Christian Eckes Returns to Site of Last Season’s Minnesota Thriller Looking for Redemption

The last time the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards traveled to Minnesota, Christian Eckes and Austin Theriault put on a show bringing the capacity crowd to their feet as the two drivers battled during the final laps delivering an epic photo finish won by Theriault.

Eckes, who led 91-laps on the night, was leading with three laps to go before Theriault moved him out of the way in typical short track fashion on lap 247 of 250. A determined Eckes, looking for his first series victory at the time, returned the favor to Theriault coming out of turn four on the final lap – pulling to the inside as the two drivers drag raced towards the checkered flag setting up the dramatic finish.

“Last year’s race was wild. One of those finishes you’ll always remember,” said Eckes.

A year later, Eckes returns to the northern state looking to take care of unfinished business and capture his second checkered flag of his career in Saturday night’s running of the series’ Sioux Chief PowerPEX 250 at Elko Speedway.

Eckes, 17, broke through earlier this year earning his first career ARCA victory at Salem Speedway. Saturday night he’ll be back behind the wheel of his No.15 JBL Toyota looking to add another piece of hardware to his trophy case.

“Elko is a fun place to race. It’s the smallest track we run but one of the most exciting. You wouldn’t expect it by looking at the place but there’s room to race. There were times last year we took it two and three wide. I’m sure the fans will see another great show.”

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in this team. The guys on the fifteen-car work hard every week and consistently bring a great piece to the track. Everyone on this team wants to win. I think we’ll have a really good shot this weekend.”

The next event for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is the Sioux Chief 250 at Elko Speedway on Saturday July 14. The Sioux Chief PowerPEX 250 is a one-day show, with practice scheduled at 3:15 pm ET/2:15 pm local; General Tire Pole Qualifying is set for 6:45 pm ET/5:45 pm local; and the green flag will wave over the race at 10 pm ET/9 pm local.

The race is scheduled to be televised live on MAVTV; ARCARacing.com will have live timing and scoring and live track updates for all on-track sessions for registered users.

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