Christian Eckes

Kaulig Racing
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Eckes makes the move from full-time truck to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2025. The seasoned young driver piled up nine-career victories and 73 Top-10 finishes in his 114-start truck series career. Now Eckes will look to move up to the next division in NASCAR and continue to carve out his reputation and career. He joins Kaulig Racing for 2025 and takes over the championship contending team of the No. 16 Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger piloted this car last season to one victory and 18 Top-10 finishes, coming home an impressive third-place in the championship battle. Certainly, those would be lofty goals for Eckes coming into his new team, but we don't expect to see much drop off as he does have extensive experience on his side. Eckes is a former ARCA Menards Series champion and has shown the ability to win races at nearly every level that he has competed in. Read Past Outlooks
Third in Phoenix Truck Race
Craftsman Truck Series
November 8, 2024
Eckes finished third in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway Friday night.
ANALYSIS
Eckes started fourth on the grid and hoped to leave Arizona Friday night with the truck series championship. He would be a Top-5 driver all evening at the flat short track, but unable to wrestle the lead from the very dominant Ty Majeski. Eckes would pit under the final caution for fresh tires, but it would make no difference and he would hold off Nick Sanchez to earn the strong third-place finish. It was his series-leading 15th Top 5 of the season.
Read More News
Racing Stats
Loading Racing Stats...
Track Stats
Loading Track Stats...
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Christian Eckes See More
NASCAR Draft Kit: 2025 Xfinity Rankings
Yesterday
The full 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver rankings from Mark Taylor, and why this just might be the year for Austin Hill to finally capture that elusive title.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
Things seemingly fell into place for Eckes last season. The young talent nabbed his first multi-win season (four) and racked up 10 Top-5 finishes. Eckes would fall short of the Craftsman Truck Series title, but would still finish a very encouraging fifth in the final driver standings. Now the No. 19 MHR team will look to reload and re-fire in their quest to win the championship. Eckes now has 91 starts in this division of NASCAR and that growing experience is beginning to pay off. His qualifying was greatly improved last season, and it resulted in much better finishes. Eckes will once again be paired with veteran chief Charles Denike and the two will look to continue winning races and advancing towards a championship.
Eckes was very competitive and consistent in the No. 98 team last season. He would grab eight Top-5 and 15 Top-10 finishes, but somehow miss the luck or ingredients to capture a win in 2022. Eckes moves on from that team in the upcoming season and settles in with the No. 19 Chevrolet of McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. This team was fairly competitive last season with Derek Kraus behind the wheel (two pole and seven Top-10 finishes) but Eckes is undeniably an upgrade in the driver's seat. This team has lots of potential and Eckes with the help of crew chief Charles Denike should find that potential in 2023. They should be able to challenge for wins and make a drive into the truck series playoffs.
Eckes shared this ride last season with Grant Enfinger. It was pretty much a 50/50 split of the schedule. The 21-year-old would earn his first-career victory and five Top-10 finishes in just 10 starts. It was a pretty successful campaign and in some ways, Eckes out-shined Enfinger in the driver split. He'll get the No. 98 Toyota all to himself in the upcoming season. It will just be Eckes' second full season of competition in this division of NASCAR. This is a very capable team and Eckes is a proven winner (2019 ARCA Menards Series champion) so they should be a very good combination in the 2022 campaign.
Eckes is a free agent driver in 2021.
The 19-year-old Eckes will be taking on his first full season of truck series competition this year, and he will be one of the top contenders to win Rookie of the Year honors. After two seasons of part-time racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Eckes will get his first full season ride in the No. 18 KBM Toyota Tundra. The youngster grabbed three poles, three Top-5 and four Top-10 finishes in limited action last season (eight starts), and he's poised to do much more in 2020. Veteran crew chief Rudy Fugle will lead the way and Eckes will be expected to do some big things. The 2019 ARCA Series champion has loads of talent, and this spot in the rankings is really the floor as far as potential to perform this season.
More Fantasy News
Wins Martinsville Truck Race
Craftsman Truck Series
November 1, 2024
Eckes won the Zip Buy Now Pay Later 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Friday night.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Captures Martinsville Truck Pole
Craftsman Truck Series
November 1, 2024
Eckes won the pole for Zip Buy Now Pay Later 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Friday afternoon. He turned a fast lap of 96.830 mph.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Leads Martinsville Truck Practice
Craftsman Truck Series
November 1, 2024
Eckes was fastest in Happy Hour practice for Zip Buy Now Pay Later 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Friday afternoon. He turned a fast lap of 94.022 mph.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Third in Kubota Tractor 200
Craftsman Truck Series
September 28, 2024
Eckes finished in the third Kubota Tractor 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway Friday evening.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Runner-up Finish at Richmond
Craftsman Truck Series
August 10, 2024
Eckes finished second in the Clean Harbors 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway Saturday evening.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.