Christian Eckes got some sweet redemption on Saturday night, holding off Kyle Busch in a thrilling finish to win the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The victory helped erase the bitter memory of last year’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoff race at Bristol, where Eckes gave up the lead to Corey Heim with just six laps remaining and missed making the Championship 4.

This time, Eckes passed Busch for the lead on lap 159 and never relinquished it over the final 92 laps despite Busch’s furious charge in the closing circuits. Eckes took the checkered flag just 0.141 seconds ahead of the Truck Series’ all-time wins leader.

“Oh man, it’s so sweet,” said Eckes, who recorded his first win of 2024, first at Bristol, and sixth career Truck triumph. “There’s just so much behind this win from last year, missing out on the Championship 4 and losing that race with six to go. To come back and redeem ourselves was our number one goal.”

After struggling mightily in the first three races of 2024, Eckes credited the resilience of his No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Racing team for bouncing back with the season’s biggest win so far. He also extended Chevrolet’s early season Truck Series winning streak to four races.

Busch was left to lament not being able to practice on the same tire compound he raced on, preventing him from dialing in his setup perfectly for the race conditions. Still, he whittled Eckes’ lead down to virtually nothing over the final run.

“I let him go early in that run to just go burn his stuff up and take the lead with track position at the end,” Busch explained. “But the aero effects (didn’t allow me to pass). Just didn’t have enough on the race track to outduel him.”

Zane Smith finished third, followed by Matt Crafton in fourth and points leader Tyler Ankrum in fifth, extending his advantage over Corey Heim to 17 points. Heim, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger, and rookie Layne Riggs rounded out the top 10.