Pit Stops : Bristol Motor Speedway

• Thursday, April 10th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Kyle Larson begins his quest for weekend sweep in Friday’s NASCAR Truck race

There’s no doubt who the headliner will be in Friday’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event is the first of a tripleheader weekend and the first in Kyle Larson’s quest to sweep all three national-series races at the 0.533-mile short track—a feat accomplished only by Kyle Busch in 2010 and 2017.

Larson will make his second Truck Series start of the season and the 17th of his career. On March 21, he drove the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where a late restart in the Xfinity Series race cost him a chance at a weekend triple at that track.

“I am excited for the weekend,” Larson said. “I love Bristol. Hopefully, the track widens out for the truck race like it did last fall. If it is locked on the bottom, qualifying good is going to be huge.

“If we can get it done on Friday, I like our chances Saturday and Sunday (in the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup races).”

While Larson pursues the triple, series regulars will compete for the $50,000 Triple Truck Challenge bonus, which is not available to NASCAR Xfinity or Cup Series regulars.

On March 28 at Martinsville Speedway, Daniel Hemric won the first Truck Series race of his career and the first Triple Truck Challenge bonus of the season.

Bristol is a track where Truck Series drivers have shared the wealth. The last 12 races at the track have produced 12 different winners, and the last six trophies have gone to six different racing organizations.

Layne Riggs of Front Row Motorsports is the most recent winner at the track.

• Bristol Motor Speedway
• WEATHER GUARD Truck Race at Bristol
• Pole Winner: Daniel Hemric
• Age: 34
• Team : No 19 - NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet
• Owner: McAnally Hilgemann Racing
• Crew Chief: Josh Graham
• Qualifying was cancelled due to rain
• Positions were set by NASCAR Qualifying Metrics

• Friday, April 11th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Chandler Smith outduels Kyle Larson in NASCAR Truck race at Bristol

After charging into the lead in Friday night’s Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chandler Smith’s work was far from over.

The driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford then had to hold off NASCAR Cup Series moonlighter Kyle Larson over a seven-lap dash to the finish to claim his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory of the season, his second at the 0.533-mile short track and the sixth of his career.

Smith also won the $50,000 Triple Truck Challenge bonus that goes to the highest-finishing NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular.

Smith’s victory by 0.934 seconds over Larson ended the latter’s quest for a weekend sweep of NASCAR’s three national series races. Even though Larson had 27-lap fresher tires than the race winner for a restart on Lap 244 of 250, he could do no better than second.

“I’m more excited for the team than I am for myself,” said Smith, whose tenure in No. 38 F-150 came in an 11th-hour deal at season’s end. “This group came together—we hired my crew chief (Jon Leonard) two weeks before Daytona…

“My life’s been really, really crazy recently, and there were a lot of unknowns about my future going into the season, and we kind of had our backs against the wall putting this group together like I said. But holy (crap), I wouldn’t want any different of a group than I had behind me.”

Smith grabbed the lead from eventual third-place finisher Corey Heim just before a caution flag flew on Lap 237 for Andres Perez’s spin on the backstretch. That gave Smith control of the race for the final restart, and he promptly asserted himself from the top lane.

After overcoming a tight handling condition in the second stage and a pit road speeding penalty at the stage break, Larson took the green flag behind Smith on Lap 243 and quickly passed Heim for second, but the driver of the No. 07 Spire Motorsports couldn’t catch Smith, despite trying different lines around the concrete oval.

“We fell back on that long run in the second stage—got super tight,” said Larson, who pitted on Lap 162 for fresh rubber after putting 27 laps on the tires he got on Lap 135 during the stage break. “Then I sped on pit road, but on that next stop, I think that probably helped us…

“We had a little bit of an advantage to get toward the front. I thought it would be more of an advantage than it was. But still, I think it was a benefit to our race… Still, to get to second is good.”

The second place finish was not good enough to keep Larson’s hope of the weekend sweep alive, however, he’ll have two more chances at victory this weekend with Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race and Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.

Tyler Ankrum ran fourth, followed by Ben Rhodes. Bayley Currey picked up the first stage win of his career in Stage 2 before falling out with transmission trouble 13 laps from the finish.

Smith led twice for a race-high 127 laps, followed by Rajah Caruth, who was out front for 85 circuits on a contrary tire strategy.

Reigning series champion Ty Majeski was eliminated in a Lap 53 crash involving Frankie Muniz, Stewart Friesen and Brandon Jones.

Heim leads Smith by 18 points in the series standings, with Majeski 57 points back in third.

• Drivers Entered: 35
• Laps Scheduled: 250
• Margin of Victory: 0.934 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 50 Minutes 33 Seconds
• Average Speed: 72.320
• Cautions: 8 for 66 laps
• Lead Changes: 6
• Green Flag Passes: 859 (4.7 passes per green flag lap)

• Bristol Motor Speedway
• Weather Guard Truck Race
• Race Winner: Chandler Smith
• Age: 22
• Team : No 38 - QuickTie Ford
• Owner: Travis Jenkins
• Crew Chief: Jon Leonard
• Chandler Smith won the Weather Guard Truck Race, his sixth victory in 68 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in five races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Kyle Larson (second) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his second top-10 finish in 2025
• Corey Heim (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in five races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Giovanni Ruggiero (10th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 18 points over Chandler Smith