XFINITY: Smoke in the cockpit signals early end to Christian Eckes’ race in Texas
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17
Christian Eckes picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #16 Celsius Chevrolet fell out with a blown engine after 47 of 208 laps.
The finish, which came in Eckes’ 12th series start, was his second of the season and first since Homestead, six races ago (LINK). In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 18th for the #16, the 287th from engine problems, and the 662nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 44th for the #16, the 1,153rd from engine issues, and the 1,987th for Chevrolet.
Eckes’ rookie campaign in the XFINITY Series continues to prove a struggle. Following his last-place run in Homestead, he was among the many collected in wrecks during a physical Martinsville race, putting him 34th. He bounced bac with a 7th in Darlington and 9th in Bristol, but wound up 23rd in Rockingham and 25th last Saturday in Talladega. He looked for a turnaround in Texas, where he scored three top-five finishes in five Truck Series starts, including a pair of runner-up finishes to Kyle Busch and Stewart Friesen.
C.J. McLaughlin’s #92 sitting on pit road before qualifying was cancelled on Friday. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
As with the Truck Series, practice and qualifying were washed out by heavy rains through the middle of the week, then weepers just before the rescheduled time trials. This time, it was to the detriment of two teams as 40 drivers had arrived to attempt the 38-car field. Sent home were the first two drivers set to take time – the #74 Realty.com Chevrolet of Dawson Cram – now five DNQs and a withdrawal in their six attempts since their last start at Las Vegas – and the returning #92 Main Street Auto Chevrolet of C.J. McLaughlin.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Garrett Smithley in his #14 Trophy Tractor Chevrolet, and it was a late announcement when 37th-place starter Joey Gase incurred a tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments on the #35 Donate Life Texas Chevrolet. It was Gase who was last across the stripe as the green flag dropped, 4.300 seconds back of the lead to Smithley’s 3.788. Soon after, Smithley also caught and passed 36th-place starter Katherine Legge, putting her #32 Desnuda Tequila Chevrolet back to 37th with Gase behind her by open track.
Still on the opening lap, Eckes’ first altercation came when he bumped 19th-place Ryan Ellis’ #71 Eclipse Claims Consulting Chevrolet in Turn 3, the result of a tight three-wide battle. Ellis regained control, but the caution didn’t fall until Josh Bilicki spun his #91 Rita’s Italian Ice Chevrolet an instant later. For an instant, Gase was still classified last, 11.607 seconds back to Legge’s 9.885, but Bilicki and Ellis immediately took the two spots at the end of Lap 1 with Bilicki 14.620 back in 37th, Ellis now 38th at 20.279 behind the leader. This sent multiple drivers to pit road, including others whose damage wasn’t immediately apparent. Dean Thompson pitted his #26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota for wall contact, forcing his team to repair the car’s alignment and add a packer to keep the splitter off the track. Jeremy Clements had to pit his #51 First Pacific Funding Chevrolet to replace the scoring transponder. And Eckes punched a hole in his right-front fender during the altercation with Ellis, requiring pieces of black bear-bond on the hood of his white Chevrolet. Clements took last from Ellis on Lap 5, followed by Thompson on Lap 6 and Eckes on Lap 7.
The race restarted on Lap 7, only for trouble to break out once again. Just as in yesterday’s Truck Series race, the soaking wet infield grass wreaked havoc with the field. This time, the 3rd-place car of Jesse Love in the #2 Samsara Chevrolet clipped the grass with his left-side tires, sending up a cloud of turf that caused Nick Leitz to check-up in his #07 Priority Tire Chevrolet. This created a chain-reaction 1.261 seconds back of the lead where Sammy Smith’s #8 Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet rear-ended Leland Honeyman, Jr.’s #70 DWC Chevrolet. Smith’s contact pulled Honeyman to the left, hooking Leitz in the left-rear and sending both spinning across the track. Honeyman took the last spot on Lap 8, Leitz now 37th and Eckes now up to 36th. Both beat the pace car back onto the track before a second stop for bear-bond to reshape the body panels on Honeyman’s car. At the time, Honeyman radioed no issues with smoke, and the gauges were fine.
On the Lap 12 restart, Honeyman remained last, 3.861 seconds back of the lead, and NASCAR declared all cars on track met minimum speed. On Lap 14, Gase briefly retook last place before Leitz took it back, 8.890 seconds back of the lead to Gase’s 8.248. The field then strung out, dropping Leitz 12.712 seconds back of the lead on Lap 16, and he radioed his car was tight on the exit of Turn 4. The team then asked Leitz his water temperature, which properly read 190 degrees. Then on Lap 21, the caution fell for a third time when Honeyman bumped Bilicki’s #91 into its second spin, this time off Turn 4 and into the infield grass. This time, it cost Bilicki a lap. Over the radio, Bilicki relayed he was loose all the way through Turns 3 and 4, then again entering Turn 1, before pulling tight off Turn 2. “There is no second lane,” he reported. The team called for four tires, fuel, and “two don on the track bar.”
Bilicki took the Lap 26 restart as the only driver off the lead lap, hoping to score the “Lucky Dog” when Stage 1 ended on Lap 45. But the car was still too loose in Turns 3 and 4 to race aggressively. Ahead of him, Leitz had lost touch with the tail end of the field, and was in danger of losing a lap himself, which would take the “Lucky Dog” from Bilicki. On Lap 39, Bilicki’s spotter radioed that Eckes may be blowing up in Turns 1 and 2. The race remained green, but Eckes now in 26th, was falling rapidly to the rear. He, too, hoped to reach the end of Stage 1. On Lap 42, Leitz was lapped from 37th, and on Lap 45, Eckes was caught by the leaders but managed to hold them off when the caution fell, giving Leitz his lap back.
Under the caution, Eckes was now coughing over the radio from apparent fumes in the cockpit. The team noticed fluid over the rear decklid of the car, and noted the rear bumper was “glazed” with what looked to be oil. The team called him in, believing he dropped a piston. But with just one look at the car, the team, said, “Oh god, it’s internal.” The crew put a blower on the driver’s window to help Eckes breathe, making sure not to aim it at his face. The crew then pushed the car backwards into the garage on Lap 48, and upon losing a second lap on Lap 50 took the last spot from Bilicki. On Lap 54, Eckes’ crew radioed they would try and fix the engine and complete as many laps as possible with the car down a cylinder. But on Lap 58, they changed their mind: “We're done. We're done,” the said. “You can tell him to get out.” NASCAR declared Eckes out on Lap 62.
The hits kept coming the rest of the afternoon, filling the rest of the Bottom Five. Josh Williams took 37th after another grass-related pileup on the Lap 97 restart. Again, the trouble began close to the leaders – this time between Riley Herbst’s #19 Monster Energy Toyota and Corey Day’s #17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet – causing Josh Williams’ #11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet to clipped the turf further back ahead of Anthony Alfredo’s #42 Randco Chevrolet. Williams received the most damage, leaving him 37th. Sheldon Creed’s string of DNFs continued when he slid into Jesse Love off Turn 2 on Lap 104, then slapped the inside wall with the driver’s side. Justin Allgaier’s dominant #7 Jarrett Chevrolet – which still earned the fastest lap of 29.824 seconds (Lap 114) - came to grief on Lap 156 in Turn 4 when he struck a slowing Kris Wright, whose #5 F.N.B. Corporation Chevrolet was wandering from lane to lane for several laps. Honeyman climbed into the Top Ten in the late stages, only to round out the Bottom Five with crash damage in the final laps.
Also flirting with a top-ten finish near the end of the race was Matt DiBenedetto, who climbed as high as 9th after a battle with Jeb Burton before he slipped to 15th at the checkered flag in the #99 ReMA Chevrolet for Viking Motorsports.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place run for the #16 in a XFINITY Series race at Texas.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #16-Christian Eckes / 47 laps / engine
37) #11-Josh Williams / 97 laps / crash
36) #00-Sheldon Creed / 104 laps / crash
35) #7-Justin Allgaier / 155 laps / crash / led 99 laps / won stage 1 / fastest lap (29.824)
34) #70-Leland Honeyman, Jr. / 165 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing (3)
2nd) Alpha Prime Racing, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, Our Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Young’s Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (8)
2nd) Toyota (4)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
