Christian Eckes’ debut at Portland International Raceway (PIR) resulted in a 14th-place finish on Friday evening at the 1.96-mile road course. The driver of the No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet SS made his second ARCA Menards Series West (AMSW) start with BMR on Friday evening.
Eckes began the day posting the sixth-fastest time in the morning practice session but was unable to qualify to due an oil leak. He took the green flag from the 16th position and instantly drove the NAPA Auto Care Chevy towards the front. Eckes joined the top 10 on the opening lap and advanced towards the top five as the first stint wore on. After the race’s first caution, Eckes utilized the restart on lap 19 to jump from sixth to fourth and into contention. However, an oil leak resurfaced during a caution at the halfway point and forced Eckes to the attention of the BMR team on pit road. After repairs were made, Eckes returned to the track two laps down and finished 14th.
Christian Eckes Quote:
“Tough way to end the day, for sure. The NAPA Auto Care Chevy had decent speed to drive up to fourth. I would have liked to see what we could have done with the top-three on another restart. It was good to get some laps, and will for sure help us in the Xfinity car on Saturday.”
MHR PR