In A Nutshell
Chandler Smith was not going to be denied his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of 2025 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday (April 11).
After starting third when qualifying was rained out, Smith led 127 laps, won stage one, and flat out dominated to take home his second Truck Series win at The Last Great Colosseum.
With the win, Smith also earns an additional $50,000, as Bristol served as the second leg of the Triple Truck Challenge. He and Daniel Hemric will vie for a potential $150,000 bonus next week (Hemric won the first race of “The Trip” at Martinsville Speedway).
The Top Truckers at Bristol Motor Speedway
Winner, Stage 1 Winner, Most Laps Led (137 of 250 laps): Chandler Smith
Polesitter: Daniel Hemric
Stage 2 Winner: Bayley Currey
Fastest Lap: Kyle Larson (15.38 seconds, 124.751 mph)
Biggest Mover: Parker Kligerman (started 35th, finished 14th)
The Winning Move
In the closing laps, it looked as if any of the top 10 could win it, as everybody began to stack up one after the other.
Eventually, it was shaping up to be a race between Smith and … surprise, surprise, Corey Heim. But it was clear that the No. 38 was faster than Heim, though a caution for weather prevented Smith from sizing the No. 11 up for a pass.
At the same time, the caution helped him as well.
While Heim chose the outside lane for the ensuing restart, Smith took the inside lane and powered by Heim as the caution came out to take the lead back. From there, Smith hung on through the final restart to win his first Truck Series race since 2022 and Front Row Motorsports’ first for its expansion team that formed in January.
Signed, @CSmith_Racing.#NASCAR #WeatherGuardTruckRace pic.twitter.com/b1uy7nVkWw
— Anthony Damcott (@AnthonyDamcott) April 12, 2025
Playoff Rundown
Smith joins Heim and Hemric as the drivers who have locked themselves into the playoffs via a race win. Smith also closes the gap on Heim’s regular season point lead to just 18.
Back at the cut line, it’s Jake Garcia who now sits on the bubble, with a five-point cushion over 11th-place Kaden Honeycutt.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: After a few down weeks, Gio Ruggiero returned to the top of the rookie charts, and in doing so served as the lone rookie to finish in the top 10. Otherwise, Thunder Valley was not kind to the Truck Series newcomers.
No. 02 — Nathan Byrd (28th)
No. 2 — Stephen Mallozzi (35th)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger (25th)
No. 7 — Corey Day (15th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero (10th)
No. 22 — Tyler Tomassi (21st)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton (17th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz (30th)
No. 66 — Luke Fenhaus (22nd)
No. 77 — Andres Perez (19th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack (24th)
No. 84 — Patrick Staropoli (29th)
One Big Takeaway From This Race
Niece Motorsports sure came to play at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile.
While Matt Mills left a lot to be desired in his 20th-place run, teammates Honeycutt and Bayley Currey rarely left the top 10 all night. Currey, in particular, showed a surprising display of speed, rocketing to a stage two victory and remaining in the top three nearly the rest of the night.
Currey and Honeycutt started 20th and 22nd, respectively, due to the metric that set the starting lineup. The duo was in contention late for the win, but Currey’s driveshaft broke, ending his night. Honeycutt, on the other hand, faded slightly on the ensuing restart, but still finished eighth.
It feels like a rockier start to the season than normal for the Al Niece-led organization — Christian Rose was due to compete full-time for the team before sponsorship fell through, and his teammates haven’t been able to see the success they feel they deserved.
Perhaps Friday was the beginning of a turnaround for the organization? We’ll soon find out.
Talkin’ Truckers
Smith on the win:
Dale yeah https://t.co/Xr2nUYSepe
— Chandler Smith (@CSmith_Racing) April 12, 2025
Kyle Larson (second) discusses what more he needed to win the race:
Heim (third) and Parker Kligerman (14th) break down their nights; additionally, Toni Breidinger (25th) discusses her crash off the bumper of Stewart Friesen:
Ben Rhodes (fifth) and Rajah Caruth (ninth) discuss their strong top 10 runs:
Layne Riggs (sixth) was frustrated with NASCAR for its usage of the PJ1 at Bristol:
Despite the driveshaft failure, Currey (23rd) “couldn’t be happier” of the run he had:
Brandon Jones (32nd) and Ty Majeski (33rd) give their vantage points of an early crash they were both collected in just before the end of stage one.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Jones has been on a roll lately.
Not only did he win his first Xfinity Series race in nearly 100 starts last week at Darlington Raceway (in a good-looking Matt Kenseth throwback, might I add), but he’s also made two starts in the Truck Series with TRICON Garage, and both times now, he’s earned this column’s paint scheme of the race.
Last time at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was a Kingsford paint scheme that made Jones stand out on track. This week, the University of Arkansas College of Engineering adorned his No. 1 truck.
Vroom vroom 🐗💨 https://t.co/iJyyOMjmwp
— Arkansas Razorbacks 🐗 (@ArkRazorbacks) April 7, 2025
The Razorback cardinal and white blended together beautifully on the truck, complete with a razorback emblazoned on the hood.
Paging my colleague (and future Arkansas student) Samuel Stubbs — I believe they say, “woo pig?”
Unfortunately, the scheme wasn’t on the track long, as Jones was caught up in an early crash that resulted in his night ending early after 53 laps in 32nd place.
More like “woof, pig.”
Next Stop
For the first time since 2013, we’re going back to The Rock.
The Craftsman Truck Series returns to Rockingham Speedway for the first time in 11 years on Friday, April 18. Larson won the last race there in 2013, but will not compete in the return and therefore will not defend his 11-year-old win. With the Cup Series taking a rare off-week for Easter, the Truck Series, Xfinity Series and ARCA Menards Series East will get their time in the spotlight over Easter weekend.
Coverage for the Black’s Tire 200 begins at approximately 5 p.m. ET on Friday, April 18. Television coverage can be found on FOX Sports 1, while the all-new NASCAR Racing Network continues its exclusive season-long coverage of the Truck Series.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.