Mark Martin has weighed in about the Craftsman Truck Series elimination race and a controversial finish featuring Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray.
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"Ethics are gone in racing," Martin posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after Eckes moved both Gray and Ben Rhodes out of the way in the closing laps to win his fourth race of the season.
Martin, a Hall of Famer, built a reputation around respect for his fellow drivers and racing cleanly. Kevin Harvick even told Fox Sports that Martin was the "most all-around respected driver" due to how he treated others on the track and in the garage.
Simply put, Martin is uniquely suited to comment on Eckes's moves at the end of the Truck Series race.
He was not giving up this win. @christianeckes wins and locks himself into the #Championship4! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/JXBQWHiGNE
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) November 2, 2024
The situation was simple — Gray could only advance to the Championship 4 by winning the race. Eckes could advance with a top-five finish. He didn't need to win after sweeping the first two stages of the race.
Rhodes was no longer in championship contention, but he could help his teammate Ty Majeski lock up a spot in the finale by preventing another playoff winner from winning.
Gray had the first opportunity. He used much fresher tires to pass Eckes on the outside with five laps remaining. He made slight contact with Eckes's truck while making the pass, but it was still a clean maneuver. Eckes responded by hitting Gray's truck from behind and sending it up the track.
Gray lost multiple spots while Rhodes moved into second place. The ThorSport Racing driver then passed Eckes to take the lead, but he did not remain at the front of the pack. Once again, Eckes used his bumper to punt a fellow driver out of the way.
Taylor Gray is not happy with Christian Eckes. pic.twitter.com/E8kJxHYa4E
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) November 2, 2024
Gray was not happy about the finish of the race. He showed his displeasure by marching all the down pit road and over to the area where Eckes and his team were celebrating.
Gray then asked a very simple question — "What the f*** was that?"
Eckes simply responded by saying, "It's Martinsville." This answer did not sit well with Gray, the driver Eckes eliminated from the playoffs.
"You don't ship him into the fence," Gray said, referencing the way Eckes raced Rhodes. "You race him like I f****** did with you! I f****** barely got you off the bottom with tires! You know how many chances I had to ship you into the f****** fence?"
Gray had multiple chances to move Eckes out of the way as the finish approached. His tires were about 50 laps fresher, and he had one of the only trucks that could keep up on speed.
It would have been easy enough for Gray to just punt Eckes out of the way and win his way into the Championship 4.
As the Tricon Garage driver explained after the race, Martinsville turns into "a joke" late in these races. He didn't want to be the reason the race continued this trend, so he chose to battle his fellow driver cleanly.
This show of respect didn't pay off as Eckes chose to go the physical route. The result was that Eckes took one of the final Championship 4 spots while Gray saw his title dreams fade away. And now Gray can't do anything about it without facing blowback from NASCAR.
"It is Martinsville, I was expecting to get moved," Gray said after the race. "I wasn't expecting to get moved to the fence. Especially, with how I raced him, and he is locked into the final four, so I don't know.
"The only thing he did was put a target on his back, and unfortunately, in this day and age, I can't go to Phoenix and do anything about it to him, because I'm going to go get a $20,000 fine. So he gets away with that crap and doesn't get any repercussion."
