliland power back out front on Lap 86.

With 30 laps remaining in the race, Gilliland maintained about a 1-second lead over Eckes as Friesen ran third.

Drew Dollar and Jack Wood made contact in Turn 4 on Lap 114 to bring out another caution in the race. Most of the lead-lap trucks pit with Gilliland the first off pit road.

On the restart on Lap 118, Sauter was followed by Gilliland, Eckes, Rhodes and Crafton.

Gilliland wasted no time in powering around Sauter with his new tires and moved back into the lead.

Hocevar spun off Turn 4 while attempting to enter pit road on Lap 126, which brought out the ninth caution of the race. NASCAR then penalized Hocevar a lap for intentionally causing a caution.

Gilliland remained out front on the restart with four laps to go.

Stage 2

Gilliland held off Rhodes to take the Stage 2 win, his fourth of the 2021 season.

Hocevar was third, Friesen fourth and Creed rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap trucks pit with Gilliland edging Nemechek off pit road. Sauter was penalized for an uncontrolled tire during his stop and had to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart on Lap 37, Gilliland was followed by Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith and Eckes.

Friesen powered into the lead on the restart only to see Gilliland reclaim the top spot on Lap 38.

NASCAR put out a caution on Lap 40 for debris in Turn 3 as Zane Smith had a left-rear tire come apart after contact with Nemechek battling for position.

The race returned to green on Lap 46 with Gilliland out front followed by Rhodes and Friesen.

Rhodes wasted no time getting around Gilliland after the restart to take the lead for the first time in the race. Gilliland returned to the lead on Lap 51.

Nemechek fell off the pace with power issues and finally came to a stop on the backstretch on Lap 53, which brought out a caution.

Gilliland continued to lead the way on the restart on Lap 57.

Stage 1

Nemechek dominated the first stage, leading all 30 laps on his way to the Stage 1 win over Gilliland.

Chandler Smith was third, Rhodes fourth and Friesen rounded out the top-five.

Nemechek started on the pole and remained out front while race was placed under caution on Lap 6 when Chris Hacker spun and wrecked off Turn 4.

The race returned to green on Lap 9 with Nemechek out front followed by Gilliland and Friesen.

With 10 laps remaining in the first stage, Nemechek had opened a nearly 1-second lead over Gilliland with Chandler Smith in third.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	98	Christian Eckes		Toyota	134	1:54'28.481			4
2	99	Ben Rhodes		Toyota	134	1:54'28.753	0.272	0.272	5
3	88	Matt Crafton		Toyota	134	1:54'29.452	0.971	0.699
4	13	Johnny Sauter		Toyota	134	1:54'29.750	1.269	0.298	2
5	38	Todd Gilliland		Ford	134	1:54'30.169	1.688	0.419	66
6	52	Stewart Friesen		Toyota	134	1:54'30.482	2.001	0.313	1
7	9	Grant Enfinger		Chevrolet	134	1:54'31.225	2.744	0.743
8	22	Austin Wayne Self		Chevrolet	134	1:54'31.660	3.179	0.435
9	40	Ryan Truex		Chevrolet	134	1:54'32.016	3.535	0.356
10	16	Austin Hill		Toyota	134	1:54'32.680	4.199	0.664	12
11	32	Bret Holmes		Chevrolet	134	1:54'33.331	4.850	0.651	1
12	19	Derek Kraus		Toyota	134	1:54'34.366	5.885	1.035
13	23	Chase Purdy		Chevrolet	134	1:54'35.706	7.225	1.340
14	12	Tate Fogleman		Chevrolet	134	1:54'36.137	7.656	0.431	1
15	11	Spencer Davis		Toyota	134	1:54'36.977	8.496	0.840
16	02	Kris Wright		Chevrolet	134	1:54'47.865	19.384	10.888
17	56	Tyler Hill		Chevrolet	133	1:54'02.701	1 Lap	1 Lap
18	30	Danny Bohn		Toyota	133	1:54'39.207	1 Lap	36.506
19	20	Spencer Boyd		Chevrolet	133	1:54'42.604	1 Lap	3.397
20	33	CJ Mclaughlin		Toyota	133	1:54'43.299	1 Lap	0.695
21	34	Dylan Lupton		Toyota	133	1:54'45.159	1 Lap	1.860
22	42	Carson Hocevar		Chevrolet	132	1:54'34.659	2 Laps	1 Lap	8
23	15	Tanner Gray		Ford	132	1:54'37.752	2 Laps	3.093
24	51	Dollar Drew		Toyota	132	1:54'48.775	2 Laps	11.023
25	25	Brett Moffitt		Chevrolet	131	1:54'50.876	3 Laps	1 Lap	1
26	3	Howie Disavino		Chevrolet	130	1:54'50.377	4 Laps	1 Lap
27	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb		Ford	129	1:54'54.713	5 Laps	1 Lap
28	04	Cory Roper		Ford	121	1:54'49.411	13 Laps	8 Laps
29	21	Zane Smith		Chevrolet	115	1:54'43.996	19 Laps	6 Laps
30	24	Jack Wood		Chevrolet	114	1:36'35.932	20 Laps	1 Lap
31	1	Hailie Deegan		Ford	101	1:33'33.871	33 Laps	13 Laps
32	49	Keith McGee		Ford	91	1:30'58.010	43 Laps	10 Laps
33	4	John Hunter Nemechek		Toyota	85	1:54'47.693	49 Laps	6 Laps	33
34	26	Tyler Ankrum		Chevrolet	70	1:01'03.277	64 Laps	15 Laps
35	18	Chandler Smith		Toyota	70	1:01'04.302	64 Laps	1.025
36	2	Sheldon Creed		Chevrolet	70	1:01'06.314	64 Laps	2.012
37	45	Chris Hacker		Chevrolet	6	9'56.515	128 Laps	64 Laps