During the final stage of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro, Chandler Smith was in a league of his own.
The driver of the No. 38 drove away from the field in the last caution-free stage of the FaithFest 250 en route to victory. Smith finished a whopping 8.4 seconds over second place Layne Riggs, his Front Row Motorsports teammate.
The gap was the largest margin of victory on a short track in Craftsman Truck Series history. Smith recorded his second straight win at North Wilkesboro, his second victory of the 2026 season, and his ninth career series triumph.
Chandler Smith dominated final stage to win at North Wilkesboro
Prior to the final stage, Smith cycled to the front of the field. From the moment of the restart, there was no catching the 24-year-old.
Riggs finished second, followed by Shane van Gisbergen in third, Christian Eckes in fourth, and Landen Lewis rounded out the top five.
The race saw a number of Cup Series stars compete, including SVG, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, and Christopher Bell. Retired NASCAR Cup star Ryan Newman was also in the field, making a one-off appearance driving the No. 25 Ram truck for Kaulig Racing.
Riggs started on the pole and led the field to the green flag. Hocevar overtook the driver of the No. 34 early on and took control of the race.
Towards the end of the stage, Riggs ran Hocevar back down to retake the lead and win the stage.
There was one caution in the opening stage for Donovan Strauss’ single-truck spin on the backstretch.
Jake Garcia paced the field to kick off stage two. Hocevar regained the top spot shortly after the restart and led until Luke Baldwin spun out on the 49th lap of the stage, bringing out the caution.
Ty Majeski assumed the lead after a round of pit stops and went on to win the second stage.
Hocevar, who had led 74 laps, suffered a left front tire failure with two laps remaining in the stage, which saw him go two laps down.
Smith took the lead to begin the final stage, and the rest was history. After doing his celebratory burnout on the frontstretch, Smith took a bow in honor of the late Kyle Busch.
NASCAR Truck regulars got one up on Cup stars
Aside from an impressive third-place run for SVG, it was not the day the Cup Series regulars in the field were hoping for.
Elliott drove his No. 7 truck into the top five a couple of times on Saturday, but wound up finishing seventh. Bell struggled to find pace in his No. 62 truck and ended up with a 15th-place result.
Despite showing a ton of strength early, Hocevar was not able to recover after going two laps down for a flat tire. The driver of the No. 77 came home 27th, two laps behind.
With three races remaining until The Chase for the Truck Series, Smith is third in the standings. He trails leader Riggs by 126 points. Kaden Honeycutt is second in the standings, 59 points behind Riggs.
Both Riggs and Honeycutt have secured spots in The Chase.
Chandler Smith Makes NASCAR Truck History With North Wilkesboro Win