That is how you turn a rough patch completely around. Chandler Smith muscled his way to the lead on a restart with 12 laps remaining, taking the victory in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 200 Presented by Down East Heating & Air Conditioning at Martinsville Speedway. The 24-year-old Georgia native pulled ahead of his Front Row Motorsports teammate and the night’s most dominant driver, Layne Riggs, who started right beside him on the front row for that final green-flag run.
For Smith, the reward was sweet: his first famous Martinsville grandfather clock trophy, secured by 0.574 seconds over ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes. It is his third win of the season in the No. 38 Front Row Ford. “Just God’s plan,” Smith said after climbing out of his machine. “We’ve been through a very rough patch since the Chase started and we’ve kept our heads down and we’ve stayed faithful. I’m truly humbled right now for this experience. Martinsville’s been one on my bucket list to win for quite a while.”
It’s 20 points [his lead], but definitely not comfortable. We’ve got to go win Homestead next week and just focus on winning. That’s all we can do.
Unfortunately, the outcome made his teammate Riggs’ title hopes just a bit harder heading into next week’s championship finale. Riggs finished third on the famed 0.526-mile track after sweeping both stage wins and leading a race-best 156 of the 200 laps. Had he won, he would have taken the points lead by one point. Instead, he now trails Tricon Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt by 20 points with one race remaining to settle the title. Riggs was immediately congratulatory despite the obvious sting of letting a dominant run slip away, conceding that taking the bottom line beside his teammate on the final restart simply did not work out.
“Just too free to fire off on restarts when the rubber got picked up and really free up under Chandler and really free up under the 99 [Rhodes], just could not get going on that last restart,” Riggs explained. “I did the best I could, just didn’t have the clean air like on those other runs. Believe it or not, clean air means more here than so many other tracks. But hey, we’ve still got a shot and gained more [points] than we were down, so happy about that … Wanted that clock so bad, but the way it looks, I think it’s going to be me or the 11 [Honeycutt] wins at Homestead, winner takes all.”
Honeycutt ran top-10 most of the night without leading a lap, eventually finishing 14th after some jostling in tight Martinsville traffic with 16-year-old rookie pole-winner Tristan McKee during the closing laps. “It’s a sucky deal, but I got bailed out there, especially with Chandler winning that race. I’m really surprised he went and did that,” Honeycutt said of the contact. “It’s 20 points [his lead], but definitely not comfortable. We’ve got to go win Homestead next week and just focus on winning. That’s all we can do.”
Behind the frantic battle at the front, Rhodes’ ThorSport teammate Ty Majeski finished fourth to complete a four-Ford sweep out front. McKee took fifth after becoming the youngest driver in history to win a pole position in the Truck Series. Andrés Pérez claimed sixth, followed by Tyler Ankrum, Gio Ruggiero, William Sawalich, and Christian Eckes to round out the top 10. Post-race inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage confirmed Smith as the winner, though the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota was penalized with the loss of pit stall selection for Homestead due to one lug nut not being safe and secure. Now, the series heads to the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval for next Friday's championship showdown.
