Christian Eckes comes into Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway 38 points above the Playoff cut line. However, the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver will be in a prime position to lock in his Championship 4 berth with a win, rather than pointing his way in.
On Friday afternoon, Eckes secured the pole position for Friday night’s race with a qualifying lap time of 19.556 seconds (96.830 mph). Eckes, who has three wins this season, took his third pole position of the campaign by a margin of 0.005 seconds over Ty Majeski.
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Eckes, who will move to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time in 2025 with Kaulig Racing, is now a nine-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole award winner following this latest pole-winning run.
Majeski, like Eckes, is looking to secure his spot in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4 this weekend and comes into the race 22 points above the cutline.
Another Playoff contender, Taylor Gray will start from the third starting spot in the No. 17 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra. Gray would wipe out a 24-point deficit to the cutline if he could pick up his first career win on Friday evening at Martinsville Speedway.
Nick Sanchez secured the all-Playoff driver sweep of the front two rows for Friday night’s race as he took the fourth starting spot with his No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet Silverado.
Layne Riggs, Ben Rhodes, Corey Heim, Chase Purdy, Kaden Honeycutt, and Jack Wood rounded out the top 10 qualifiers for Friday night’s event at Martinsville.
Johnny Sauter, who was originally slated to run this race in the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises entry but was thrust into a spot behind the wheel of the No. 66 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 following a suspension handed out to Conner Jones following last week’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, qualified 13th.
Right behind Sauter on the scoring sheet was Landen Lewis. Lewis took over the reins of the No. 16 Hattori truck on incredibly short notice and pulled off a solid 14th-place qualifying run.
Matt Mills, who spent two days in the hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation in a vicious crash last weekend which led to Jones’ suspension, will start from the 21st position in Friday night’s race in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado. On Friday Mills revealed that he has yet to return texts and calls from Jones, who has attempted to apologize for last week’s incident.
