Chandler Smith tops NASCAR Trucks at Bristol
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
BRISTOL, Tenn. — After charging into the lead in Friday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chandler Smith’s work was far from over.
The driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford then had to hold off NASCAR Cup Series moonlighter Kyle Larson over a seven-lap dash to the finish to claim his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory of the season, his second at the 0.533-mile short track and the sixth of his career.
Smith also won the $50,000 Triple Truck Challenge bonus that goes to the highest-finishing NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular.
Smith’s victory by 0.934 seconds over Larson ended the latter’s quest for a weekend sweep of NASCAR’s three national series races. Even though Larson had 27-lap fresher tires than the race winner for a restart on Lap 244 of 250, he could do no better than second.
“I’m more excited for the team than I am for myself,” said Smith, whose tenure in No. 38 F-150 came in an 11th-hour deal at season’s end. “This group came together—we hired my crew chief (Jon Leonard) two weeks before Daytona…
“My life’s been really, really crazy recently, and there were a lot of unknowns about my future going into the season, and we kind of had our backs against the wall putting this group together like I said. But holy (crap), I wouldn’t want any different of a group than I had behind me.”
Smith grabbed the lead from eventual third-place finisher Corey Heim just before a caution flag flew on Lap 237 for Andres Perez’s spin on the backstretch. That gave Smith control of the race for the final restart, and he promptly asserted himself from the top lane.
After overcoming a tight handling condition in the second stage and a pit road speeding penalty at the stage break, Larson took the green flag behind Smith on Lap 243 and quickly passed Heim for second, but the driver of the No. 07 Spire Motorsports couldn’t catch Smith, despite trying different lines around the concrete oval.
“We fell back on that long run in the second stage—got super tight,” said Larson, who pitted on Lap 162 for fresh rubber after putting 27 laps on the tires he got on Lap 135 during the stage break. “Then I sped on pit road, but on that next stop, I think that probably helped us…
“We had a little bit of an advantage to get toward the front. I thought it would be more of an advantage than it was. But still, I think it was a benefit to our race… Still, to get to second is good.”
The second place finish was not good enough to keep Larson’s hope of the weekend sweep alive, however, he’ll have two more chances at victory this weekend with Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race and Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
Tyler Ankrum ran fourth, followed by Ben Rhodes. Bayley Currey picked up the first stage win of his career in Stage 2 before falling out with transmission trouble 13 laps from the finish.
Smith led twice for a race-high 127 laps, followed by Rajah Caruth, who was out front for 85 circuits on a contrary tire strategy.
Reigning series champion Ty Majeski was eliminated in a Lap 53 crash involving Frankie Muniz, Stewart Friesen and Brandon Jones.
Heim leads Smith by 18 points in the series standings, with Majeski 57 points back in third.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 6
Race Results for the Weather Guard Truck Race - Friday, April 11, 2025
Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN - 0.533 - Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 250 Laps - 133.25 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 4/11/2025 @ 10:29 PM Eastern
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 3 38 Chandler Smith QuickTie Ford 250 1 2 59 Running 2 127 6
2 11 07 Kyle Larson(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 250 6 0 Running
3 4 11 Corey Heim Safelite Toyota 250 4 41 Running 2 16
4 2 18 Tyler Ankrum Ullico Chevrolet 250 3 6 46 Running
5 6 99 Ben Rhodes Bommarito Automotive Group Ford 250 2 9 43 Running
6 9 34 Layne Riggs Love's RV STOP Ford 250 4 38 Running
7 5 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 250 9 8 35 Running
8 22 45 Kaden Honeycutt DQS/Masked Owl Technologies Chevrolet 250 3 37 Running
9 12 71 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 250 10 29 Running 1 85
10 14 17 Giovanni Ruggiero # First Auto Group Toyota 250 27 Running
11 19 91 Jack Wood Motion Industries Chevrolet 250 26 Running
12 24 9 Grant Enfinger Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 250 25 Running
13 1 19 Daniel Hemric NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 250 5 30 Running 1 8
14 35 75 Parker Kligerman Food Country USA Chevrolet 250 23 Running
15 29 7 Corey Day(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 250 8 10 0 Running
16 27 88 Matt Crafton Great Lakes Flooring/Menards Ford 250 7 7 29 Running
17 16 26 Dawson Sutton # Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 250 20 Running
18 17 15 Tanner Gray Place of Hope Toyota 250 5 25 Running
19 10 77 Andres Perez De Lara # Telcel Chevrolet 250 18 Running
20 15 42 Matt Mills Utilitra/J.F. Electric Chevrolet 249 17 Running
21 31 22 Tyler Tomassi(i) FNF Family of Companies Ford 246 0 Running
22 21 66 Luke Fenhaus Soda Sense Ford 243 15 Running
23 20 44 Bayley Currey Masked Owl Technologies/DQS Chevrolet 237 1 24 Suspension 1 14 1
24 25 81 Connor Mosack # Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Chevrolet 234 13 Running
25 28 5 Toni Breidinger # TRICON Toyota 227 12 Running
26 23 90 Justin Carroll Carroll's Automotive Toyota 222 11 Running
27 7 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 201 10 Suspension
28 30 02 Nathan Byrd Timothy Plan Chevrolet 155 9 Brakes
29 26 84 Patrick Staropoli(i) Syfovre Toyota 107 0 Transmission
30 18 76 Spencer Boyd Camp Cowboy Chevrolet 77 7 Handling
31 33 33 Frankie Muniz # PBZ OTC Ford 76 6 DVP
32 13 1 Brandon Jones(i) uArkansas College of Eng Toyota 53 0 Accident
33 8 98 Ty Majeski Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford 52 4 Accident
34 34 6 Norm Benning MDIA Inc Chevrolet 35 3 Handling
35 32 2 Stephen Mallozzi More Core Ford 4 2 Electrical
Fastest Lap Bonus: 07 246 / 15.381
# lap
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 50 Mins, 33 Secs. Average Speed: 72.32 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.934 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 38, 99, 18, 34, 19, 07, 88, 7, 13, 71
Stage 2 Top 10: 44, 38, 45, 11, 15, 18, 88, 13, 99, 7
Race Comments: Chandler Smith has won the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, his sixth career victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. No cars started at the rear prior to the start of the race.
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 8 for 66 laps; Laps: 18-24 (#81 Spin Turn 4 [33]); 54-63 (#1, 33, 52, 98 Incident Turn 4 [22]); 67-77 (Stage 1 Conclusion [81]); 80-85 (#71 Spin Turn 1 [81]); 132-141 (Stage 2 Conclusion [5]); 161-167 (#5, 52 Incident Turn 4 [34]); 228-236 (Weather - Rain [26]); 238-243 (#77 Incident Backstretch [42]).
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers; D. Hemric 1-8; C. Smith 9-121; B. Currey 122-135; C. Heim 136; R. Caruth 137-221; C. Heim 222-236; C. Smith 237-250.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: April 18, 2025 - Rockingham Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Points Report
Bristol Motor Speedway
Weather Guard Truck Race
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 4/11/2025 @ 10:30 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. Corey Heim 11 6 0 270 0 0 2 4 14
2. Chandler Smith 38 6 -1 252 -18 18 1 1 6
3. Ty Majeski 98 6 1 213 -57 39 0 1 1
4. Tyler Ankrum 18 6 -2 210 -60 3 0 1 1
5. Daniel Hemric 19 6 1 205 -65 5 1 0 5
6. Layne Riggs 34 6 -2 186 -84 19 0 0 0
7. Grant Enfinger 9 6 0 182 -88 4 0 0 0
8. Stewart Friesen 52 6 3 177 -93 5 0 0 0
9. Ben Rhodes 99 6 -1 174 -96 3 0 1 1
10. Jake Garcia 13 6 1 172 -98 2 0 0 0
11. Kaden Honeycutt 45 6 0 167 -103 5 0 0 0
12. Tanner Gray 15 6 0 148 -122 19 0 0 0
13. Giovanni Ruggiero # 17 6 0 146 -124 2 0 0 0
14. Rajah Caruth 71 6 -1 126 -144 20 0 0 0
15. Matt Crafton 88 6 -2 126 -144 0 0 1 1
16. Jack Wood 91 6 -2 117 -153 9 0 1 1
17. Andres Perez De Lara # 77 6 1 115 -155 2 0 0 0
18. Matt Mills 42 6 4 115 -155 0 0 0 0
19. Dawson Sutton # 26 6 -1 105 -165 10 0 0 0
20. Connor Mosack # 81 6 1 103 -167 2 0 0 0
21. Bayley Currey 44 4 -1 92 -178 11 0 1 0
22. Spencer Boyd 76 6 1 84 -186 8 0 0 0
23. Frankie Muniz # 33 6 0 74 -196 10 0 0 0
24. Toni Breidinger # 5 6 0 74 -196 0 0 0 0
25. Luke Fenhaus 66 4 0 69 -201 5 0 0 0
26. Nathan Byrd 02 6 -1 48 -222 21 0 0 0
27. Josh Reaume 3 1 47 -223 1 0 0 0
28. Justin Carroll 90 3 -3 39 -231 8 0 0 0
29. Lawless Alan 1 1 31 -239 8 0 0 0
30. Jason White 1 1 29 -241 2 0 0 0
31. Johnny Sauter 1 1 29 -241 0 0 0 0
32. Norm Benning 6 3 -1 27 -243 2 0 0 0
33. Timmy Hill 1 1 26 -244 1 0 0 0
34. Parker Kligerman 75 2 -11 24 -246 2 0 0 0
35. Stefan Parsons 1 1 19 -251 5 0 0 0
36. Luke Baldwin 1 1 15 -255 4 0 0 0
37. Matthew Gould 1 1 14 -256 1 0 0 0
38. Keith Mcgee 2 1 12 -258 2 0 0 0
39. Stephen Mallozzi 2 3 1 11 -259 1 0 0 0
40. Cody Dennison 1 1 7 -263 4 0 0 0
41. Michel Disdier 1 1 6 -264 1 0 0 0
42. Alan Waller 1 1 6 -264 0 0 0 0
43. Akinori Ogata 1 1 5 -265 1 0 0 0
44. Clay Greenfield 1 1 4 -266 1 0 0 0
45. Ryan Roulette 1 1 2 -268 2 0 0 0
46. Kyle Busch(i) 1 0 0 -270 2 1 1 0
47. Kyle Larson(i) 07 2 0 0 -270 0 1 0 0
48. Justin Haley(i) 2 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
49. Ross Chastain(i) 1 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
50. William Sawalich(i) 3 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
51. Michael Mcdowell(i) 2 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
52. Brandon Jones(i) 1 2 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
53. William Byron(i) 1 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
54. Corey Day(i) 7 4 -1 0 -270 0 0 0 0
55. Mason Maggio(i) 1 1 0 -270 0 0 0 0
56. Patrick Staropoli(i) 84 2 0 0 -270 0 0 0 0
57. Tyler Tomassi(i) 22 1 57 0 -270 0 0 0 0
58. Bryan Dauzat 0 1 0 -270 0 0 0 0
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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