Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs could very well put on quite the show and battle for the win in Saturday’s (Aug. 22) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That won’t come as a surprise to anyone.
What may come as a surprise to some are those who are fighting to just have a chance to challenge Riggs and Honeycutt for the championship. Ninth in the standings, though a relatively comfortable 35 points above the cut line, is Daniel Hemric, who won at Martinsville last season and is the 2021 O’Reilly Series champion. Yet, here he sits, trying to hang on to a Chase spot in the Truck Series.
His McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate, Tyler Ankrum, sits squarely on the bubble in 10th, 20 points up on 11th-place Stewart Friesen. In 12th, 21 points behind Ankrum, is Jake Garcia, the first of two ThorSport Racing drivers to be outside of the Chase field.
Those four, and really, the three excluding Hemric, are the contenders for the final Chase spot.
Barring a catastrophe, Hemric, with all his wisdom and knowhow, should be able to hang on to his Chase berth. He’s made three Truck Series starts at New Hampshire, but the Magic Mile really hasn’t been all that kind to him. He led 14 laps and finished sixth driving for Brad Keselowski Racing back in 2015 but finished 28th in 2016 due to brake issues and only mustered a 12th-place effort last year, though a similar result would likely be enough for him to stay inside the top 10 in points.
Ankrum is a more interesting case. He had a career year in 2025, winning at Rockingham and totaling 15 top-10 finishes. He won’t even be able to tie that mark at this point, as he only has five with eight races left in the season. The No. 18 team has fallen off a cliff this year.
Ankrum’s lone Loudon start came last year, where he started 10th and finished 11th. That’s a solid day to be sure, but if Friesen runs top five or wins the race, it may not be enough.
Friesen has put together a decent season, especially given that he’s coming back from injury after a horrifying crash in a dirt race in Canada last year. That injury prevented him from racing at Loudon last year, but he finished 13th in 2016 and fifth in 2017. Another top-five run, or a very timely win, could be enough to lift him into the Chase field.
Garcia had a solid season in 2025 and was ninth in the standings with three top 10s after the sixth race of the season at Bristol. Since then, however, Garcia and the No. 98 team only have three top 10s in 11 races and have slowly but surely fallen out of the Chase field.
He’s still within striking distance at only 21 points below the cut line, but will need a much better effort than the 16th-place run he had at NHMS last season to leapfrog Ankrum and Friesen to make the Chase.
So, of the three true bubble contenders, who should you put your money on to make The Chase?
If I were a betting man, I’d honestly say Friesen. Twenty points isn’t at all a small amount, but it’s hard to trust Ankrum and the No. 18 group right now. Friesen is a seasoned veteran and should have a little extra motivation racing in the northeast.
With that said, the No. 52 team has to show up with the best truck they’ve brought to the track all year. Barring mechanical issues or a crash, Ankrum isn’t likely to run outside of the top 12 on pace. If Friesen is going to steal a Chase spot, he needs to earn stage points and finish top five, if he can’t find a way to win. He’s the most “trustworthy” driver of the three on the bubble, but I’d feel better about this prediction if he were within 10 points or less of Ankrum.
Regardless, Saturday’s race should be a fun one. For those of you who, like me, are eagerly anticipating the start of college football season, grab a beverage and enjoy the final week without CFB by watching what should be an entertaining Truck Series race with major implications.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.