NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Highlights | 2026 Indianapolis Raceway Park

Nick Sanchez. You mentioned one to watch back in the 77 truck for Spire Motorsports and Christian Ekus. Fans are on their feet. Green flag is in the air. We are racing at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Fanning out behind him. Lane Riggs on the outside. In the lead. Teammate Chandler Smith just behind him with a nice battle with Christian Ekus on the outside. That gets really strong on this start. Good momentum up top. Follows lane through and is going to grab second away from Chandler. Connor's looking to make a statement here tonight. Had a great session earlier today. Qualified well. Wants to go out and say, I can win these truck races. You see the line right here that Connor Mozak is running right now. Wasn't sure how early in the race we would see that, but immediately just right down to the bottom. That 7 truck with Corey Day a year ago did that same line and had a lot of success. I don't think Kane Honeycutt lacks for much confidence. I think he knows he's as good as they get in the truck series. Just putting this thing together. But I agree, Jamie. His speeds were a little concerning in practice, but now he's heating up the 38 truck trying to get that third position. Give that feedback early in this run right now. Figure out exactly what you need early in the run and late in the run so you can communicate that and make the perfect changes. See the 44 truck of Perez trying to make some moves on Grant. Grant's not had the best start to this race, but it looks like the truck's working well on the bottom. And this track's going to go through a lot of cycles as well. We just had the Arkham Menard series race on the racetrack before the before the craftsman truck race here. Different rubber with those cars, so they got to burn some of that off. And you see that the sun is setting, and that's going to be a big key. As that sun sets, do you make the right changes for that, or is your truck already where you want it to be for when that sun sets? He was really happy with how things went in practice, but it was a little late. Shake that off. We got a race to do later, and now he's showing himself out here tonight, guys. Got Michelle up a couple of spots already. It is a multi-race deal, so we'll see him back behind the wheel. The groove was up top. That's where he ran, but it seems like lately everybody's migrated to the bottom. So I'm really glad to see that honey gets able to go up around the top and have some speed. Well, and I like what what Caden did there, right? He tried the bottom for the better part of 10 12 laps almost, and when that didn't work out, you kind of set up the truck in front of you to make you think you're going to the bottom. Nope. Go to the top. And there he goes. It works. 18 laps. It took guys. He finally got around the 38. Don't you just love watching those trucks hop around as they go down in the corner, just bouncing all over the place? The setups, these crew chiefs, the innovation they use to get these trucks to handle around these corners. They don't care if they don't handle good going straight. Do they? Keeping it straight down there is easier on the tires or up top when you're kind of making the corner bigger, if you will. I mean, normally, Michael, I would feel like the bottom would hurt the tires more. But not only do we see it last year that the bottom was really working out for guys. I don't know that one lane is worse than the other. I think it's all about where your truck needs to be to not scrub a tire, not spin the right rear off of the corner, not push the right front in the middle of the corner. And wherever that is, you've got to find it as a driver. Hunter Mosaic. He got that spot. Battles all over this little short track in Indiana. See here. These three battle for six Caden Honeycutt, their grand and finger on the bottom and in the middle. Nick Sanchez been over a year since he's been in a truck, and those are all the adjustments. These drivers will be communicating to their teams. How much? How much do I need? Where's my truck? The worst? Can we do it with air pressure? Do we put a wrench in the back of the truck and make an adjustment? All these things are being talked about right now on the radio about how to go about it. Man, let's get an update on the 11 Caden Honeycutt. Yeah, probably about 10 or 12 laps ago. He radioed to his team that he just had zero grip out there, so desperately trying to get to the end of the stage for some adjustments. Has done a great job. Top 15. He's gonna lose a lap here, but he should get the free pass if Lane doesn't get to anyone else, and he's not gonna. That's Frankie Munoz in the 33. He's already a lap down, so good break for Gavin. Good first stage for this 18 year old. Great first stage for Lane Riggs. He picks up the win here. This is the fourth straight race. Lane has won stage one, and it's his eighth stage win of the season. The road is open. They'll be filling up with Sunoco race fuel with zero carbon bioethanol. They're coming your way, Josh. Let's start with one of the biggest movers on the day, and Ty Majeski said that truck started tight and then swung the other way. Got super loose towards the end of the run. Said, I just need more lateral in this truck. They're gonna make a track bar adjustment and air pressure. And I told him, Do not speed Amanda. Yeah, unfortunately, we're gonna take a look at Christian neck is pulling his pit box. Guys, this is gonna be a long stop. I'm hearing that they're gonna have to make a battery change, which is gonna be in the left rear of that truck. You're gonna see the team go there. They're having voltage issues. It was down to 10.9 for context. They want that around 14. So the team has elected to go ahead and change that battery as they get over to that side. And for Lane Riggs, the guy that's just been ripping through traffic, and it's been so fun listening to a spotter account, though, and he said, No changes, guys, and he's off. Well, you heard it. No changes for that. 34 truck. He didn't need anything. That was interesting. They were having issues, but it didn't look like they got that battery change. Definitely no better. And Christian neck is Amanda. You talked about it. He's back in his box. Yeah, but you're not gonna see them at that left rear. You're gonna see them pop the hood. Now they're smelling some oil is what Christian said there. The team's wondering if it could be the power steering by chance. But on the battery issued, David Ellis decided not to. They didn't want to go down two laps, told him to turn off all the brake fans and any other driver comfort. But yeah, guys, now they're chasing another issue. Oh, what a heartbreaker, guys. He was running second. Wow, I think the battery issued much rather have that than than what they're dealing with right now. Obviously, we saw that smoke coming out of the back of that truck, so hopefully they could find, you know, whatever it is leaking from. And it's a quick fix, but definitely not a good sign for a team that was having a great start to the race. Lane Briggs just been lights out tonight. His teammate restarting on the front row alongside him. Green flag is in the air. Something didn't go right on that start. Lane got stacked up. Looked like he was spinning the tires. You could see that truck dancing around just a little bit to the lead. Three wide behind him. I saw four, Jamie. They were four deep in the field all over this racetrack. And you talk from the wall down to the grass. Look at these trucks battling side by side. Every lap that goes by just gonna get more and more intense. Lane says, Excuse me, I had a little hiccup back there, but I'm coming back to where I've been all night long. And Connor Mossack said, I'm coming with you. He's up to third. They're all under review. It's good, Michael. Make sure everybody was minding their P's and Q's. We have a competition call with Seth, the director of this series, and he said we're going to watch him closer and closer as we keep going through the season. Two truck. Oh, Jackson, the Cinco. One of those drivers making their first career start off the pace. What he needs to do to be competitive. But he has a problem there in the two truck, and he's on the backstretch. Long way to go to try to limp it around. Can use that access lane, maybe, and he does. We stay green. Time of just he's been working this past for the past two or three laps, and he's getting so close to being able to clear Nick Sanchez, and he's done a nice job of keeping his truck pointed the direction he wants to not using his stuff up. And there we go. I think Nick finally said, Okay, you're a little bit better than me right now. Go ahead and take it. Amanda. Christian neck is still on Pit road. What else have you learned? Yeah, they called him back down Pit road. After he left, they were able to check the fluid that was up here on Pit road. It was engine oil, so they brought him back down. It's been so chaotic down here. The team members have been back and forth driving, grabbing additional jack stands to get underneath that truck. They did then told Christian to fire the truck up. It wouldn't because then the battery was dead. So now they have completed the battery change. They are going to make a little track bar adjusted to get Christian back out. But man, just what a bummer. I talked to Bill McInerney earlier today, and he was so excited about how this program is turning around for all these trucks. He said, I got three trucks in the hunt for the chase. Amanda, it's looking good for us. This is not what they wanted to see tonight, guys. Now you saw David Ellen's his crew chief come off the pit box. Not a good sign. It looks like they're gonna go ahead and push him back. His night is done. He was second guys when he started having the problems. Hey, I'm a guy that races modified on the weekend. He said, I'm actually missing a race tonight. Back at his home track. Stafford was excited to be here. He felt good about the games he made in practice. Felt he could be competitive out there today when you're hemorrhaging points and you feel like, you know, he's below the chase cut right now. He sees Stewart Friesen in front of him tonight, gaining points and so far in the first stage, potentially in the second stage here. And as we see the 62 of Stewart Friesen's teammate there, Michael Christopher trying to get to the outside of Caden Honeycutt, and he talked about we saw him talking earlier, and we talked about the fact that he skipped going to a modified race this weekend. That appears to be the right decision right now. He's doing a great job. He doesn't go a lap down. That'll put Gio back on the lead lap. Look at that run. Four wide. How about that? That's the battle for second right there. The seven truck just takes that position away from Chandler Smith. Give a shout out to his young teammate, Gavin Bichelle. He's up to 12th now, still on the lead lap. This is a wonderful debut for that young man. Final lap of stage number two. Lane Riggs. Come on, man. Let me have something here. Slicing and dicing. Green and white checker flag in the air. Lane Riggs wins the stage. Most of the trucks in the field can relate to said, I'm just struggling overall compared to the 34. I need more lateral bite. I need the front end to be more versatile. I just need a little bit more to get to where that 34 is. So that makes some adjustments. Try and help them seven this year. Last year, it finished in that second spot with Connor Corey Day and Brian Patty brought the exact same setup. He finds himself in that P2 position starting this race seven today. No changes for the seven as we move on to Lane Riggs. Regan, there is going to be a small adjustment here. I hate to tell you. Lane was feeling loose on that run, but he sweeps stage one, sweeps stage two. Can he do it again? One final stage to go to start the second stage. Lane had that bobble. He had maybe a gear changing issue that caused him to lead. So you got to execute. You got to be perfect here. Amanda. Yeah, guys, you're going to see Christian Ekus down here, and I'm happy to report it's not a problem. Actually, Christian is going to be running his own race out there. They're setting him up for practically a mock qualifying run. The goal right now is to go out there and get the fastest lap so that Ekus can can find some points in that fastest lap. I love it. They're running their own race. Connor Mozak is on the inside. Lane Riggs chooses the outside. Green flag is in the air. The third and final stage is underway. Chandler Smith is going to try to take advantage of a bit of a slow start there for Mozak and grab that second position. He does it a little bit better and maybe fired off even better yet this time than what he did in the previous run. Ekus rode out there and laid down a 23.14 qualifying speed. Getting some more good opportunities. Breaking news. NASCAR race control has just said because they took Christian Ekus' truck to the garage, he is not eligible for the fastest lap, so he will not get that extra point. Well, that was fun. It was a fun talking point. Well, you got to try. Good effort. You can't hate him for trying. Yeah, you can't hate us for not knowing that because the team didn't know it either. That's right. Caution is out. Wow. Big hit for Landon Lewis. Wow. This is our first caution for contact tonight. Just an innocent bystander if you're Landon Lewis and Daniel Heimrich. Those guys are all battling right up there, trying to figure out a way to get that free pass if the incident does happen and pushing extra hard to try and get positions in that. Green flag back in the air. It's an accordion effect on the inside line. You see him stacked up all the way to the mid pack lane rigs to the point. Hey, honey, get up top there in that red truck. Connor Mozak right there in second battling side by side. Chandler Smith on the bottom. Here comes time. A jesky time. A jesky is gonna have to work really hard right here. You see now Nick Sanchez gets to his outside and outside appears to be rolling just a little bit right now. When he doesn't have that whole track to complete the corner, he could, you know, be at risk to lose more positions if he's not careful. One thing I really like out of the 11 truck of Caden Honeycutt right now, and he's got those white gloves that we've talked about. You can see him through the windshield as he exits the corner some, but it does look like everything is kind of smoothened out just a little bit in terms of what he's doing with his hands, right? And that means they're making that truck better. Scott Cipedelli giving him what he needs in terms of the adjustments. Lane Riggs continues to lead by just over two seconds over Connor Mozak. Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez still top five. This battle's fun to watch. There we go. He gets him. There it is. He's gotten there now. Use that upper lane. I like what Majeski did. Well, I spoke too soon. He got there. He just couldn't stay there. You couldn't see though. Ty was able to still get back door to door with him. He's going to be a lot closer this time on the exit of the corner. Chandler's not going to be able to use the track, and this should be it right here. Ty Majeski told our Josh Sims this is the night they're going to break this streak. Great night for Stuart Friesen. Honeycutt's better with those fresher tires. This is when it starts to get interesting to me, Regan, if the caution were to fall. What do these crew chiefs on pit road do with relatively so few trucks on the lead lap? That was the traffic I was alluding to a moment ago. Two to go. Two laps to go here at IRP, boys. Look at the lead. It's under two seconds. Oh, we got a crash. Oh, no. The nine got into the wall. Or has he just got a mechanical. Right rear damage to that truck. You can see the quarter panel on the right side. NASCAR keeping an eye. They haven't pulled the flag out yet. Final lap coming up. And you see the white flag right there. Final lap of this race. Chandler Smith back behind him in fourth. Ty Majeski, Connor Mozak. Those boys have been battling it out, but nobody has been able to touch the 34 of Lane Riggs. Absolute domination here tonight led 198 laps. And here he comes to the checkered flag. There he is. Lane Riggs wins it for the fifth time this season. If the caution was going to come out because of that moment right there for Grant. Yeah, you had a big smoke issue. It looked like maybe the right rear went flat and caused some fender damage.