Race Recap | North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black’s Tire

April 19, 2025

No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet

Start: 21st
Stage 1 Finish: 20th
Stage 2 Finish: 27th
Finish: 7th
Josh Williams was running in 22nd when the race’s first caution came out on lap 12. Williams battled his way into 18th before a late wreck in Stage 1 brought out the yellow flag. This allowed the No. 11 team to flip the stage and bring the Alloy Employer Services Chevy down pit road for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment. A chaotic two-lap shootout to the green-white-checkered flag led to a 20th-place stage finish. Firing off for Stage 2 from 10th, Williams lost one spot on the jump but continued to run fast laps throughout. After retaking 10th at the lap-108 caution, Williams brought the No. 11 back down pit road, flipping the stage once again, for four tires and fuel. While on pit road, however, Williams sped, leading to an end-of-line penalty and a 31st-place restart spot. He recovered four positions to finish Stage 2 in 27th. Williams took the green flag for the final 122 laps in 20th place. On the first lap back to green, the No. 11 was tagged by a spinning car, damaging the Chevy’s right side. Williams pitted for tires, fuel, and right-side repairs, and he restarted in 32nd. After three quick, successive yellows, Williams brought the No. 11 into the pits for right-side tires and fuel. He took the green flag in 17th with 86 laps to go. On lap 181, Williams avoided a wreck on the backstretch, and he stayed out under yellow to restart in 16th. After the longest green-flag run of the day, a wreck with under 25 to go reset the field, and Williams pitted for right-side tires, fuel, and a track bar adjustment. He restarted 19th with 18 laps to go and quickly began reclaiming positions before another wreck bunched the field together again. On the green, another crash ensued, and Williams avoided it to jump into 10th, restarting there with four laps remaining. The race’s final incident set up overtime, and Williams restarted in eighth and eventually took the checkered flag running in seventh.

“I feel like all three cars had pretty decent speed today. We had enough speed to get back there at the end of the day… I’d love to be back [at Rockingham Speedway] next year. The fans had to enjoy that one.”

– Josh Williams

No. 10 Champion Container Chevrolet

Start: 27th
Stage 1 Finish: 11th
Stage 2 Finish: 25th
Finish: 9th
Dye struggled with a free-handling No. 10 Champion Container Chevrolet throughout the opening stage. On a different strategy than his two teammates, Dye stayed out during a late-stage caution, hoping for stage points, but came up one position short, crossing the line in 11th. Struggling through traffic, Dye sat 26th when the next caution flag fell on lap 107. He pitted for tires, fuel and adjustments, before finishing Stage 2 in 25th. Dye stayed out to start the final stage in 18th. When a caution came out on lap 157, Dye stayed out, along with teammate Christian Eckes, restarting fifth with 86 laps to go. Fighting to find speed, Dye continued to struggle and eventually spun out on lap 234, acquiring fender damage. He pitted multiple times for repairs, restarting 28th on lap 235. Attrition, caused by multiple cautions, played to the advantage of the No. 10 team, as Dye sat 12th, just 13 laps later, while under caution. Coming to the final restart, Dye cracked the top 10 for the first time of the race, ultimately finishing ninth.

“Pretty miserable day today until the end. We fought really hard to try and find some speed in our No. 10 Champion Container Chevy, but we just struggled. Thankfully with some attrition, we found ourselves 12th lined up on that last restart and snuck our way into the top 10. Pretty big ‘W’ for us, considering how our day went.”

– Daniel Dye

No. 16 Black’s Tire Service Chevrolet

Start: 9th
Stage 1 Finish: 13th
Stage 2 Finish: 14th
Finish: 23rd
Eckes fired off slightly free but was otherwise happy with the handling of the No. 16 Black’s Tire Service Chevrolet. When a late-stage caution came out on lap 51, crew chief Alex Yontz called Eckes to pit road for tires and fuel, before a two-lap dash to the stage flag. Eckes finished Stage 1 in 13th place. Starting the second stage in fourth, Eckes fell a few spots but found his rhythm halfway through the stage. A caution on lap 107 allowed Eckes to pit before the stage end, as the team had its sights set on getting track position for the final stint. Eckes finished the second stage in 14th and stayed out during the break to start the final stage from eighth place. The team took a gamble, deciding not to pit when a caution came out on lap 157, putting Eckes third on the restart with 86 laps to go. He avoided multiple caution-inducing incidents, before ultimately being collected in a wreck coming to the restart with 10 laps remaining. Forced to pit for damage repair, Eckes lost four laps while on pit road and went on to finish 23rd.

“It was a good day until it wasn’t. It was a really good showing for this 16 group, was one of our stronger runs of the year. We chose to give up stage points and keep track position, but in the end, things didn’t go our way. It’s an unfortunate way to finish an otherwise solid day, but we will move on to Talladega, a track where Kaulig Racing typically runs well.”

– Christian Eckes