Chandler Smith holds off Kyle Larson to win NASCAR Trucks at Bristol

Chandler Smith was flying near the end of the NASCAR Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. But even after taking the lead on pure pace, he still had to fend off a charging Kyle Larson in the closing laps, which he did masterfully. Along with the checkered flag, Smith also collects a $50,000 bonus as part of the ‘Triple Truck Challenge’ incentive program.

“I’m more excited for this team than I am for myself,” said Smith, who now has six wins in the NASCAR Truck Series. “We hired my crew chief like three weeks before Daytona. Take that in for a second. This group just got assembled literally in January. The good Lord works in mysterious ways.”

He went on to speak on the uncertainties surrounding his career during the off-season. “My life has been really, really crazy here recently and there were a lot of unknowns about my future going into this season. We kind of had our backs against the wall about just putting the group together last minute. But holy sh*t I wouldn’t want any different of a group behind me. This No. 38 Ford F-150 was on a damn rail tonight.”

The battle for the win

Rajah Caruth took over the lead with a risky move to stay out at the start of the final stage with tires 54 laps older than those around him. He did a great job holding onto the race lead until 28 laps to go when Corey Heim finally found a way by on the outside. Smith followed suit and immediately started harassing Heim for the race lead. However, a caution was suddenly waved for light rain around the half-mile oval, disrupting their battle.

After a few laps behind the pace car, NASCAR decided that the track was dry enough and let the race resume with 14 laps to go. Bayley Currey, who was having a fantastic night inside the top five, broke the transmission and caused a stack-up behind the leaders. The subsequent caution set up the final seven-lap dash to the checkered flag.

No sweep for Larson

Smith was nervous about having Larson behind him, revealed via his radio communication, but it turns out he had nothing to worry about. He handled the pressure well and Larson crossed the line in second, ending his hopes of a weekend sweep. It was a strange race for Larson, who didn’t seem to have a winning truck most of the night. He also suffered a speeding penalty and only made it back through the field after deciding to grab some fresher tires when most of the field stayed out later on. Larson climbed as high as fifth when the yellow flag for rain was displayed, reaching third only after Currey’s issue, and finally second on the final restart from the outside lane. It was the highest he had run all night.

Kyle Larson, Chevrolet

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

“I don’t know (what he needed to win),” said Larson. “We fell back there on that long run to end the second stage. I got super tight and then I sped on pit road. Honestly, that probably helped us because then we were still kind of buried for the next caution and we pitted so we had a little bit of an advantage to get towards the front. I thought it would be more of an advantage than it was. But still, it was a benefit to our race. I felt like if we didn’t get that one caution there (with 25 to go) as we were kind of all in traffic, I may have had a good shot. But still, to get to second is good.”

Heim finished third, Tyler Ankrum fourth and Ben Rhodes fifth. Layne Riggs, Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Rajah Caruth and Gio Ruggiero round out the top ten.

Photos from Bristol – Race