Christian Eckes may have won the battle, which was Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway, but his path to victory increased the intrinsic difficulty of why the war will be won, which is the championship of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Although the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado led 187 of the 200 laps in Friday night’s race at Martinsville, he found himself at a tire disadvantage to Taylor Gray, who was looking to secure a championship lead. 4 with a victory. Gray, who lined up alongside Eckes on the final restart of the race, passed Eckes to take the race lead into Turns 1 and 2, and looked like he was on his way to a surprising victory that would secure him a spot in the Championship 4.

But Eckes had other thoughts.

The driver of the No. 19 Chevrolet body slammed into the side of Gray’s No. 17 truck, sending Gray onto the track and out of contention for the win. Ben Rhodes then assumed the lead, but Rhodes would suffer a similar fate as Eckes would run his No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford off the road with two laps remaining.

With Rhodes and Gray eliminated, Eckes was able to cap off his dominant race with his fourth win of the season as he crossed the finish line 1.191 seconds ahead of Rhodes, while Chase Purdy, Taylor Purdy and Nick Sanchez rounded out the top five. finishers.

Here’s a replay of the final five laps of Friday night’s race.:

As Eckes performed his recovery lap, Gray showed his displeasure by making contact with him on the track. Gray then drove away and parked on pit road while Eckes celebrated the victory.

After scoring the victory, the ninth of the New York native’s career in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Eckes downplayed the contact with Gray and said he simply refused to lose a race he had dominated as much as he did Friday. the night.

“It feels great. Like I told everyone, I wasn’t going to let us lose this race, the truck was too good,” Eckes said. “17 (Taylor Gray) was a tough race, but I feel bad for 99 (Ben Rhodes). I just got too loose going into the corner, everyone is very happy with me, but I don’t care. Thank you. Everyone for work hard and we will continue until Phoenix.

After getting out of his truck, Gray then made a b-line to Eckes, where he took on the winner of the race. in the makeshift victory lane on the frontstretch of the 0.526-mile short track.

After a quick but heated conversation, Gray returned to his truck where he began to reflect on how he lost the race on Friday night. Gray was particularly upset because he felt he had a fair run with Eckes and simply expected the same in return.

“I ran 19 (Christian Eckes) cleanly in (turns) one and two on the restart and times before that. It was on tires. I barely touched it,” Gray explained. “I drove under it and the warning came out. Very clean for Martinsville, especially because of the tire advantage. I could have gone into (turn) one and run it completely off the road and not worry about it. I ran with him cleanly. “I didn’t want to be that guy in Martinsville.”

Gray said he expected to get a push from behind as he passed Eckes on the final restart, but the driver of the No. 17 truck says he didn’t expect the level of contact he received from behind.

“We went into the restart and ran him clean through (turns) one and two. We got him out of (turn) two, and he goes into (turn) three and sends me completely into the fence. Now, granted, it’s Martinsville, I expected to be moved, I didn’t expect to be moved to the fence, especially the way I competed with him and he’s locked in the final four, so I don’t know.”

With the victory, Eckes joins Grant Enfinger, who won the first two races of the round of 16 of the PlayoffsCorey Heim, who finished seventh, and Ty Majeski, who came home 11th, into the Championship 4 field and will compete in next Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway for the title. However, as Gray pointed out, Eckes, by winning stages 1 and 2 early in the race, was essentially locked into Championship 4 anyway.

Eckes won the race, but now faces the possibility of retaliation next weekend in Phoenix.

“The only thing it did was put a target on his back,” Gray fumed before explaining, “and unfortunately, and today I can’t go to Phoenix and do anything to him about it, because I’m going to get fined $20,000.” , so that he can get away with it and not have any repercussions.”

While Gray says Friday night that he won’t go to Phoenix looking to retaliate, Rhodes, a two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and runner-up, who also got a shove from Eckes in the closing laps, says Gray has a reason to be. angry, and whether Gray retaliates or not, Eckes is at the mercy of what Gray decides to do next.

“When you’re locked in and you run really hard and you make enemies like Taylor Gray, that’s a big deal because (Gray) isn’t going to Phoenix (with a chance to win a championship) now and I think Christian still would have done it. He made it.” points and will be at Taylor’s mercy next week,” Rhodes explained. “So what I’m trying to point out is that you really need to do some serious racing when you want to win championships. That’s what we did in our two championships, we weren’t the most dominant truck, but we tried to do it.” “We played the game the best we could, the best we could and we were able to get it done.”

Can Eckes take home a championship next week at Phoenix Raceway? Time will tell.

Friday night’s race served as an end to championship hopes for Gray and three other drivers. Joining Gray on the outside looking toward the Playoff cut line after Friday night’s race were Nick Sanchez (finished fifth), Tyler Ankrum (eighth) and Rajah Caruth (31st). Caruth suffered a brake issue early in the event, forcing him to take the No. 71 Spire Motorsports truck to the garage for repairs, effectively ending his hopes of advancing to the Championship 4.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race is scheduled for Friday, November 8. That race will be televised on FS1 with coverage beginning at 8:00 pm ET. Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.