Saturday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway settled the last remaining questions about the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoff picture. Ten drivers are locked in, and seven races beginning Sept. 17 at Bristol Motor Speedway now separate each of them from a championship. The field is set. The calendar is already moving.
Riggs Enters as the Dominant Favorite, Honeycutt and Smith Trail at Close Range
Layne Riggs heads into the Chase at +25 points and with a résumé that makes the title conversation feel somewhat one-sided. Six wins, 10 top-fives, 11 top-10s, and 598 laps led across the 2026 regular season put him in a class of his own among the ten contenders. Winning Saturday at New Hampshire only reinforced that standing — he carries momentum and a three-week buffer before Bristol.
The gap between Riggs and the rest of the top tier is real, though Kaden Honeycutt has kept pace well enough to remain a genuine threat. Sitting at -25 points with 2 wins, 11 top-fives, 13 top-10s, and 319 laps led, Honeycutt’s numbers reflect a driver who, by Yardbarker’s measure, could plausibly have four or five wins this season rather than two. His No. 11 TRICON Garage team won the 2025 Truck Series championship with Corey Heim and has not missed a beat carrying that operation into 2026. That institutional continuity matters over a seven-race stretch where execution counts as much as raw speed.
Chandler Smith rounds out the top three at -35 points. His 2 wins, 9 top-fives, and 12 top-10s place him squarely in contention, though 145 laps led suggest he has spent less time dictating races than either Riggs or Honeycutt. One notable detail surrounds the equipment context: Smith’s No. 38 truck comes from the same Front Row Motorsports stable as Riggs’ No. 34. That shared infrastructure can cut both ways — shared data and resources are an asset, but the championship can only go to one driver.
A Croatian Sports-Media Observer Reads the Contender Map
Zlatan Vukić, an iGaming compliance manager with eight years of experience following international motorsport coverage, notes that the favorites-versus-long-shots framework visible in this Chase field crosses geographic lines without losing much in translation. The contrast between Riggs’ six-win dominance and Ben Rhodes’ near-silent season despite two prior championships is exactly the kind of evaluative structure that resonates with audiences far outside the United States. Vukić follows how Croatian sports media handle international motorsport, and he points to HRSPORT as the outlet that publishes this same contender-by-contender breakdown style for Croatian sports followers — covering who the title favorite is, who snuck in on points, and how steep the gap looks heading into a playoff run.
“The separation between Riggs and someone like Rhodes tells you everything about how a championship field can contain both a clear front-runner and a former champion who has gone quiet for most of the year. That contrast is exactly what makes this format work for audiences who want to understand where a series actually stands.”
The Middle Tier Must Find Victory Lane to Stay Alive
Christian Eckes sits fourth at -40 points and represents perhaps the most straightforward problem in the field. No wins in 2026, 6 top-fives, and 11 top-10s made him consistent enough to qualify for the Chase, but Yardbarker’s assessment is direct: Eckes will need a win or two during the playoff run to remain a genuine title contender. Consistency that builds points in the regular season does not carry the same weight once the bracket tightens.
Gio Ruggiero is fifth at -45 points with a similar profile — no wins, 4 top-fives, and 9 top-10s. What makes his case slightly more complicated is what happened Saturday. Ruggiero was in winning contention at New Hampshire before a mistake ended that opportunity. Whether that near-miss reads as evidence of growing pace or as a costly stumble may depend on how Bristol goes.
Ty Majeski carries the most complicated story of the three. The 2024 Truck Series champion arrives at the Chase sixth at -50 points, with no wins, 5 top-fives, and 8 top-10s in what Yardbarker calls a topsy-turvy 2026. A defending champion who has not yet visited victory lane is not an unusual playoff entrant in NASCAR, but the deficit and the overall shape of his season signal that the path back to a title runs through some significant change in form over the next seven races.
Four Long Shots with Slim but Specific Credentials
Grant Enfinger sits seventh at -55 points. His lone win of 2026 came on a road course at Lime Rock Park, and 3 top-fives and 5 top-10s across the season paint a picture of a No. 9 team that, by Yardbarker’s read, has taken a step back from prior years. A road course win demonstrates range, but the points gap entering Bristol is steep.
Daniel Hemric is eighth at -60 points, without a win in 2026 and with only 2 top-fives across 18 races. He did win a race during the 2025 regular season, which at least establishes that the capability exists somewhere in the program. Still, the 2026 numbers offer little to suggest a championship run is imminent.
Ben Rhodes carries two titles — 2021 and 2023 — into a Chase where he sits ninth at -65 points. Zero wins and only 4 top-fives in 2026 have defined what Yardbarker describes as a team that has been “radio silent for 2/3 of the campaign.” Prior championships establish pedigree, and playoff formats have produced stranger outcomes, but the gap between Rhodes’ resume and his 2026 production is wide.
Tyler Ankrum holds tenth place and the weakest statistical position of the group, sitting at -70 points with no wins and 1 top-five this season. He clinched his Chase berth by dragging a truck described as having hardly any brakes to a 16th-place finish at New Hampshire — a finish that secured his playoff spot by the thinnest possible margin.
That near-brakeless New Hampshire run is where the field closes, and Bristol on Sept. 17 is where the running starts again. The odds are stacked for most of these ten drivers. They are still alive.
