Christian Eckes scored his first career ARCA Racing Series victory Sunday afternoon at Indiana’s Salem Speedway. Photo: ARCA Media
It was one for the ages, especially for Christian Eckes who held off a hungry pack over the final 50 laps to earn his career-first ARCA Racing Series victory Sunday afternoon at Indiana’s Salem Speedway.
Eckes, in the No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, first fought off Zane Smith, then held back the nonstop hard charge from Chandler Smith to win the 103rd running of the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200.
“I can’t believe this…I really can’t,” said Eckes. “This is the biggest win of my life. This is Salem. It’s so hard to win here. I have no words to describe how relieved I am right now and how much this means to me.”
Eckes’s Venturini crew got him out first during the final stop during which the leaders took four tires for the thrilling run to checkers.
“This Venturini pit crew won this race…they got us out first. As a whole, we executed perfectly today. There have been so many…so many seconds. To finally get this victory…it’s the biggest one of my career.”
It also turned out to be a duel for the record books when polesitter Chandler Smith, of Jasper, Georgia, finally cleared Zane Smith with 30 laps to go and tracked down the eventual winner for the nail-biting battle to the checkers. Despite being inside of Eckes at least a half-dozen times or working over the leader’s left rear corner, Eckes somehow maintained his composure and kept the lead as the two front-runners danced in and out of lapped cars to the end.
“It’s hard…so hard to look up in the mirror and see that black car charging the way he did,” Eckes said. “I have no idea how we held him off for so long…what a day. This is a genuinely tough track to get around…it’s just a great day.”
With the white flag in the air, Smith followed in the immediate tire tracks of Eckes as both charged into turn one inches apart. Then, in an instant, Smith’s right-front tire went down as his Toyota slid up the banking and smashed into the wall while Eckes sailed off toward the checkered flag.
Zane Smith held off his MDM Motorsports teammate Sheldon Creed to finish second.
“We just managed tires all day,” said Zane Smith. “We put on four at the end, and it was time to go. We were riding behind the 15 (Eckes) and got a little tight late, center. Really good points day…it was a lot of fun.”
Creed came home third, with Josh Berry in fourth and Chase Purdy in fifth.
Riley Herbst, Gus Dean, Colby Howard, Brandon Grosso and Chandler Smith rounded out the top ten.
Thirteen lead changes among four drivers kept things busy up front while Chandler Smith led the most with 117 laps led of 200. Eckes was second on the lap leader chart with 72. Five cautions slowed the pace for 40 laps.
The next event for the ARCA Racing Series is the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway Friday afternoon, April 27.
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Salem Speedway – Salem, IN
Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 – April 22, 2018
1. Christian Eckes
2. Zane Smith
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Josh Berry
5. Chase Purdy
6. Riley Herbst
7. Gus Dean
8. Colby Howard
9. Brandon Grosso
10. Chandler Smith
11. Joseph Graf, Jr.
12. Will Kimmel
13. Bret Holmes
14. Travis Braden
15. Mike Basham
16. Thad Moffitt
17. Natalie Decker
18. Jack Dossey III
19. Thomas Praytor
20. Sale Shearer
21. Con Nicolopoulos
22. Dick Doheny
23. Matt Dooley
24. Mark Meunier
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