By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
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.
Interview:
NCTS Race Winner – Chandler Smith (No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford) –
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Weather Guard Truck Race
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Friday, April 11, 2025
1. (3) Chandler Smith, Ford, 250.
2. (11) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 250.
3. (4) Corey Heim, Toyota, 250.
4. (2) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 250.
5. (6) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 250.
6. (9) Layne Riggs, Ford, 250.
7. (5) Jake Garcia, Ford, 250.
8. (22) Kaden Honeycutt, Chevrolet, 250.
9. (12) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 250.
10. (14) Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, 250.
11. (19) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 250.
12. (24) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 250.
13. (1) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 250.
14. (35) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 250.
15. (29) Corey Day(i), Chevrolet, 250.
16. (27) Matt Crafton, Ford, 250.
17. (16) Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, 250.
18. (17) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 250.
19. (10) Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, 250.
20. (15) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 249.
21. (31) Tyler Tomassi(i), Ford, 246.
22. (21) Luke Fenhaus, Ford, 243.
23. (20) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Suspension, 237.
24. (25) Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, 234.
25. (28) Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, 227.
26. (23) Justin Carroll, Toyota, 222.
27. (7) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, Suspension, 201.
28. (30) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 155.
29. (26) Patrick Staropoli(i), Toyota, Transmission, 107.
30. (18) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, Handling, 77.
31. (33) Frankie Muniz #, Ford, DVP, 76.
32. (13) Brandon Jones(i), Toyota, Accident, 53.
33. (8) Ty Majeski, Ford, Accident, 52.
34. (34) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Handling, 35.
35. (32) Stephen Mallozzi, Ford, Electrical, 4.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 72.32 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 50 Mins, 33 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.934 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 66 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 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.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chandler Smith 2 times for 127 laps; Rajah Caruth 1 time for 85 laps; Corey Heim 2 times for 16 laps; Bayley Currey 1 time for 14 laps; Daniel Hemric 1 time for 8 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 38,99,18,34,19,07,88,7,13,71
Stage #2 Top Ten: 44,38,45,11,15,18,88,13,99,7
