2019 has five different drivers competing for the championship, Travis Braden, Michael Self, Bret Holmes, Joe Graf Jr., and Christian Eckes. Come follow each of their journeys this season with our “Five With The Five” where each week we set the timer for five minuets and sit down with them to find out what’s been going on both in and out of the race car.
Next up, Christian Eckes!
Christian: Hello
Andrea: Hey, how’s it going?
Christian: Good, how are you?
Andrea: Good. Just getting everything settled after a busy two weeks.
Christian: Yeah, I gotcha.
Andrea: Right. You don’t really get a break though, it sounds like. You’ve been going nonstop.
Christian: Yeah, I leave for Eldora here in an hour or so.
Andrea: Excited to get back on the dirt I assume?
Christian: Yeah. It’s going to be a lot of fun I think. I mean, I’m not really sure, to be honest. But, yeah, I’ve always had fun in the past. The mile tracks, it’s going to be a little bit different only being half a mile. But, I still look forward to it.
Andrea: Right. Yeah, this is your first time in a truck on dirt, right? Or am I wrong?
Christian: Yeah. It’s the first time.
Andrea: Any nerves there or are you just taking it as it comes.
Christian: Yeah, pretty much. Just kind of going to have a good time if I’m being honest. I think it’ll be okay. I’ve always ranked good with stock cars on dirt. But, obviously, it looks a little bit different than the Springfield’s and stuff, but I’m kind of looking forward to it, getting back with the 51 team in general.
Andrea: Right. Nice!
Did you get to do anything after your win? I know you were busy with trucks after too, is that pretty much all you had time for?
Christian: Not really. I got to qualify and I came back looking for my car in victory lane, it was already gone. It was a little disappointing in that aspect. But, it was cool to win. We went out and qualified the truck in 13th, and it kind of brought me back down to Earth.
Andrea: But, you got up to fourth during the race. That was really fun to watch.
Christian: Yeah, I know. I mean, I knew we had a fast truck, just our car and truck are so different. I went out there and forgot what I was doing.
Andrea: Yeah, I can’t imagine what’s that like, the excitement of winning and then immediately having to go into a truck and-
Christian: Yeah, exactly.
Andrea: What’s your two week break look like?
Christian: I’m going to go to Eldora, I practice tonight, I race tomorrow. Then, I go to Michigan on the 10th, I think, next Saturday. Then, after that’s Springfield [inaudible 00:02:41], Vegas, I think, in the truck, the day before the Salem race. That’ll be a fun weekend.
Then, from there, I don’t even know to be honest.
Andrea: I think that covers the two week break pretty well. You’ll be all around. Not really a break. I was going to ask you since our last race was close to Scranton, PA, and I know you’re an Office fan. Did you go and check it out? Have you ever?
Christian: I’ve been there when I was a kid and stuff, to just go, I don’t know, whatever you want to call it, run errands or something like that.
Andrea: That’s right, you lived close by don’t you?
Christian: Yeah. But, I never really went and looked for the building. One of my friends did, I can’t remember who it was, but somebody went and actually found the building, but no one was there.
Andrea: No way. Really?
Christian: Yeah.
Andrea: Are you crushed that they’re taking it off of Netflix?
Christian: Yeah. But, I mean, it’s probably is good for me. It’ll actually give me some time to do some things instead of watching it all day.
Andrea: I don’t even know how many times I’ve watched it all of that through.
Christian: Yeah, me neither.
Andrea: Although, it took me a while to actually watch past the Steve Carrell seasons, I must say. I haven’t seen those as many.
Christian: Which ones?
Andrea: The ones past Steve Carrell, after he left.
Christian: Oh, yeah, I’m with you on that one. I kind of usually skip after after he leaves.
Andrea: It just changed the feel. It changed the feel and I don’t know, I just stopped watching it.
Christian: It’s not any good anymore. Yeah.
Andrea: So, now back to racing. What’s it look like once you get to Eldora today, straight to the track?
Christian: Yeah, pretty much. We go and practice tonight, I think we practice at 7:00 at night, so that puts it at something like five hours or something. Put a little bit of practice today, and then we have heat races and the race tomorrow.
Andrea: Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, that’s been about five minutes, so I’ll let you enjoy a little bit of downtime before you start a busy weekend.
Christian: All right. Yeah, thanks.
Andrea: Yeah, thanks for chatting with me.
Christian: No problem. I’ll see you later.
Andrea: See you later.
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