XFINITY: Blown engine hands Christian Eckes first career NASCAR last-place finish
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: David PeQueen, @CarSDS2078
Christian Eckes picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Hard Rock Bet 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his #16 Campers Inn RV Mobile Medic Chevrolet lost the engine after 16 of 201 laps.
The finish came in Eckes’ sixth series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 17th for the #16, the 285th from engine trouble, and the 657th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 43rd for the #16, the 1,150th from an engine, and the 1,978th for Chevrolet.
Last year, Eckes enjoyed the best season of his Truck Series career, storming to four wins, 15 top-five finishes and earning a Top Ten in every race but the season’s second round in Atlanta. That was an off-day for the entire McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team, where Eckes still led 20 laps before his brakes failed. Even then, he avoided a last-place finish, as he has in his 114 career starts dating back to his sterling 8th-place debut at Iowa in 2018. Still, a 3rd-place finish in the “all-or-nothing” championship race handed the Truck Series title to Ty Majeski.
Now, the 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion embarks on his first XFINITY Series starts, competing full-time in a competitive rookie class. His ride is with Kaulig Racing, replacing last fall’s Las Vegas winner A.J. Allmendinger who’s returned to full-time Cup racing. In these early weeks of the season, Eckes has qualified in the Top 20 every week and earned a season-best 5th at COTA. But just like last year, the Atlanta track was a challenge – this time a last-lap accident that dropped him from 9th to 29th.
At Homestead, Eckes was one of 39 entries attempting the 38-car field. He ranked 24th in opening practice, then found speed in qualifying, jumping to 5th on the grid with a lap of 33.234 seconds (162.484 mph). The lone DNQ was Dawson Cram, whose Mike Harmon owned #74 Realty.com Chevrolet ranked 33rd in practice and made slight contact with the wall, but came up just 0.11 second short of a spot in the field.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Brandon Jones, whose #20 Menards / KlearVue Toyota was the only car to not take time. Jones’ Joe Gibbs Racing crew discovered an oil leak traced to an O-ring failure, requiring repairs that kept them from taking a timed lap. Jones incurred a redundant tail-end penalty, but looked to be fast with a 15th-best lap in practice. While Jones trailed the outside line, two others dropped back to trail the inside: 27th-place Ryan Sieg, whose unsponsored #28 RSS Racing Ford had multiple failures in inspection, and the 11th-place #11 StarTron Chevrolet, one of Eckes’ teammates at Kaulig Racing. Struggling from pneumonia since COTA, driver Josh Williams handed the wheel to Ty Dillon, who ran 2nd-fastest to Kyle Larson in opening practice and qualified just 0.053 second outside the Top 10. “I'll do my best in here for you guys,” said Williams before the start. “I'll hold up my end of the deal.”
When the race started, the outside line got a better run, pulling Jones (3.547 seconds back of the leader) ahead of both Williams (3.621) and Kyle Sieg (3.819). This occurred despite a stack-up midway through the pack, where 14th-place starter Carson Kvapil’s #1 Bass Pro Shops / Clarience Tech Chevrolet had to turn right to avoid running into the back of 12th-place Harrison Burton, whose #25 DEX Imaging Ford either missed a shift or spun its tires at the start. As NASCAR reviewed the start, the last spot fell to Kris Wright in the #5 First National Bank Corp Chevrolet, 5.024 seconds back of the lead.
But on Lap 2, NASCAR penalized Kvapil for his move on Burton, which the crew objected to as the move was needed to avoid the second first-lap wreck of the weekend. But on Lap 3, the team called Kvapil in to serve his pass-through penalty, and the #1 took the last spot from Wright on Lap 4. On Lap 5, Kvapil was shown 14.816 seconds back of the lead, then 28.298 back on Lap 6, about 17 seconds behind the now 37th-place Wright. By Lap 9, Kvapil was turning in laps more than a second faster than Wright, but by Lap 11 was still 30.446 seconds back of the lead. The crew told Kvapil that teammate Justin Allgaier was moving to the high lane around the track. On Lap 14, Wright gained three spots, leap-frogging to 34th ahead of the now 35th-place Mason Maggio in the #53, 36th-place Garrett Smithley in the #14, and 37th-place Joey Gase in the #35. Gase was now less than 10 seconds ahead of the fast-closing Kvapil. But the #1 was still in last place when he was told a car was smoking on the inside of Turns 1 and 2.
PHOTO: David PeQueen, @CarSDS2078
This, unfortunately, was Eckes, whose car erupted in smoke behind the front wheels as he pulled to the apron on Lap 17. Under the ensuing caution, Eckes made it to pit road and on Lap 18 dropped to last place as Kvapil made up the rest of his deficit to Gase. Eckes’ crew wasn’t sure if their issue was terminal until other crew members made it to the garage area. By Lap 21, they determined they were done, and NASCAR declared him the first driver out on Lap 34.
PHOTO: Stephen Stumpf, @stephen_stumpf
Finishing 37th was Corey Heim, who for the second time in less than 24 hours dealt with a sputtering engine. This time, the issue arose early in Stage 1, and his #24 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota dropped out with electrical issues. The same issue also befell Matt DiBenedetto, last fall’s last-place finisher at Homestead, who qualified a sterling 10th in Viking Motorports’ #99 Chevrolet only to pull behind the wall in the closing laps. Maggio’s #53 finished the last car under power in 35th, five laps down. One lap ahead of him was Leland Honeyman, Jr., who in the closing laps of Stage 1 charged as high as 3rd in his #70 Mr. Wizzleman Fast Lane Drive Chevrolet before he got into the wall in Stage 2, dropping him off the lead lap.
RSS Racing nearly takes the victory in Stage 1
In the ongoing saga of RSS Racing and the Sieg brothers, both Ryan and Kyle Sieg once again overcame adversity and battled among the leaders. Kyle Sieg overcame his pre-race penalty to nearly win Stage 1 before a last-lap pass by Sammy Smith left him 2nd in the running order. Ryan finished right behind Kyle in 3rd before a flat tire forced him to pit road, dropping him to 22nd. Kyle finished 27th.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #16 in a XFINITY Series race at Homestead. The number’s most recent XFINITY last-place run came last fall at Martinsville, where A.J. Allmendinger crashed after 13 laps on November 2, 2024.
*In these first six races, five of the last-place finishers are all full-time competitors for this year’s Rookie of the Year: Daniel Dye (Daytona), Taylor Gray (Atlanta), Dean Thompson (Phoenix), and William Sawalich (Las Vegas). The lone exception has been Cup regular Carson Hocevar at COTA, a last-minute substitute for series veteran Garrett Smithley.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #16-Christian Ekes / 16 laps / engine
37) #24-Corey Heim / 57 laps / electrical
36) #99-Matt DiBenedetto / 179 laps / electrical
35) #53-Mason Maggio / 196 laps / running
34) #70-Leland Honeyman, Jr. / 196 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing (2)
2nd) Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (3)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
