Christian Eckes looks to cap near-perfect season with NASCAR Truck Series championship

There's no doubt that Christian Eckes has been the cream of the crop in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season. 

As good as his main championship rival in Corey Heim has been, Eckes has been right there with him, sometimes even rising above him. 

As Eckes prepares for a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series venture with Kaulig Racing in 2025, he's looking to close out his dominant 2024 Truck Series season with the hardware he was denied a year ago. 

Eckes won the 2023 Truck Series season finale at Phoenix a year ago, but he was knocked out of the playoffs at Homestead-Miami and wasn't eligible for the championship. 

This year, he's put together a season that rivals the best in Truck Series history. Eckes may have two fewer victories on the season than Heim, but his consistency has been unmatched. 

Eckes has only finished outside of the top-10 once in 22 races — a brake failure and subsequent 32nd-place finish at Atlanta on Feb. 24 is the only blemish on an otherwise-perfect season. 

Eckes hasn't just been hanging out in the back half of the top-10, however. He's finished inside the top-five 14 times this year — more than any other driver — and has led 1,050 of the 3,459 laps the Truck Series has run this season, which tabulates to the No. 19 truck leading 30 percent of the circuits run. 

To say it would be disappointing for Eckes to come up shy of the championship would be an understatement, but it wouldn't take away from what has otherwise become the benchmark for a dominant Truck Series season. 

Eckes has decimated the competition throughout the year, and if he can drive the best 150 laps of his life on Friday night, he could add a Truck Series championship to his resume. 

The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship race will go green shortly after 8 p.m. ET on Friday, with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.