Chandler Smith was sixth entering turn 3 of the final lap of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opener.
By the time he hit the start/finish line, he was first. Smith made a daring four-wide pass to sail out in front and capture the win in the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
Smith found momentum during a wild last lap Friday (Feb. 13), as leader John Hunter Nemechek started battling with Toyota teammate Gio Ruggiero. Receiving a push from Ty Majeski off turn 4, Smith slid to the inside of Nemechek, Ruggiero and Christian Eckes to claim his eighth career series victory and first at Daytona’s season opener.
“I want to shout all glory to God,” Smith told FOX Sports. “Without him, this race team and none of this would be possible.
“… Ty Majeski, debatably one of my best Ford teammates I’ve ever worked with. He [deserves] all credit for how we just won that race, truthfully. He stayed committed to a Ford and pushed a Blue Oval to a win.
“I was surprised the 62 [Nemechek] didn’t block it. The seas literally just parted, and the 88 [Majeski] stayed committed to me.”
Ruggiero came across the line in second with Eckes coming home third. Majeski narrowly took fourth while Nemechek rounded out the top-five finishers.
Some famous names and NASCAR Cup Series stars headlined the event, but most of them wound up not being a factor. Garrett Mitchell (Cleetus McFarland) crashed off turn 4 on lap 6, pounding the inside wall and sustaining heavy left-side damage. Mitchell wound up dead last in his Truck Series debut.
Just ahead of McFarland was Tony Stewart, another victim of an early crash when Jake Garcia got loose in front of him off turn 4. Stewart left with a 36th in his first race within NASCAR’s top three series in nearly 10 years.
Carson Hocevar didn’t fare much better despite edging Tanner Gray for a stage one win. He spun out three times, fighting through multiple flat tires, and ended the race outside the top 30.
Smith won the second stage but it was Justin Haley‘s Kaulig Racing Ram in the manufacturer’s return to the series who briefly looked to have the race in hand. Haley led much of the final stage with the field often aggressively racing behind him three-wide while battling for stability within the lead back.
With 20 laps left, a caution came for Hocevar, who spun due to a second flat tire, setting up a late-race restart. After this restart, Tanner Gray reasserted control out front over Haley. The action began to pick up behind as drivers made their last push to get to the front.
The wild racing led to another caution with five laps remaining, this time for a wreck collecting numerous trucks, including Taylor Gray, Dawson Sutton and Spencer Boyd, which set up overtime. However, the trucks avoided the “Big One” of a half-dozen cars or more that often pops up during the 100-lap event.
On the overtime restart, Kaden Honeycutt surged ahead of Michael McDowell with a push from his teammate Ruggiero. McDowell spun off turn 4 heading to the white flag lap, collecting another truck in the incident, but the field remained green as it took the white.
On the final lap, Nemechek made his way to the front but had numerous trucks behind looking to overtake. He and Ruggiero made contact on the backstretch, forcing Ruggiero’s No. 17 below the yellow line and blunting his momentum.
As the field came off turn 4, Ruggiero caught back up and raced Nemechek hard alongside him. That’s when Smith snuck underneath and earned the victory for his Front Row Motorsports team.
Truck Daytona Results
A little further back, X Games star Travis Pastrana wound up 15th in his first NASCAR race since the 2023 Daytona 500.
“Trucks are the most fun,” Pastrana said, “In my opinion.”
The second race of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season will take place at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Saturday, Feb. 21. Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
This race reinforced my plan to watch much less NASCAR for now.
YouTube personality embarrassed himself on lap 6.
Mandatory stage cautions, which meant stage 2 went green with around 15 laps until the next caution.
Big booth time for Dana White, who is on film slapping his wife, and is now in the middle of a federal anti-trust suit for paying unfair wages to fighters, while he got rich.
Fox using the YouTuber’s stage name for all graphics and discussion, rather than his real name. Seriously…”Cleetus”?! Also repeatedly putting full screen graphics up during the few minutes there was green flag racing, and they weren’t at commercials.
Harvick and Little seeming bored in the booth, regularly requiring Logano (the GUEST announcer) to bring them back on task.
Why should anyone take any of this seriously? Spoiler alert: They shouldn’t.
You need to relax Daytight. It was a good race. I do agree with you that Cleetus McFarland should be Garrett Mitchell. I
Honestly glad you enjoyed it, and not that it matters, but it wasn’t yours truly who gave you a thumbs down.
I’m perfectly relaxed. Just going to relax and do something else, rather than watch terrible “racing”. I may watch a stage three or a full race here or there, though I doubt it.
I don’t find arbitrary winners, with terrible coverage and silly rules make for an enjoyable race.
After Daytona, I’ll most likely keep abreast of the NASCAR news on Frontstrech, and get my motorsports fix from series who consider auto racing to be more than a “reality” TV show.
The sun will come up tomorrow, irrespective of whether NASCAR racing has devolved into a punch line, or whether or not I choose to tune in. None of this has any real bearing on quality of life for anyone.