Christian Eckes leads every lap en route to Truck Series win at Nashville

The 23 year-old driver from Middletown, New York, led all 150 laps in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway to win his third Truck Series race of the season and extend his points lead over Corey Heim. 

Eckes is the first Truck Series driver to lead every lap in a race since Timothy Peters led all 204 at Bristol in 2012. 

"We felt like we should've won last time out at Gateway and came up a little bit short," Eckes said. "We were really motivated to get this truck better."

In a race that saw an abundance of caution flags, Eckes held off the field on restart after restart, pulling away from the rest of his competitors during the race's final run.

The win is the seventh victory for Eckes since the start of 2023 and it solidifies Eckes as a championship favorite with three races to go in the regular season. 

Eckes wasn't the only driver to put forth a commendable effort at Nashville, however, as 20 year-old Daniel Dye brought home his best career finish on Friday, finishing runner-up to Eckes. 

After a slow pit stop in which both pit crew and driver committed errors, Heim moved from ninth to third in the race's final stage, while Las Vegas winner Rajah Caruth came home fourth. Tyler Ankrum returned to early-season form in Nashville, bringing home a much needed top-five. 

Grant Enfinger and defending Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with Matt Mills, Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia rounding out the top-10. 

After winning the pole for Friday's race, Stewart Friesen slipped to an 11th-place finish and also lost a crucial spot in the playoff standings, with Dye overtaking him for 11th in points. 

While things were perfect for Eckes, tempers flared between Layne Riggs and Stefan Parsons, with the two drivers hitting each other repeatedly in Stage Two. The run-ins eventually culminated in Riggs sending Parsons into the turn four wall, which led to a two-lap penalty being handed down to Riggs for reckless driving.

 As it turns out, Riggs would end up barely besting Parsons on the results sheet, finishing 25th to Parsons' 26th. 

Other notable finishers from Friday's race include Nick Sanchez in 13th, Tanner Gray in 14th, Brenden Queen in 19th, Matt Crafton in 23rd and Frankie Muniz in 31st. 

In his return to the Truck Series, NASCAR veteran Clint Bowyer finished 17th, with substitute driver Dawson Cram finishing 20th in his role as a replacement driver for Faction46. 

The Truck Series' next race will be at the Pocono Raceway on July 12, with Corey Heim looking for redemption after a heartbreaking Pocono loss in 2023. 

The CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono will go green shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET on July 12, with coverage provided on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.