NASCAR
Front Row Motorsports Goes Back-to-Back at Bristol with Chandler Smith
BRISTOL, Tenn. – A chilly Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway saw a very young team dominate. Chandler Smith was best in class all night, leading a race-high 127 laps including the final 13 to take his first win with Front Row Motorsports. The No. 38 has been a contender all year long, now being locked into the Playoffs with this victory.
Chandler Smith won Stage 1 with ease, taking the lead away early from polesitter Daniel Hemric. The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford remained out front for much of Stage 2 as well, before losing this bonus point to Bayley Currey. This was a first-ever Stage win for the Niece Motorsports driver.
Smith held ground over those who pitted with him after Stage 2, but a few others opted to stay out. This put the No. 38 back in traffic for the first time all night, where Smith methodically picked off trucks one at a time. When a caution flew for a brief rain shower with 32 laps left, Smith was on Corey Heim’s bumper for the lead.
The next restart only saw green flag conditions for a lap, but this quick sprint proved pivotal. Smith edged out Heim for the top spot here, and had prime position for the final restart. Despite a hard-charging Kyle Larson rallying to second, it was far behind Chandler Smith who picked up Truck win number six.
“I am more excited for this team than I am for myself” Smith said. “This group came together, we literally hired my crew chief two or three weeks before Daytona. Take that in for a second. This group got assembled literally in January. The Good Lord works in mysterious ways, my life’s been really really crazy here recently. There was a lot of unknowns about my future going into this season. We had our backs against the wall about just putting a group together last-minute. But holy s–t I wouldn’t want any different of a group than I got behind me. This No. 38 QuickTie Products Ford F150 was on a rail tonight.”
Smith also pockets the Triple Truck Challenge $50,000 bonus with his Bristol trophy. Behind Smith and Larson, Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, and Ben Rhodes were the top-five. The rest of the top-10 included: Layne Riggs, Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Rajah Caruth, and Gio Ruggiero.
FRM also won last fall’s Bristol race with Layne Riggs. Smith keeps the Ford team undefeated for back-to-back times at The Last Great Colosseum. Smith will hope to keep the good times rolling into NASCAR’s return to Rockingham Speedway on Friday. The Black’s Tire 200 goes green at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
Be sure to follow us on Twitter/X
Be sure to follow the writer on Twitter/X
Photo Credits to Front Row Motorsports via Twitter/X
