When Kaulig Racing informed AJ Allmendinger he was returning to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025, the 43-year-old was put on the recruitment trail to find his replacement for the organization’s No. 16 Xfinity Series entry.
One name tipped the scale.
Christian Eckes was amid the most consistent full-time Craftsman Truck Series season of all time. Aside from winning four races, he ended his second year with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing with an astounding 5.4 average finish, earning 22 top-10 finishes in 23 races, including 21 straight to end the season. It was an obvious decision for Kaulig Racing.
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“My biggest push to Matt [Kaulig, owner] and Chris [Rice, team president] was, first, what is the direction that they want Kaulig Racing to be?” Allmendinger said. “If that direction is to bring in younger guys that could be the future of the race team, then that was the thing to do.
“Chris asked me a lot of who would be on the short list that you want here. Christian was the guy that I said, ‘If he’s available, we should get him.’ Christian has shown the last couple of years that he can be a superstar in the sport, and I was really hoping that he would be here.”
To get the call made the previous seven years worth it for Eckes, which included four full-time seasons and three partial schedules in the Truck Series.
Eckes doesn’t usually describe himself as patient. However, endurance and capitalizing on opportunities helped net the 24-year-old an Xfinity Series gig.
“It was starting to get to the point where I was getting a little bit concerned about it,” Eckes told NASCAR.com of his racing progression. “Not necessarily getting stuck, but not knowing what that next opportunity was going to come or if I was just going to be a truck guy. At the time, I was OK with it, but luckily, this opportunity came up. With the last two years being successful, there are more opportunities that arose and conversations.
“A couple of years ago, I probably would have said that I would be truck racing for the rest of my life.”
The McAnally opportunity was a way for Eckes to reinvent himself. He weighed his options before committing to Kaulig, but it was a relief to know opportunities were presenting themselves to advance up the proverbial racing ladder.
“It reminded me a lot of [McAnally] in a way,” Eckes said of Kaulig. “There are a lot of good people, a lot of good things. They kind of had a down year last year, and I felt like I could come and hopefully make a little bit of a difference. Being part of not necessarily a rebuild, but a reinvention and being part of growth is the biggest thing for me.”
While some drivers rush to the Xfinity Series, Eckes admits he wouldn’t have been ready for this opportunity if it came early in his career. He grasped valuable life lessons on his journey to Kaulig.
“You learn a lot when you go through things like losing your ride, going to different teams in different situations, not only about racing but life and everything else,” Eckes said. “Definitely wouldn’t change those experiences for the world, even though they were tough at the time.”
Before a late January test at Rockingham Speedway, Eckes never strapped into an Xfinity car. Those laps ahead of the 2025 season kicking off were paramount, acquainting him with his No. 16 team.
Eckes has leaned heavily on Allmendinger to adjust to the series, with Allmendinger competing in a pair of Championship 4 races in three full-time Xfinity seasons with Kaulig.
“I feel like we talk a lot,” Allmendinger said. “I’ve made it clear to all these guys that are my teammates, I’m always going to have an open door, open-book policy. I’m never going to force myself on you. There are certain guys that don’t want to talk to you, and it’s not my job to force my way in there. He’s talked to me a lot, and I’ll answer the phone every time that he calls me.”
Rice didn’t know anything about Eckes before honing in on him. He found himself up late at night watching YouTube videos of Eckes’ demeanor. He quickly realized that Eckes was “way better and different than I thought he was.”
Through the opening eight races, the No. 16 team has had a roller-coaster season. Before Darlington Raceway last week, the team shifted to a new motto of being looser throughout the weekend. The description? Limp Bizkit to Bob Marley.
MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule
“I knew this year was going to be tough in Xfinity for him,” Rice said. “We started out good, but not great; we haven’t had the finishes. We know that we have a lot of future in our young guys, and that’s what is key. We’ve got to have some future. AJ does an amazing job, but you can’t sit on your hands and wait for someone to come to you. You’ve got to go get them, and that’s what we did with Christian.”
Eckes doesn’t consider himself a goal-setter but wants to see development throughout the season from himself and the No. 16 team.
“I want to see progression more than anything going into 2026,” he said. “Going race to race, if we can say we’re better, we’re going to be fine and in contention. That’s the biggest thing for me is seeing solid, steady improvement.”
With a seventh-place finish and tallying 43 points at Darlington, Eckes gained 17 points on the elimination line, slotting in 15th in the regular season standings. Eckes and the No. 16 team will next race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
