The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series always comes to play when they are at Bristol Motor Speedway. The racing at the Last Great Coliseum didn’t disappoint on Friday evening. The action was everywhere. Passing, tires wearing out, not to mention tough lap traffic fights. In some cases, the lap traffic took some of the top competition out of the running. When it was all said and done, Chandler Smith got the last laugh, as he was able to outshine Kyle Larson, who was looking to sweep all three races this weekend.
Once again, there are no brooms for Larson. But Smith earned this one.
Chandler Smith Back in NASCAR Truck Series Victory Lane at Bristol
Rain during the day prevented the Trucks from getting on track, so with no practice and canceled qualifying, it put the Martinsville winner Daniel Hemric on the pole for the 150-lap race. The start of the race was pretty rough for the likes of Corey Heim and others as they slipped back on the initial start, while Chandler Smith quickly flexed his muscles.
A close call for the No. 99. 😬 pic.twitter.com/XYQ05NyJKB
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 11, 2025
The race went green for the first 17 laps, with the only issue being Ben Rhodes getting a little contact from a lap truck before Connor Mosack lost control of his No. 81 Chevy and went for a spin. That caution ended up being the competition caution. Plenty of spilt strategy as a lot of drivers chose not to pit at that time.
They got the race back going and into a nice run, with Smith pulling way ahead of everyone and flying through lap traffic. Things started to get hairy for some of the front runners.
Frankie Muniz was a lap down when defending Truck Series Champion Ty Majeski got into the back of him, and they went around, collecting two other Top 10 runners in Brandon Jones and Stewart Friesen, ending the night for each of them. It wasn’t a great moment for any involved.
Another view of the incident on Lap 53. https://t.co/KAM4P6irkW pic.twitter.com/xkyXuOqhEs
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 12, 2025
Then again, that’s just Bristol. Lap traffic and leaders have problems that happen on track all the time.
Smith Dominates, Until Loses Control For a While
The rest of the stage went smoothly as Chandler Smith led 113 laps as the race went green for arguably the longest run of the night. Chandler didn’t have much competition until he ended up with well over 120-somthing laps on his tires at the end of stage two. His competition by that point was quite interesting as Bayley Currey in the No. 44 Niece Motorsports truck made one heck of a charge to fly past Smith in the closing laps of stage two in very heavy traffic.
The traffic and tire wear by that point was so crazy that the leaders had lapped up to 20th in the field. Smith’s teammate Layne Riggs, who won at Bristol last fall, fell down a lap after his tires were completely worn out.
He collects his first career stage victory!@BayleyCurrey wins Stage 2 at @ItsBristolBaby! pic.twitter.com/GacvbT7UCt
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 12, 2025
Differentiating Strategies Make for Fun Racing
As a majority of the field finally took their first trips to the pits following the end of stage two, the field ended up pretty well shaken up. Rajah Caruth stayed out and was able to take the lead. Larson was busted for speeding on pit road, which made for an interesting final run for the Cup Series star.
There's a new leader at @ItsBristolBaby!
It's @rajahcaruth_! pic.twitter.com/pmkFHZsD6u
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 12, 2025
Caruth was able to hold off charges from the likes of Currey and Corey Heim for 85 laps. An incident caused by Stewart Friesen spinning Toni Briedinger out changed up the strategy again, with Rajah likely needing another stop for fuel.
The No. 5 goes around and backs into the wall. pic.twitter.com/b6u7483BwR
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 12, 2025
As for the incident for Toni, it was pretty unfortunate as she was having a really good night. The truckers went back to green, and the fight to catch Rajah continued. He was able to hold the lead until 25 laps to go, when Heim snuck past in lap traffic, only for Chandler Smith to quickly follow him through.
We are back on Heim Time at @ItsBristolBaby!@CoreyHeim_ takes over the lead with 25 laps to go. pic.twitter.com/SG4JvcELYU
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 12, 2025
While Smith and Heim fought for the race lead, some precipitation showed back up and brought out a yellow flag with only 12 or so laps remaining. Like usual, Bristol, it quickly disappeared and set up a very interesting 10-lap dash to the finish. While the tight battle between the No. 11 and No. 38 was going on, Kyle Larson was inching his way back up front.
The restart quickly became two as the feel-good story of the night. Bayley Currey had an engine issue or something on the restart, which caused a caution as Andres Perez made contact with him trying to avoid his ailing truck.
Smith Bests Larson
The build-up for a Larson-Smith battle was playing out naturally. Both fired off for the final restart, with Larson ripping the top. It, however, wasn’t enough as Chandler Smith closed out his great performance with his first Truck Series win since 2021 and first with Front Row Motorsports. Not to mention he won the second race of the Triple Truck Challenge, so an extra 50 thousand dollars wasn’t a bad night at all.
Victory Lane. We are so back! pic.twitter.com/rAgnMHBHIi
— Front Row Motorsports (@Team_FRM) April 12, 2025
The Truck Series will make its long anticipated return to Rockingham next week. Which should prove to be another fun race for the series. Welcome back to victory lane, Chandler, and you’ve certainly put yourself in the Championship contender conversation. Let’s hope the rest of the weekend is as exciting as this race was.
