MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chandler Smith muscled to the lead on a restart with 12 laps remaining to take the trophy 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 alongside him on the front row for that final green-flag run. And while Smith went on to earn his first famous Martinsville grandfather clock trophy — by 0.574 seconds over ThorSport Racing‘s Ben Rhodes — the outcome ultimately made his teammate Riggs‘ title hopes just a bit harder heading into next week‘s championship finale.
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Riggs, who finished third, now trails Tricon Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt by 20 points with one race remaining to settle the title. Had Riggs, who swept both stage wins and led a race best 156 of the 200 laps, won, he would have taken the points lead by one point.
Honeycutt finished 14th after some jostling of his own with 16-year-old rookie pole-winner Tristan McKee in typically tight Martinsville traffic during those closing laps.
“Just God‘s plan,‘‘ said Smith, who now has three wins in the No. 38 Front Row Ford this season. “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.”
Riggs was immediately congratulatory to his teammate despite the obvious disappointment after having turned in such a strong showing on the famed 0.526-mile track.
“First off, congratulations to Chandler Smith, my teammate; he drove a really good race and won, so really happy for those guys — it‘s been a little while for them, so happy for them,‘‘ said Riggs, who conceded having to take the bottom line beside his teammate on the final restart 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‘‘ he continued. “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 but did not lead a lap. He was frustrated with the outcome, but as with Riggs, ready to take this championship to the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval next week.
READ: Honeycutt, Riggs set for title duel at Homestead
“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, acknowledging the contact and tight quarters were just part of hard-racing in the final laps at a short track.
“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.‘‘
Rhodes‘ ThorSport teammate Ty Majeski finished fourth, completing the four-Ford sweep out front. McKee was fifth after becoming the youngest driver in history to win a pole position in the Truck Series.
Andrés Pérez was sixth, with Tyler Ankrum, Gio Ruggiero, William Sawalich and Christian Eckes rounding out the top 10.
There were only four race leaders and seven lead changes on the evening that was dominated by Riggs.
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Teams head to South Florida for next Friday‘s season finale, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson won the last Truck race there in March 2025.
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Smith as the Martinsville winner. The No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota will lose pit stall selection for Homestead due to one lug nut not safe and secure. There were no other issues.