NASCAR craftsman truck series highlights | 2026 bristol motor speedway

Lane Riggs won the fall race here starting just inside on the second row. Chase Briscoe next to him. Green flag is in the air. We are racing at Bristol motor speedway. Great start by Kaden Honeycutt and that 11 team out front. Really interesting to see what happens on that outside lane early in the race. You see Briscoe hanging tough up there with Lane Riggs looking to the bottom. That was a good turn. Good sign for racing going forward if they're able to run up high this early. Cutting off Ben Rhodes and getting that spot as Corey Heim is able to hang tough on the top. Here comes battle up front. Christian Ekus wants to take the lead from Kaden Honeycutt and he doesn't. If you're Kaden Honeycutt, all you're trying to do is try to get back down to the bottom, re-rack here, try and see what you can learn from Christian Ekus, what you can learn about your race truck. Battle inside the top ten here as Kyle Busch trying to move forward as Ben Rhodes sizes him up. And there's Heim time coming along as we expected. Kyle Busch sounded pretty optimistic, hoping that he was better than all these competitors out there. Is really dominant. As you see, all this congestion is all just from guys trying to stay as you see Lane Riggs make a move on chase Briscoe here, complete the pass. Jake Garcia in the 98 started on pole here in the fall. We know he's somebody to watch for at these short tracks. Great battle with the five of chase Briscoe right now as Carson Josebar enters the picture on the inside. We're talking about the bottom lane being so dominant. Chase Briscoe has already lost almost three spots from being stuck on this outside lane. But I'm telling you, Kaden Honeycutt in that 11 truck, he's picked up the lap time. He's matching the 91 of Ekus right now, so he'll be right there as soon as Christian gets to this track. And maybe that's something we'll see tonight. Oh, we got one spinning off turn four, got a truck around for Andres Perez. They barely squeezed through their good record wins there by a lot of them pretty far back earlier. Not the speed he wanted earlier and certainly didn't want to start the race with this. There's still hope. Lane Riggs proved it last year. We'll see what happens when we first went green. We'll see how it plays out here for Ekus in the 91 pace car is off. I like that top side that looks like it really launched. Well, I look pretty good, didn't flag in the air once again. Christian Ekus. No problem at all. Great restart. Lane Riggs moves into second Kaden Honeycutt slips back a spot. It's clearly the same case. Even after this caution period took him probably about five, six, seven laps to really settle in. So these guys are going to have to take advantage of him early here while he's got those issues. Hearing from NASCAR that you're just trying to get back down to the bottom. He's I'm sure he's hoping for this top lane to come in. But right now, I think he's just really struggling trying to get down all these other trucks trying to take advantage, almost almost like Martinsville, but completely flipped at the He's got this gap. He's got to take it. With his wins over the years, they want to take him down tonight as you can see the battle there. I was about to say. Ross Chastain definitely doesn't care. Kyle slipped up off the corner there, left the bottom open and was able to get a big run to Chastain. He's going to have to make quick work before Lane Riggs closes the gap. But look how fast he's closing that gap. We talked to a big shot there. We talked about how that lead will just disappear, evaporate that quickly. We saw that right there, right? Hanging on for his life here. Well, you want you want a car or truck in between you and second place if you're the leader. That's that's the goal. That's that's what guarantees safety. And this is going to have to start getting desperate to move these trucks out of the way to be able to make these passes. Aren't these teammates? Yeah. One's the leader, though. And he's racing for the lead, racing for a win. And that was a good little shot there. But it's what it takes here. I mean, we talk about Bristol running the bottom. And that's that's what you're going to have to do to continue to make progress. That's the most frustrating thing is if you're Ben, you're you've been the pilot of Jake Garcia is a big moment off the tube, but he's he's been the pioneer to make this this work right now. And he gets stuffed up by a lap truck and stops the progress. So it's very important to be able to make those lanes still work. Sixty two laps led Caden Honeycutt two laps tonight. There it is. Green and white checker in the air. Christian Ekis picks up a stage when his second win of twenty twenty six Lane Riggs Caden Honeycutt Ben Rhodes and Jake Garcia. Your top five. All regulars. We had Carson who so far and several others come in quite a few takers. It was a mixed bag talking to crew chiefs today. If they stay out till the end of stage two or if you come in now, work on those trucks. We heard drivers complaining about how tight they all were. Time and Jeske. He was one of them. Guys. But he's going to look like two tires and he's got another pair there on the wall. He'll forego those other two. Just get to. I like that strategy. Get on pit road. Get off. But also like staying out as our leaders did see Ross Chastain in the forty five is in as well as Carson Hosebar. He pits from six. The first to pit fill him up with Sunoco fuel for tires. Always an interesting pit road here. It's two sides. The front stretch and the back stretch. Corey Heim opted to come in as well. Didn't move forward much. He was trying here. Cal Busch, either one. And you see they're both on pit road. Must have wanted a tire pressure, some sort of adjustment as the drivers approach the Echo Park Automotive Restart Zone. We're back to racing. Christian Ekus with a great restart once again, gets up in front of Lane Riggs free wide behind him. Oh, that's not good. Look at Ross Chastain. Making a side by side with Carson Hosebar. Corey Heim right behind him in the mix. Tom Majewski said, y'all do whatever you want. I'm going for it. And look at these guys around the top. This is big. Ben Rhodes likes the opportunity for the track to move up, and it's going to keep him side by side here. Thank for a few laps. Look at that huge momentum off the corner for the ninety nine truck. He is making it work on the top side. And there's a lot of caution for Ben Rhodes into second. We've got a truck around. I guess Frankie Munez is one of them and Tanner Rife, Tyler Rife, Tyler Rife in the forty two truck. Oh, no, Frankie Malcolm in the middle is crushed. Let's see if we can pick this up. So that's Tyler Rife high side on the inside. Oh, and Munez tries to get down in a hole that just wasn't quite there and they go spinning together. Yeah, that just looks like a miscommunication over space there. Sure. Frankie didn't know there's a truck on the inside. And if he did, he was just trying to get to the bottom. So that was a big hit for both of them. Yeah. Big game. Oh, Timmy Hill with a with a bit of this as well. We didn't see that. You got to keep going on. Let's start with the ninety one of Christian Ekus. Your stage one winner said he needs entry security and turnability on exit. He's going to get four tires fuel and an adjustment here. Caitlin. Well, for Lane Riggs, he said he was just building tighter throughout the course of that run. His crew chief, Dylan Capello, said, I think we're going to be buried if we don't actually end up pitting here. So they, too, elected to come down pit road for four fresh tires for Caden Honeycutt. He said, I just stayed the same the whole time during that run. So Scott Sipodelli said, we'll bring it down, get you tightened up, do an air pressure adjustment for that eleven truck. Jamie. You know, Jamie, if you're Christian Ekus, you look in the mirror, you see all those guys falling down pit road. You're like, yes, that's what I needed. Conversely, Ben Rhodes tells us they want the points. That's exactly right. But he didn't have anybody stay with him. So this is going to be a tough road to hope. Yeah. 100 percent. Just four trucks stayed out. Ben Rhodes. Can he hold them off and win this stage? Green flag back in the air for Bell taking a look in the sixty two Kyle Busch up high. Nothing for Ben Rhodes so far. Two laps to go in this stage. Oh, look at him back there. Three wide lane rigs. Decides better of it. Final lap out of turn for Ben Rhodes wins. Stage number two. It's his second stage win of twenty twenty six and his first ever here. Bristol. OK. Answers our question. Ben Rhodes pits. Kyle Busch stays out. Josh. Well, for Ben Rhodes in that ninety nine team, crew chief Kale Gale said, thank you, Ben, for bailing me out on that bad call. Getting that stage win was huge for the team. As far as the truck, he said he has to stab the throttle on exit. And when he does, it gets too free. They're going to make a couple of adjustments here to help him out in addition to four tires and fuel. But those stage points were a big focus for a ninety nine team. So that's big for them so far here tonight. Oh, drove away with the pit gun. Saw it there. Get wrapped up. It looked like good news. And then the last anyway, we'd look at the bright side if there is any good. Let's go to break. What do you say? Austin? Yeah. Oh, good news. He wins the stage. Bad news is you leave your pit box and you take the gun with you. Not good. Drivers are in the Echo Park Automotive Restart Zone. Kyle Busch in the outside. Corey Hive on the inside. couldn't get in there. Make the move. A lot of gamesmanship on that restart. But meanwhile, Christopher Bell grabbed the outside of Kyle Busch and he's got better tires than both of these guys. As we see, Christian, that could slip up in the backfield. Talked about the strong run for Corey Lajoie. I wondered about Kyle Busch. Did he leave early? NASCAR says he's clean. But Corey Lajoie has a restart violation. Oh, he just got a gift to with this caution coming out. And the 15 of Tanner Gray goes around. Caution is out. Oh, that's a good start to see what's wrong. Three wide at Bristol. Three wide. And look. Mini Tyrell on the 14 on the inside. That's just Bristol for you, as you see. Goes Andres Perez for the second time during this race. Just action all over the place. There's Ben Rhodes just up ahead, guys. Remember he had that penalty on Pit Road. He was back in that mix. Look at this mess. Chaos. Christopher Bell on the inside. Green flag in the air once again. 97 laps to go at Bristol. What a restart. Oh, sideways for Christopher Bell. Christian Ekus makes the most of it on the inside. They are leaning on each other for third. Meanwhile, Caden Honeycutt is back on the hunt. There goes Ekus. Christian Ekus in the third. He's led the most laps so far tonight at 120, and he's on the march forward. He tried to shut the door on C. Bell, and Bell wasn't having any of that. And it's going to be important for Christian Ekus to clear to go hunt down some of these leaders. Oh, and look at that. And he does. And around goes Butcher, the 13. That brings the caution out for the sixth time. Oh, Butcher just gets loose. See what Ricky finds. Oh, tries to slip through quickly on the bottom. Don't blame him for that. Just couldn't quite get there. Kyle Busch chooses the outside again. It worked for him last restart. Christian Ekus on the inside. And he does it again. No problem. Clears Ekus. Corey Haim on the outside. Look at Ekus trying to close the door on Haim. Now, he had a very solid launch there on the bottom, and he's going to be able to keep ripping the bottom lane here and clear of Corey Haim. So win for Ekus, but he's got him right on his bumper. Same move that Christian Ekus pulled on him, shoved him straight up the racetrack and knocked him out of the way. Look at lane rigs, three wide. Holy cow. Oh, we got a spin off four. Luke Baldwin around. Looks like perhaps the only truck involved there. Caution comes out for the seventh time. And there's the two right behind him. And just it's Corey LaJoy trying to recover from that penalty for the restart violation. And at this track, when you're running the bottom like this, if you leave, I mean, hell, if you leave half a car, you're vulnerable for getting moved. But there's no fender left on that truck. So yeah, that's just tough racing at this track. But I'm sure Luke Baldwin didn't appreciate that. Seven cautions so far tonight. We are ready to go racing again. It'll be 72 laps to go at the line. Christian Ekus on the inside, Corey Haim on the outside. Look at Christopher Bell. It's a really great job by Christian Ekus to get the power down there. And be able to control the lead. Christopher Bell with a huge slide again. Amazing to see, but amazing nobody collects it. Look at Lane Riggs trying to go way up top. Corey Haim. He's got the, oh my gosh, Corey Haim goes around from the lead, hard into the outside wall. Collects Caden Honeycutt. Lane Riggs trucks on the bottom, hitting the inside wall. Caution is out for the eighth time. Look up front. Wow. There's Christopher Bell nearly crashing. And then right here, Haim just moves him. Shoved him out of the way. And you want to be able to get away from a guy. And I think that was just, I don't know what to think. You look at that, and you can easily make a case that Christian is trying to get back down to the bottom. And probably get a close clear and return the favor. Just a ton of laps left to have that. But this is obviously the move for the lead. Shove up. And maybe, you know, maybe Christian held his line. It looked like maybe Corey Haim came up a bit. Or let's see what we see here. Yeah, it's close. That's a tough call. Chandler Smith, Christian Ekus. Green flag back in the air. 63 laps to go. Great restart. Here comes Christopher Bell on the outside. It's a really great job by Christopher Bell to be able to stay on that outside lane in one and two, and finish the pass. And be able to get on the outside for three and four. And look at Chandler Smith. He sees these two side by side. Would love to get up there and take advantage of it. But he just can't quite get there. Inches apart at the front, lap after lap. Chandler Smith trying to hang on. Slides up into Christopher Bell. They both hang on to it. Look at Bell. Gives him a little bit more room that corner. But I think he's got the momentum on the high side to grab the lead, and he does. The track. Oh, we got a spinner up in turn. Corolla Joy. It's going to happen right in front of the leaders. Still following down the racetrack. So that brings out our ninth caution. Corolla Joy was running 16th at the time. You saw a spark under the right rear there. Yeah, he's a veteran. He said something broke. So you know something went away. I think he's right here. Again, from Carson Ferguson. Let's go on board. He's had to miss every race tonight. There he is in the 25 truck. Here's a look at it. Whoa. Christopher Bell, side by side. Big push from Chandler Smith into C Bell. And he rockets to the front. Chandler Smith in second. Great launch by C Bell. Not a very good launch by Christian Ekus. He was really, really mistimed the zone there. And what C Bell was going to do, big win for Chandler Smith. Around the outside. Can he make it happen? Ekus lost four spots there on that restart. Side by side battle here. This is a great third. And Ben Rhodes. Run for Ben Rhodes. It's fun to watch him work that high side, making it happen. He just drives it so deep into the corners. And then there he goes with that momentum on the high side. Nice job. He definitely had a problem. Must be something going on with the. He's still got a problem. He looks slow. Yeah, he looks slow in a straight line. Maybe there's an electrical issue. There's Kyle Busch looking for that seventh spot. Looks like it's shutting off on him. Josh, what are they saying with Ben Rhodes? Yeah, Ben Rhodes just came over the radio yelling. It keeps shutting off. So an issue for the ninety nine after they rallied back to the top five guys. So frustrating. We saw this a couple of times last year. I think Corey Heim was one that we saw come and go like that. And we talked about the triple truck challenge. Of course, Corey Heim won't be able to win this one and take the five hundred grand, but there's still fifty grand on the line for the driver. That is a truck series regular. So Christopher Bell would not be eligible. Next guy would be Chandler Smith who could take home that fifty grand, maybe that briefcase full of cash we've often seen. Got to make him feel good. A good consolation prize after the race that they inform you that you walked away with that. It's been a night. We've seen a little bit of everything. It is coming down to it. Three laps to go. It's a little bit of lap traffic ahead of Seabell, but I don't think anything he hasn't been able to manage yet. He'll catch it probably on the white flag lap. But look how close Chandler is just keeping him honest, like he's staying close enough to where that lap traffic could really get on his nerves if they get there. I don't think they're going to quite do it, though. White flag will go in the air this time for Christopher Bell. It's been since 2017 since he's tasted victory driving a truck. Look at Chandler Smith. A half lap still to go. Chandler Smith is close and he does it. Christopher Bell wins his eighth career race at Bristol.