Most people want to reduce the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase to a simple two-driver fight, but they are sleeping entirely on Chandler Smith and his ridiculous record at Phoenix Raceway. Friday brings the Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by Poet to the track, and Smith has every reason to fancy his chances.
Now, it is true that Chase leader Kaden Honeycutt has a bit of breathing room at the top. Layne Riggs sits second in the standings, just 17 points behind his Tricon Garage rival after pulling off a season sweep at Charlotte. Smith holds down third place, sitting 77 points back, but the upcoming tracks play right into his hands.
We just need to go out there and execute at the highest caliber that we can, and the points will sort themselves out, however that may be,
Following a post-race confirmation of his position last Friday, Smith made his feelings pretty clear about the road ahead. “That’s good,” he said. “Sweet. It sounds good to me. Let’s go to Phoenix.”
That eagerness makes complete sense when you look at the numbers. Driving the No. 38 Ford, Smith holds an average finish of 3.6 at Phoenix, a stellar run featuring a victory back in 2021 alongside three third-place finishes across five total starts. Honeycutt boasts the second-best average at the one-mile flat track with a 6.8 result.
Look broader, and the advantage grows. Across the final four Chase tracks—Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville, and Homestead-Miami—Smith commands the entire Chase field with an aggregate average finish of 7.4. To make things even more interesting, neither Riggs nor Honeycutt has ever taken a win at any of those four remaining venues.
Execution remains the only real priority for the remainder of the run. “We just need to go out there and execute at the highest caliber that we can, and the points will sort themselves out, however that may be,” Smith said. “If we just go out there and execute and take what we can on a given weekend, the points will sort themselves out.”
