No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet
Start: Third
Stage 1 Finish: 20th
Stage 2 Finish: 22nd
Finish: 12th
Eckes, who raced the first 20 laps of the race in the top 10, sustained nose damage on a restart with five laps remaining in the opening stage. Throughout the second stage, the team utilized cautions to repair the nose of the No. 16 Celsius Chevy, managing to stay on the lead lap. During the final stage, the field began making green-flag pit stops. As Eckes pitted, a timely caution came out, allowing him to pit for fuel only and rejoin the field in ninth place with the track position he needed with 25 laps remaining. An overtime-inducing caution collected Eckes, along with many others, who had nowhere to go. Eckes was able to pit for tires and repairs to restart 22nd for the first overtime attempt. As chaos ensued when the white flag waved, the race was official, and Eckes was scored 12th.
“Not the way we hoped our debut would go. The guys did a great job fixing the nose damage from early in the race, and we finally got some track position back towards the end. Unfortunately we just couldn’t avoid the chaos coming to the line. A lot of fight from the No. 16 team, and I’m excited for what’s to come this season.” – Christian Eckes
No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet
Start: 21st
Stage 1 Finish: 19th
Stage 2 Finish: 20th
Finish: 20th
Josh Williams’ race was relatively tame up until the closing laps. After the conclusion of Stage 1, he restarted in sixth due to a strategy decision to short pit, and he made his way into the top five before being shuffled to the rear of the lead group. Williams pitted during the second stage break for tires and fuel, restarting in 17th. During an extended run under green, he came down pit road for his final scheduled start before a caution came out mid-cycle, putting the No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevy on the back foot with 33 laps remaining. Williams’ mid-pack restart led to stagnation until the race’s closing laps. He restarted after a late caution in 15th with three laps to go. Williams fired off for overtime from ninth place, but a last-lap melee took away a potential top-five finish from the No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevy.
“I wanted to run the race in a way that put ourselves in position to have a good finish. Sometimes, you just get right-reared, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s time to go to Atlanta and try it again. I can’t believe we made it that long until the big one. That was impressive.” – Josh Williams
No. 10 Champion Container Chevrolet
Start: 12th
Stage 1 Finish: 38th
Stage 2 Finish: 38th
Finish: 38th
During the fifth lap of the race, an early wreck collected Dye with nowhere to go from the top lane. He was relegated to a 38th-place finish
About Kaulig Racing
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 23 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries, with a part-time fourth entry at select events. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
