(KANSAS CITY, KS) -- When Christian Eckes finally emerged from the confetti showered upon him, he emerged an ARCA champion. Eckes, the youngest series champion at just 18 years, 11 months and 8 days overcame a veterans' heap of adversity to claimehe 2019 ARCA Menards Series title with a second half surge in Friday night's ARCA Kansas 150 to win the race and edge teammate Michael Self by 25 points.
Missing a race earlier due to an illness? No problem for Eckes. Moving to the back of the field because of a post-qualifying engine change? That didn't phase him either.
"It's been a dream year," Eckes said, "We've been through some highs and some lows, but today has definitely been a high.
While Eckes wasted little time cracking the top ten, Self dominated the first portion of the race, collecting five bonus points. A Drew Dollar caution on lap 40 erased Self's lead, but a stellar pit stop put Self in front of Eckes' on the restart. Self once again checked out, only to have his lead erased, again, when Tim Richmond spun on lap 52.
Eckes' learned from his mistake on the previous restart and took the lead from Self with under 40 to go and never looked back en route to the title.
"I tried something different there at the first restart and it did not work at all. The second restart, I got through the gears really good, took the lead and never looked back," Eckes said.
Self settled for second, Ty Majeski finished third. Brett Holmes and Travis Braden also notched top five finishes. Tanner Gray, Drew Dollar, Hailie Deegan, Joe Graf. Jr and Gus Dean rounded out the top ten.
Self finishes his 2019 season just shy of his ultimate goal, but did compile four wins, 14 top fives and 15 top tens. Self hinted during his Friday afternoon media availability that his 2020 plans were up in the air.
"I have a ton of respect for him and I really he races next year. He's a great driver," Eckes said of Self.
Eckes' finishes his championship campaign with four wins, 13 top-fives and 17 top tens. He also finished the season on a stretch of seven consecutive top-two finishes. Eckes' looks to be on the shorthand of candidates to replace Harrison Burton in Kyle Busch Motorsports' #18 Gander Outdoor Truck Series entry.
"I've got a couple things in the works, but nothing solidified yet. Hopefully this kind of helps that out a little bit, but you never know," Eckes said.
Results: 1. Christian Eckes, 2. Michael Self. 3. Ty Majeski, 4. Bret Holmes, 5. Travis Braden, 6. Tanner Gray, 7. Drew Dollar, 8. Hailie Deegan, 9. Joe Graf. Jr, 10. Gus Dean, 11. Sheldon Creed, 12. Harrison Burton, 13. Carson Ware, 14. Scott Melton, 15. Ed Pompa, 16. Riley Herbst, 17. Tim Richmond, 18. Eric Caudell, 19. Tommy Vigh. Jr. 20. Brad Smith, 21. Dick Doheny, 22 Wayne Peterson
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