Christian Eckes

Christian D. Eckes (pronounced "eck-iss") (born November 10, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 18 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Eckes is the 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion, and also won the Snowball Derby in 2016 and was formerly a development driver for JR Motorsports and then Toyota.

Racing career
Eckes grew up in Middletown, New York. He began racing Legends Cars at thirteen years old. He later moved up to racing late model stock cars and super late models.

In 2015, Eckes began racing late models for JR Motorsports, as well as super late models for LFR Chassis as one of their driver development program drivers.

In April 2016, Eckes made his ARCA Racing Series debut at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Tennessee, driving for Venturini Motorsports. He finished eighth, the only top-ten in four ARCA races that year. Eckes also made his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East debut at Dominion Raceway. He ran two more events that year, at Columbus Motor Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

He won three races in a row to end the season, one at Myrtle Beach Speedway, at Southern National Motorsports Park and the Snowball Derby, at Five Flags Speedway. At the Snowball Derby, Eckes won over John Hunter Nemechek. Although some reports pegged him as the youngest winner, those reports were erroneous, as Chase Elliott won the event in 2011 at age fifteen while Eckes was sixteen when he triumphed.

In December 2016, Eckes and Venturini announced nine ARCA races in 2017.

In July 2017, Eckes and Venturini re-signed for an enlarged ARCA schedule in 2018 that included fifteen races. He triumphed for the first time at Salem Speedway in April 2018. Eckes kept fellow Venturini Motorsports driver Chandler Smith at bay over the closing portion of the race to secure the victory. He followed up with wins at Illinois State Fairgrounds and Indianapolis Raceway Park during the year.

In the week following the win, Eckes landed a deal with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team Kyle Busch Motorsports to drive the team's No. 46 entry in four races in the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, starting at Iowa Speedway in June. On October 24, 2018, it was announced that Eckes would run the No. 15 full-time for Venturini Motorsports in 2019. Despite missing the Salem Speedway race in April due to a esophageal tear in his trachea, he went on to win the 2019 ARCA Menards Series championship with four wins, 13 top fives, and 17 top tens in 19 starts. Eckes was the first ARCA champion to not run every race since Tim Steele in 1997.

During the 2019 season, he ran seven races in the Truck Series with KBM in the No. 51. The following year, he joined the team's No. 18 for the full 2020 Truck season. Eckes made the NASCAR playoffs but was eliminated after the first round; at Texas in October, Eckes was intentionally spun by Ben Rhodes, eliminating Eckes from the race. He later confronted Rhodes and had a verbal and physical confrontation. He finished with a winless season and an eighth-place finish in the standings.

In 2021, Eckes was replaced in the No. 18 by his KBM teammate Chandler Smith, who will run his first full season in the Truck Series after driving their Nos. 46 and 51 part-time in 2019 and 2020.

Personal life
Eckes attended George Washington University Online High School.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

K&N Pro Series East
$$ Season still in progress $1$ Ineligible for series points

ARCA Menards Series
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )