April 10, 2026 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Christopher Bell mounts late charge to win NASCAR Trucks race at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn.—Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell was thrilled to have an opportunity to drive the No.  62 Halmar Friesen Toyota in Friday night’s Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After crossing the finish line first, he had reason to be positively elated.

Corey Heim, on the other hand, had 350,000 reasons to be disappointed, after his dream of completing the Triple Truck Challenge — and earning a $350,000 bonus — ended prematurely against the Turn 1 wall.

Bell grabbed the lead from Christian Eckes on Lap 188 of 250 and held it the rest of the way, with Chandler Smith moving into second after a subsequent restart on Lap 224 and chasing Bell to the checkered flag.

Finishing 0.330 seconds ahead of Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Bell scored his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory since 2017, his first the 0.533-mile short track and the eighth of his career.

Bell was enlisted to substitute for injured Stewart Friesen in last year’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. On Friday night, he raced as Friesen’s teammate and finished three positions better than he had at the Upstate New York road course.

“Oh, man, that was just so awesome to win a truck race,” Bell said. “It’s been since 2017 that I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this group. I got the unfortunate call last year to drive for Stewart when he was hurt, went up to Watkins Glen and almost got it.

“They’ve been working really hard to get to Victory Lane. Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins, they mean a lot to this team, this organization.”

The most recent Cup Series winner at Thunder Valley, Bell will race Sunday in the Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Heim’s bid for an extra $350,000 ($500,000 total) for a third straight Triple Truck Challenge victory ended abruptly on Lap180, moments after he had muscled past Christian Eckes to lead his only lap of the race.

Contact from Eckes’ front bumper to the right rear of Heim’s No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota sent Heim spinning into the outside wall. Pole winner Kaden Honeycutt T-boned into Heim’s Tundra, with the No. 34 Ford of two-time Bristol winner Layne Riggs nosing into Honeycutt’s truck in a chain-reaction collision.

TRICON teammates Heim and Honeycutt exited the race under the resulting red flag. With the single lap led to his credit, Heim has now led the last 30 straight Truck Series races he has entered, but that was no consolation for losing the $350,000 bonus he would have collected for winning the race.

“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything,” Heim said graciously of the contact from Eckes’ Chevrolet. “I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix-up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck.

“I had an issue with my transmission sticking into gears, and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free. I just packed some air and got him free. I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it.

“I’ve been racing him for a long time, and I don’t think he would do that on purpose, so we are all good.”

After losing ground on the final restart, Eckes finished fifth behind Bell, Smith, Giovanni Ruggiero and Cup driver Ross Chastain. Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar and rookie Brenden Queen completed the top 10.

The race featured nine cautions for 76 laps. Eckes led a race-high 132 laps to Bell’s 63 and won the first stage. Ben Rhodes stayed out under caution on Lap 122 and claimed the Stage 2 win.



NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 6
Race Results for the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 - Friday, April 10, 2026
Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN - 0.533 - Mile Concrete

Total Race Length - 250 Laps - 133.25 Miles


                                                     Stage 1   Stage 2  
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Pts  Pos            Pos  Status Tms Laps

1 15 62 Christopher Bell(i) Halmar Infrastructure Development Toyota 250 5 0 Running 1 63
2 16 38 Chandler Smith QuickTie Ford 250 35 Running
3 10 17 Giovanni Ruggiero First Auto Group Toyota 250 7 38 Running
4 11 45 Ross Chastain(i) J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet 250 9 0 Running
5 2 91 Christian Eckes Columbia Bank Chevrolet 250 1 6 48 Running 3 132
6 5 98 Jake Garcia Quanta Services/Curb Records Ford 250 5 9 39 Running
7 34 26 Dawson Sutton Tennessee VOLS Chevrolet 250 30 Running
8 8 7 Kyle Busch(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 250 10 2 0 Running 1 39
9 7 77 Carson Hocevar(i) Delaware Life Chevrolet 250 6 0 Running
10 28 12 Brenden Queen # Cummins RAM 250 27 Running
11 9 99 Ben Rhodes Bommarito Ford 250 4 1 43 Running 1 13
12 23 19 Daniel Hemric Arnott Suspension Parts Chevrolet 250 25 Running
13 20 18 Tyler Ankrum Ullico Chevrolet 250 24 Running
14 4 5 Chase Briscoe(i) Hasty Bake/Mobil 1 Toyota 250 8 0 Running
15 14 16 Justin Haley Declaration of Deals Sales Event RAM 250 3 30 Running
16 13 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 250 21 Running
17 27 44 Andres Perez De Lara Telcel Chevrolet 250 20 Running
18 36 71 Daniel Suarez(i) Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 250 0 Running
19 26 14 Mini Tyrrell # Ram's Race for the Seat RAM 250 18 Running
20 22 15 Tanner Gray Place of Hope Toyota 250 17 Running
21 29 25 Carson Ferguson Ram Trucks RAM 250 16 Running
22 3 34 Layne Riggs Love's Travel Stops Ford 249 2 10 25 Running
23 6 88 Ty Majeski Paslode/Menards Ford 248 14 Running
24 33 76 Spencer Boyd Desnuda Organic Tequila Chevrolet 247 13 Running
25 25 81 Kris Wright F.N.B. Corporation/iHeart Radio Chevrolet 247 12 Running
26 21 4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr(i) Comprehensive Vehicle Logistics Chevrolet 247 0 Running
27 18 9 Grant Enfinger Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 243 10 Running
28 17 13 Cole Butcher # Atlantic Tilt Load Ford 241 9 Running
29 19 10 Corey LaJoie Mopar RAM 214 7 12 Accident
30 12 1 Corey Heim Celsius Toyota 179 4 14 Accident 1 1
31 1 11 Kaden Honeycutt Safelite Toyota 179 3 8 17 Accident 1 2
32 30 2 Luke Baldwin Ford Racing Ford 178 5 Accident
33 35 56 Timmy Hill UNITS Toyota 120 4 Accident
34 24 42 Tyler Reif Precision Vehicle Logistics Chevrolet 117 3 Accident
35 31 33 Frankie Muniz Malcolm in the Middle Life's Still Unfair Ford 115 2 Accident
36 32 22 Clayton Green Badass Workbench Ford 103 1 Too Slow

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 59 Mins, 58 Secs. Average Speed: 66.644 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.330 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 91, 34, 11, 99, 98, 77, 17, 5, 45, 7
Stage 2 Top 10: 99, 7, 16, 1, 62, 91, 10, 11, 98, 34

Race Comments: Christopher Bell has won the Tennessee Army National Guard 250, his eighth career victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: Nos. 56, 26 & 71 (unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 9 for 76 laps; Laps: 17-22 (No. 44 Spin Turn 4 [None]); 67-78 (Stage 1 Conclusion [33]); 119-127 (Nos. 33,42 & 56 Incident Turn 3  [None]); 132-141 (Stage 2 Conclusion  [44]); 147-153 (No. 15, 44, 14 & 25 Turn 2 [25]); 157-164 (No. 13, 4 and 16 Incident Turn 2 [25]); 170-178 (No. 2 & 10  Incident Turn 4 [13]); 181-187 (Nos. 1, 91, 11 & 34 Incident Turn 1 [76]); 216-223 (No. 10 Spin Turn 4 [34]).

Lead Changes: 7 among 6 drivers; K. Honeycutt 1-2; C. Eckes 3-122; B. Rhodes 123-135; K. Busch(i) 136-174; C. Eckes 175-178; C. Heim 179; C. Eckes 180-187; C. Bell(i) 188-250.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: May 1, 2026 - Texas Motor Speedway

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CURRENT NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES STANDINGS

NOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL

1. Chandler Smith 38 6 3 208 0 0 1 1
2. Kaden Honeycutt 11 6 0 207 -1 1 0 1
3. Corey Heim 1 4 -2 204 -4 3 2 3
4. Layne Riggs 34 6 -1 204 -4 0 1 1
5. Christian Eckes 91 6 2 191 -17 13 0 2
6. Giovanni Ruggiero 17 6 0 187 -21 4 0 0
7. Ty Majeski 88 6 -2 182 -26 5 0 0
8. Ben Rhodes 99 6 0 181 -27 1 0 2
9. Jake Garcia 98 6 4 146 -62 35 0 0
10. Justin Haley 16 6 0 144 -64 2 0 0
11. Stewart Friesen 52 6 -2 140 -68 4 0 1
12. Tyler Ankrum 18 6 -1 137 -71 3 0 0
13. Tanner Gray 15 6 1 123 -85 14 0 0
14. Brenden Queen # 12 6 3 120 -88 3 0 0
15. Grant Enfinger 9 6 -3 119 -89 1 0 0
16. Daniel Hemric 19 6 2 116 -92 3 0 0
17. Andres Perez De Lara 44 6 -2 115 -93 1 0 0
18. Cole Butcher # 13 6 -2 104 -104 11 0 0
19. Dawson Sutton 26 6 6 89 -119 15 0 0
20. Kris Wright 81 6 0 83 -125 6 0 0