McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Tag

By Kirby Arnold, Special Contributor AVONDALE, Ariz. — Christian Eckes has been here before, victory lane in a championship race at Phoenix Raceway. But then, he hasn’t.  The 23-year-old won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series final race last year on the one-mile oval, but he wasn’t among the four drivers running for the championship. Sweet as it was to win and finish fifth in the standings, he has one focus Friday night when he straps into his McAnally Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado.  Claim the championship.  “We’ve turned it into aRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be the first title fight of the weekend to be settled, as the four remaining drivers in the Playoffs will duke it out Friday night at Phoenix Raceway for the right to hoist the championship trophy when the checkered flag falls. Eight drivers started the Playoffs with a berth in the championship race in mind, but half of them fell by the wayside, leaving Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, and Ty Majeski as the four driversRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Short track tempers flared in Friday night’s Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 at Martinsville Speedway after Christian Eckes moved Taylor Gray out of the way to punch his ticket into the Championship 4 at Phoenix next Friday. The particular move left Gray raging in heartbreak as a race win was his only guaranteed option to fight for a championship. Coming to a restart with five laps remaining, race leader Eckes chose the bottom while Gray chose the outside line to be alongside him. Once theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor LEBANON, Tenn. – The perfect race. Christian Eckes was not to be deterred in Friday night’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, scoring his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of the season. But this time around it was something not seen since 2012. Starting the night in third place, the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet ascended to the top of the scoring pylon off Turn 2 on the first lap and never looked back, leading every single lap from there on outRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After five weeks of frustration, Christian Eckes got the rebound he needed on Friday night at Darlington Raceway.  Leading a race-high 82 of 158 laps, Eckes scored a convincing two-overtime victory in the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, the ninth event on the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule.  The win was Eckes’ second of the season and third of his career. It followed a string of five races in which the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet had finished 30th three times andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HAMPTON, Ga. – Christian Eckes finished where he started Saturday’s Fr8 208 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway—with a lot of turmoil in between.  Eckes claimed his second victory in the series in overtime, choosing the bottom lane and front-row position for a restart on lap 136 of 137.   After leading the first 30-lap stage of the race wire-to-wire, however, Eckes sped on pit road and lost track position. He spent the rest of the event working his way backRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Derek Kraus scored his best career finish in Sunday’s South Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Darlington Raceway, reducing the playoff cutoff gap on Todd Gilliland down to 10 points. Kraus, who drove a throwback of Ron Hornaday’s NAPA scheme, appeared was going to have a modest 147-lap race, battling his former Bill McAnally Racing teammate for the seventh spot. Up to that point, Kraus said his afternoon wasn’t great as track position was hard to come by up until the final stage when his McAnally-Hilgemann RacingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service With the three drivers in front of him opting to pit just before an overtime restart, Ben Rhodes chose to stay on track in the fourth position and held off rookie Derek Kraus, winning Sunday’s South Carolina Education Lottery 200. It was the third NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series win of the 23-year old Kentucky native’s career; the first since 2018. He is the seventh different winner of 2020. “Gosh, that was such a tough win,’’ Rhodes said. “We weren’t the best truck allRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer New high school graduate Derek Kraus put on his best overall performance of his NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series campaign, finishing fifth in Friday’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Kansas Speedway. The Wisconsin racer had to miss his Stratford High School graduation ceremony to compete in the Kansas doubleheader as he entered the first of two 134-lap races outside the top-10 in points after eight races. “I feel like tonight we had a really good run, and it was a special night, forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the first time in nearly 20 years, Bill McAnally will field a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series entry as it was announced Monday that he and businessman Bill Hilgemann formed McAnally-Hilgemann Racing with K&N West champion Derek Kraus running the No. 19 Toyota Tundra on a full-time basis. Kraus ruled the regional level where in 2019 alone, he scored seven Pro Series wins (five in the West) and brought McAnally its ninth series title. Calling the shots for the Stratford, Wisconsin native willRead More