BELL NOTCHES FIRST TRUCK SERIES VICTORY SINCE 2017 AT BRISTOL
Ruggerio Follows Bell with a Third-Place finish and Fourth Top-five of 2026
BRISTOL, TENN. (April 10, 2026) – Christopher Bell brought home his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory since New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2017, taking the lead with 63 laps to go and setting sail on his way to his ninth career Truck Series win Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Cup Series regular and 2017 Truck Series champion was making his first start of the year in the second Halmar Friesen Racing (HFR) entry.
TRICON Garage’s Gio Ruggerio overcame slight contact on pit road to bring home a third-place finish for Toyota to notch his fourth top-five finish in just the six races contested thus far in 2026
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 6 of 23 – 133.25 Miles, 250 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, CHRISTOPHER BELL
3rd, Chandler Smith*
3rd, GIO RUGGERIO
4th, Ross Chastain*
5th, Christian Eckes*
14th, CHASE BRISCOE
16th, STEWART FRIESEN
20th, TANNER GRAY
30th, COREY HEIM
31st, KADEN HONEYCUTT
33rd, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 62 Halmar Infrastructure Development Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How were you able to execute on the final restarts to win the race?
”That was just so awesome to win a truck race. I think it’s been since 2017 since I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this HFR (Halmar Friesen Racing) group. I got the call last year whenever Stewart (Friesen) got hurt and went out to Watkins Glen and we almost got it and they’ve been working really hard to get back to victory lane. When Stewart and Jimmy (Villeneuve, crew chief) called me about this opportunity to try and run some races this year, I was like heck yeah, lets do it. It’s just so special for me to be able to race with these guys, these wins mean a lot to this team and this organization and can’t say thank you enough to Stewart Friesen and Jimmy over at HFR. Thank you for the opportunity, glad we got his logo in victory lane there. I love this racetrack, love you fans, you guys got to see some demo racing there for a bit, I’m sure you guys love that.”
How rewarding is this win for a small organization like Halmar Friesen Racing?
“It’s such an awesome racetrack. I always tell everyone that this is my favorite place to go because it’s so fast yet it’s a half mile in length. You have that short track racing with speed, so I love this racetrack and can’t wait until Sunday.”
GIO RUGGERIO, No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 3rd
You seemed like you were working your way forward all night long, are you happy with the finish?
“Definitely was a hard-fought race. Lost track position there, had a little incident on pit road with a lapped car coming across our nose. All in all, I’m really proud of my 17 crew at TRICON, they work so hard. We had a really good truck tonight, you didn’t see the top lane come in a whole lot. It was hard to pass and I felt like our truck drove really well. At times I was on the loose side, restarting on the top and I felt like I had some capability of coming through the field and then get totally stuck. The biggest thing in tonight’s race is making up ground on the restarts because track position is so, so important. We have to keep going forward with this momentum and head to Texas.”
COREY HEIM, No. 1 Celsius Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 30th
What was your perspective on the contact with the 91 truck?
“I’m good, thanks asking. Thanks to Tricon for really safe trucks. I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything. I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck. I had a issue with my transmission sticking into gears and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free, I just packed some air and got him free. I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it. I’ve been racing him for a long time and I don’t think he would do that on purpose so we are all good.”
KADEN HONEYCUTT, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 31st
What did you see from your perspective?
“Two guys history affecting everyone else’s race. We had 70-something laps to go, had plenty of time. We could have just raced. I know Corey (Heim) got into him a couple of times, that’s just dumb. Four or five trucks that were really good trucks. We had a good strong day, didn’t fire off well. We were a little bit loose on the side, but I was really good on the long run. Our Safelite Toyota Tundra was great, I really thought we were putting ourselves in good spots there at the end to see if we could go and win the race. I thought I was a little bit better than the 91 (Christian Eckes) with the other set of tires, we just needed to get past the 62 (Christopher Bell) on the top, just trying to shuffle him out and hopefully I was going to be able to race the 1 (Corey Heim) and the 91 at the end. What a shame, I can’t believe he actually did that. Really unfortunate, got a tore up racetrack. We’ll try to get it back together, that thing was really good and move onto Texas. That shotgun a beer will have to wait, I guess, another race.”
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