Christian Eckes had the race lead with under 10 laps to go in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but the ThorSport Racing driver made a misjudgement on where Kyle Busch — his former boss — was on the backstretch.
Eckes attempted to cut down the track to block a run by Busch, but Eckes was not clear and caught the front end of Busch’s No. 51 truck. The two made contact and Eckes spun hard into the inside wall.
Replay: Christian Eckes goes around after a battle for the lead with Kyle Busch! pic.twitter.com/eRYRWyUBtF
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 5, 2022
Eckes’ night was done. During the crash, Eckes’ spotter Chris Monez took blame for the incident as he cleared Eckes, when Eckes clearly wasn’t clear.
Following the race, Eckes spoke to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports after his infield care center visit, where Eckes said he didn’t blame Busch for the incident and that he would have done the same.
Christian Eckes on the wreck battling Kyle Busch: “I felt like I was clear there. I got called clear. I went down to block and he held his line and wrecked us. But it is what it is. I would have done the same thing if I was him.” pic.twitter.com/kcjMkhpmSL
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 5, 2022