The summer stretch of the season has featured Christian Eckes overcoming an unexpected hurdle. He has raced with a Grade 3 lateral sprain in his left foot.
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The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver sustained the injury while leaving the inaugural race weekend on Naval Base Coronado. He underwent evaluation at the infield care center and then left Southern California on crutches.
Yet, this injury remained under wraps until the trip to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. It was there that Fox Sports' Josh Sims revealed Eckes was racing with an injury. Though the team did not bring in a backup driver for the road course.
Eckes, who returned to MHR this season for his revenge tour, had an eventful afternoon at Lime Rock Park. He started 13th and then dealt with an ill-handling truck during the first stage of the road course race.
Once he headed down pit road for adjustments, he went out for stage 2 and tried to gain track position. This did not happen initially. He had to take a trip through the grass to avoid a wreck, which covered the grille of the No. 91 Chevrolet. This forced Eckes to make three pit stops to clear the debris and cycle cool water through the truck.
Contact with teammate Kris Wright then led to a cut tire and another unplanned pit stop. This dropped Eckes further back in the field, but he rebounded in the closing laps. He raced his way through the field to a fifth-place finish and moved to fourth in the Truck Series standings.
"Yeah, it was a good day overall," Eckes said after the race. "For sure, that did not feel great the last 20 (laps). Super proud of the NAPA Auto Care team. We had a really rough day between pitting because the grille was full, a bunch of stuff happened.
"I can't even remember all the stuff that happened. Just overall proud of the effort. Proud of the McAnally-Hilgemann team as a whole for coming back but definitely need to be better."
The season then continued with a trip to a short track — Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. This race did not proceed as planned, but Eckes still accomplished one goal. He locked up his spot in The Chase.
The MHR driver qualified fourth at the short track last weekend, and he raced inside the top five before an oil leak sent him behind the wall for repairs. He finished the race in the 33rd position, but he still secured his spot in the postseason.
Now, he will be able to compete for a championship when The Chase begins at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 17, and he will be fully recovered from the ankle sprain.
