Race Recap | Focused Health 250

• Start: 10th
• Stage 1 Finish: 7th
• Stage 2 Finish: 26th
• Finish: 5th
• Firing off strong in the No. 16 Celsius Chevy, Eckes quickly overtook ninth place before the first caution on lap four. On the restart, Eckes narrowly avoided a pileup in front of him but sustained minor left-front fender damage. He remained in the top 10 and managed to finish the stage in seventh. While exiting pit road, Eckes acquired a speeding penalty, and crew chief Alex Yontz turned the infraction into an advantage; the No. 16 team fully taped up the Celsius Chevy’s fender when it came back down pit road. Working his way up the field, the No. 51 car cleared itself across the nose of the No. 16 car, damaging its right-front fender. With a plan in place to flip the stage, Eckes was told to keep the nose clean for the remaining nine laps of the second stage. Despite the damage, Eckes charged forward back into the top 20, before short pitting with four to go. After finishing the second stage in 26th, Eckes stayed out and started the final stage from 11th, quickly racing his way back up to eighth place. He fought his way through the top 10, taking over fifth place with two laps to go, where he finished the race.

“Today was a tough one – I made a couple mistakes and sped on pit road, which put us behind. We got a little damage going back through the field, but I can’t say enough about this No. 16 team. Our Celsius Chevrolet was super fast today. I think we really had a shot at it today and had a decent comeback.”

– Christian Eckes

No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet

• Start: 21st
• Stage 1 Finish: 15th
• Stage 2 Finish: 8th
• Finish: 15th
• Williams’ race fired off moderately strong, making up four positions by the end of lap two. The No. 11 Alloy Employer Services team planned to stay out until the lap-20 caution, hoping to collect stage points from the leaders’ short-pit sequence, but the yellow flag flew on lap 17 and prematurely ended Stage 1. After a full-service pit stop, Williams restarted in 19th and ran there until another caution came out midway through Stage 2. Crew chief Eddie Pardue decided to keep Williams on track, keeping the team on a two-stop strategy that eventually led to three stage points. He pitted for tires, fuel, and a rear air pressure adjustment, restarting in 20th for the final stage. With slightly fresher tires and a car suited for longer runs, Williams began picking off cars one-by-one. He gained five spots over the final 10 laps to take the checkered flag in 15th.

“Good, solid race. Fought a bit of an engine miss throughout it, but we kept fighting and picked up spots at the end. Happy with the finish, looking forward to getting to Phoenix.”

– Josh Williams

No. 10 Heise LED Lighting Systems Chevrolet

• Start: 15th
• Stage 1 Finish: 12th
• Stage 2 Finish: 2nd
• Finish: 17th
• Firing off tight in the No. 10 Heise LED Lighting Systems Chevy, Dye kept the car clean and improved three positions, finishing the opening stage in 12th. Crew chief Kevin Walter made the call for full service and chassis adjustments to give the No. 10 Chevy more front cut. In Stage 2, Dye was told to focus on stage points and took advantage of those who flipped the stage. He finished the stage in second, his best stage finish to date. Dye pitted for more of the same adjustments to start the final stage from 19th. He continued to make improvements as the final stage went caution free, finishing 17th.

“Not exactly the finish we wanted today, but all in all, we had a good points day in this No. 10 Heise LED Lighting Systems Chevy. We fought tight in the first stage and went for stage points in the second stage, which cost us track position going into the final stage. From there we just struggled to get back through traffic.”