Chandler Smith put on a dominant performance in the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday night, securing his second-career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at the Tennessee short track.
Smith led much of the first half of the race and surged back to the front late to claim victory in the No. 38 QuickTie Parts Ford F-150. The win was particularly meaningful for Smith, who praised his newly formed team.
“I’m more excited for this team than for myself,” he said. “We hired my crew chief just three weeks before Daytona. This group came together last minute, but I wouldn’t want any other team behind me. The truck was on a rail tonight.”
With the win, Smith also earned a $50,000 bonus through the Triple Truck Challenge.
“I forgot about that. That’s just the cherry on top,” he added.
Cup Series regular Kyle Larson recovered from a mid-race pit-road speeding penalty to finish second. Corey Heim took third, followed by Tyler Ankrum in fourth and Ben Rhodes in fifth.
Rajah Caruth led a large portion of the second half after staying out on older tires during a lap-142 restart. He maintained the lead through another caution at lap 160 but was eventually passed by Heim and Smith on lap 223. Caruth made a final pit stop under caution for light rain on lap 228 and battled back to finish ninth.
A late caution for Bayley Currey’s transmission failure set up a final restart with Smith retaking the lead from Heim, while Larson grabbed second place with six laps to go.
Smith had already won Stage 1, taking the lead from pole-sitter
on lap nine and holding it through a green-flag sprint after a lap-53 caution involving Stewart Friesen, Brandon Jones, Ty Majeski, and Frankie Muniz.
Jones, who showed early speed, was frustrated after the wreck.
“I was hauling butt until I wasn’t,” he said. “We had a fast truck. We moved up quickly from 13th to the top five. I got caught in traffic, and it looked like Frankie didn’t commit to a line and turned across Majeski’s nose.”
Ben Rhodes passed Ankrum on the final restart of Stage 1 to take second.
Earlier in the race, Connor Mosack spun after contact with Tanner Gray on lap 17.
Bayley Currey won Stage 2 on lap 130, making a strong push on fresh tires after pitting late in Stage 1. He passed Ankrum for second on lap 107 and took the lead from Smith on lap 122.
A caution in Stage 2 came when Caruth spun after contact from Kaden Honeycutt on lap 79.
Rounding out the top 10 were Layne Riggs in sixth, Jake Garcia in seventh, Honeycutt in eighth, and Gio Ruggiero in tenth.
