Teammates Christian Eckes and Josh Berry battled for the win in the closing laps, but Eckes prevailed as the two drivers traded paint in a photofinish in Saturday night’s Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
The two JR Motorsports drivers both got around Lee Pulliam in the closing stages and Eckes quickly reeled his JR Motorsports teammate in. On the final lap, Eckes got to the inside of Berry and the two raced side-by-side. Coming out of turn four, Eckes and Berry made contact coming to the line.
For Eckes, who won the race, it was just good hard racing.
“We definitely did what we had to do,” Eckes said. “It was coming to the checkers at the Myrtle Beach 400. He would have done the same thing. I’m just really proud of our JR Motorsports team. We fought all year long trying to get a big win, a win period. We just haven’t had the good luck. Finally, it all came together and we won the Myrtle Beach 400.”
Berry was displeased with the way Eckes drove him on the final lap.
“He did a good job, he had a good car all weekend,” Berry said. “He got outdrove and he put us in the wall at the end. He got outdrove all year and he finally put one together and the only way he was going to beat me was slamming me into the fence. He tore up two good racecars but he doesn’t have to work to fix them like I do. I don’t really have anything nice to say other than that.”
Eckes has had strong runs both in Late Model Stock Car racing and Super Late Model racing in 2016 but was never able to score a victory until Saturday night. Like Myatt Snider the year before, he scored his first win of the season in one of the biggest races of the season.
“I really just can’t even believe it,” Eckes remarked. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m sitting in victory lane with a trophy right now. It’s different. I haven’t done that in a while. I just can’t believe it.”
Lee Pulliam finished third in Saturday night’s race after dominating much of the second half of the race, battling with Berry for the lead. Berry finally got around Pulliam on a restart with 18 laps to go, proving to be Pulliam’s undoing.
“We were terrible all day yesterday and the guys never gave up,” Pulliam said. “We overhauled this thing and ran a package I’ve never run here before. It got too tight. [Snider] ran me too hard there at the beginning of the second half and I ended up burning the right front off.
“The guy wanted to know if I was riding or not and I couldn’t tell them, I was giving it everything I had. Just sucks, came up one restart short.”
Justin Milliken finished in fourth while Myatt Snider finished in fifth.
Attrition took its toll on several proverbial contenders all race long. Tommy Lemons, Jr., who entered the race as a favorite after winning the Icebreaker 200 back in February, blew a motor on lap 149 while running in the top-five. Meanwhile, Brian Vause broke an axle while running second on a restart on lap 112.
Heartbreak also hit Justin Johnson, who fell out with mechanical problems late in the race while having a strong run. Strong runs were also soured late in the race for Sam Yarbrough and Greg Edwards.
Unofficial Results
- Christian Eckes
- Josh Berry
- Lee Pulliam
- Justin Milliken
- Myatt Snider
- Trey Gibson
- Brenden Queen
- Chad McCumbee
- Kason Plott
- Tyler Hughes
- Anthony Anders
- RA Brown
- Neil Meredith
- Austin McDaniel
- Jerry Miracle
- Mike Looney
- Greg Edwards
- Jason York
- Dexter Canipe, Jr.
- David Roberts
- Danny Edwards, Jr.
- Sam Yarbrough
- Devin O’Connell
- Ryan Millington
- Blair Addis
- Matt Cox
- Justin Johnson
- Dylan Hall
- Michael Hardin
- Jamie Weatherford
- Willie Grainger
- Shane Lee
- Tommy Lemons, Jr.
- Annabeth Barnes-Crum
- Brian Vause
- Tyler English
- Matt Leicht
- Lucas Williams
- Macy Causey
- RD Smith
- Dylan Smith
- Matt Bowling
- Anthony Alfredo
