The 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race continued its season Friday night with the sixth race of the year at Bristol Motor Speedway. Christopher Bell, piloting the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing entry, took the lead late in the final stage at Lap 188.
He then led the remainder of the race en route to his eighth Truck Series career victory. It was his first Truck Series win since 2017 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“Oh man, that was so awesome to be able to win a truck race,” Bell said in his post-race interview on the frontstretch. “Man, it’s been what since 2017, since I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this group, this HRF (Halmar Friesen Racing) group.
“I got the unfortunate call last year to drive for Stewart (Friesen, Team Owner) whenever he got hurt. We went out to Watkins Glen and almost got it (the victory). You know, they’ve been working really hard to get to victory lane. Whenever Stewart and Jimmy (Villeneuve, Crew Chief) called me about this opportunity to try and run some races this year, I’m like, heck yeah, let’s do it. Just so special. So special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins mean a lot to this team and organization.
“So, can’t say, thank the guys enough for this opportunity. I love this racetrack and love the fans. You guys got to see some demo racing for a little bit, so I’m sure you guys love that.”
Last year’s Truck Series champion, Corey Heim, dominated the last two races at Darlington and Rockingham. He was also eligible to collect an extra $500,000 bonus thanks to the annual Triple Truck Challenge, which started at Darlington. He qualified in the 12th position entering the Bristol race. Unfortunately, he was involved in an accident on Lap 181 and was unable to finish the race.
Numerous Cup Series stars were also entered in the field. Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, and Carson Hocevar all competed in the race. This was the largest Cup Series field that has competed in a Truck Series event in quite some time.
Stages 65-65-120 made up the 250-lap race. Kaden Honeycutt secured his second career pole position after qualifying was held earlier in the day, with a lap time of 15.066 seconds at 127.360 mph in his No. 11 TriCon Garage Toyota Tundra.
Honeycutt led laps early on before Christian Eckes took the lead on Lap 4 of the 250-lap race. An early caution flew at Lap 17 for the No. 44 Niece Motorsport of Andres Perez, who spun off Turn 4 to bring out the first caution flag of the evening.
As it turned out, that would be the only caution for the first stage. Eckes dominated by leading the remainder of the stage and taking home the Stage 1 victory. It wouldn’t come without battles, however. On Lap 40, Bell encountered some lapped traffic. This allowed Layne Riggs and Honeycutt to close in on him.
However, Eckes managed his race pace and held on to gain 10 extra stage points when the stage ended at Lap 65. Eckes, Riggs, Honeycutt, Ben Rhodes, Jake Garcia, Hocevar, Gio Ruggiero, Briscoe, Busch, and Heim rounded out the Top 10 finishers. Under the stage break caution, the race leaders stayed out and elected not to pit.
Stage 2 took place between Laps 78 and 130. For the restart on Lap 78, the Top 10 drivers included Eckes, Riggs, Honeycutt, Rhodes, Garcia, Ruggiero, Briscoe, Justin Haley, Chandler Smith, and Tanner Gray.
Similar to the first stage, just one caution slowed the race coming at Lap 119 when the No. 42 of Tyler Reif and the No. 33 of Frankie Muniz wrecked with one another. The replay showed that Muniz came down on Reif going into Turns 3 and 4. Both drivers went up the track, taking the No. 56 of Timmy Hill with them.
The race resumed at Lap 128 of the 130-lap stage. This time, it was Rhodes who took the stage victory after he stayed out under the previous caution to get track position. Rhodes, Haley, Busch, Corey LaJoie, Heim, Bell, Eckes, Honeycutt, and Riggs completed the Top 10. Once again, there were a couple of leaders who stayed out, including Busch, who would assume the lead for the third and final stage.
The final stage went green at Lap 141 and saw a slew of yellows litter the final 109 laps. There were six cautions for accidents during the stage. The first occurred on Lap 147, when Tanner Gray was spun by Mini Tyrell in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. Then, Perez was spun by Carson Ferguson in the same section.
Another yellow flag was displayed at Lap 157. Cole Butcher, driving the No. 13 ThorSport Racing entry, was sent sideways on the backstretch. As he was coming back down the track, it looked as though he would clear the incident and be able to continue with no damage. Unfortunately, he was clipped by the No. 4 of Stenhouse Jr. The No. 16 of Haley was also collected.
This would be the start of numerous yellow flags in the middle of the third stage. At Lap 170, the No. 2 of Luke Baldwin spun off Turn 4. LaJoie, in the No. 25 RAM Kaulig entry, gave him a little bump and it was just enough for Baldwin’s truck to get sideways.
During the caution period, Busch, who was the race leader, lost power in his truck as he was trying to save fuel. He lost the lead and was unable to get it back. As a result, Eckes and Heim moved ahead to the top two spots before the Lap 180 restart.
Perhaps, most notably, one of the bigger accidents of the night came at Lap 181 as Heim challenged Eckes for the race lead. In doing so, Heim entered Turn 1 side-by-side with Eckes and eventually was clipped by him on the right rear. This sent him wrecking up the track sideways, taking Honeycutt and Riggs with him in a massive crash. Both Heim and Honeycutt were done for the night. A brief red flag period followed the accident for cleanup.
Eventually, for the first time, Bell was on the front row, restarting with Eckes. The two raced hard for numerous laps with Bell getting the better of Eckes and taking the lead on Lap 188. While he was ready to set sail for the victory, Bell had to hang on one more time as a late race caution came at Lap 216 for LaJoie, who spun in Turn 4 and broke his suspension in the process.
The final 34 laps of the race went green and Bell was able to pull ahead for what would be the last restart of the night. Smith tried battling Bell for the lead but was unable to do so. Ultimately, Bell went on to score his first victory with the Halmar Friesen Racing team.
Bell led one time for 63 laps en route to victory.
There were nine cautions for 76 laps and seven lead changes among six different drivers.
Official Race Results
- Christopher Bell – Led 63 laps
- Chandler Smith
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Ross Chastain
- Christian Eckes – Won Stage 1, led 132 laps
- Jake Garcia
- Dawson Sutton
- Kyle Busch – Led 39 laps
- Carson Hocevar
- Brenden Queen
- Ben Rhodes – Won Stage 2, Led 13 laps
- Daniel Hemric
- Tyler Ankrum
- Chase Briscoe
- Justin Haley
- Stewart Friesen
- Andres Perez
- Daniel Suarez
- Mini Tyrell
- Tanner Gray
- Carson Ferguson
- Layne Riggs, 1 lap down
- Ty Majeski, 2 laps down
- Spencer Boyd, 3 laps down
- Kris Wright, 3 laps down
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 3 laps down
- Grant Enfinger, 7 laps down
- Cole Butcher, 9 laps down
- Corey LaJoie, OUT, Accident
- Corey Heim, OUT, Accident
- Kaden Honeycutt, OUT, Accident
- Luke Baldwin, OUT, Accident
- Timmy Hill, OUT, Accident
- Tyler Reif, OUT, Accident
- Frankie Muniz, OUT, Accident
- Clayton Green, OUT, Minimum Speed
Up Next – The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will take a few weeks off before resuming action at the Texas Motor Speedway, Friday Night, May 1st, live on Fox Sports 1 at 8 p.m.ET.
