Chandler Smith had one path to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs: to win the EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. And as the laps ticked down, he had a chance. A lap 131 restart put Smith just behind leader Corey Heim, who had dominated the race.
But it was a chance.
After back-to-back 30th-place finishes at Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway to open the round, Smith had his back to the wall. As the series rolled into Loudon for the final race of the first round of playoffs, a win would advance him. Anything else, and it would be Rajah Caruth continuing his title bid.
Heim had the preferred line for the final restart and got the jump on Smith. He stretched the lead to over a second, but Smith had something left in the tank, closing the gap steadily as the laps ticked down to 20, then 10.
He just didn’t have quite enough.
Heim held him off easily for the win, and Smith’s title hopes ended despite his late charge.
“We had a fast truck capable of winning, started hauling butt there at the end and running down the 11, but it wasn’t in the Lord’s will today,” Smith said after the race.
“We prayed together, and I wanted to let them know that I’m proud of them, no matter the outcome today. We’ve had so much fun this season, and the way this deal came about so late, I feel like honestly, don’t get me wrong, we have the expectation like I like to go win and stuff, but man, we’ve really accomplished a lot more than I think we all envisioned us to do.”
Smith conceded that despite the No. 38 getting slowed navigating lapped traffic late, Heim had the winning truck.
“Once we started reeling him back in, I was like, man, we may actually be able to get there then the 91 and I don’t remember who the other lap car was, boxed me in really, really good, checked me up bad, and I lost a lot of time there so I don’t think that was the difference maker.
“I still think he would have probably won the race, but would have definitely been a lot closer.”
Also eliminated from the playoffs was Jake Garcia. The sophomore driver started eighth but wasn’t able to match the other playoff teams as the race wore on.
“I didn’t really think we were ever that good today,” Garcia said afterward. “We never got the balance right and didn’t have a good day speed-wise. It sucks to get bounced like that, but I’m still proud of everything our guys accomplished over the course of the season and getting our trucks good for a lot of these races. We had some shots to win and had a pretty good year, so it’s unfortunate to get bumped from the playoffs, but still proud of what we accomplished this year.”
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.