For the second straight season, Chandler Smith got the victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Leading only the final lap last year, Smith did it in more dominant fashion this year as he led 105 laps and won by 8.479 seconds — the largest margin of victory on a short track in series history — to win Saturday’s (July 18) FaithFest 250.
“God’s good in the mountains but man, he’s good in the valleys too and we’ve in the valleys the past few weekends.” Smith told the FOX broadcast on the frontstretch. When asked if his team was ready for The Chase, he said that his team was “ready to rip.”
Just as he did last year, Smith’s Front Row Motorsports teammate and series points leader Layne Riggs finished runner-up. Riggs won the opening stage in the race but was unable to chase down Smith on the final run.
“Congratulations to Chandler (Smith), he did a great job, those guys had a great race, did a great job with track position, strategy, and had a good truck.” Riggs told the FOX. “I don’t think I could’ve fired off quite like Chandler did at the end of the race.”
Shane van Gisbergen finished third, tying his best Truck finish, while Christian Eckes finished fourth and Landen Lewis completed the top five.
Gio Ruggiero, Chase Elliott, Stewart Friesen, Corey Heim and Ty Majeski competed the top 10. Majeski was able to win the second stage of the race for his first stage win of the season, and with Smith’s scorching pace, Majeski was the last truck to finish on the lead lap.
Carson Hocevar led 74 laps early on in the event but had a tire go down in the final laps of the second stage. This put him multiple laps down and he was unable to recover, eventually finished back in 27th, two laps down.
Riggs has a 59-point advantage over Kaden Honeycutt for the points lead with three races remaining until The Chase begins. Friesen is tied with Tyler Ankrum for the final Chase spot and Jake Garcia trails both those drivers by only 11 points.
North Wilkesboro Truck Results
The Truck Series will return to action on Friday, July 24 at 8 p.m. ET from Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the 16th race of the season. The race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.
I was just watching Indy Car qualifying and Carson Hocevar took out Graham Rahal on pit road…