Jake Garcia commenced the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Chase by pulling off the upset and serving as the spoiler by wheeling his way to his first career victory in the UNOH 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 17.
The 21-year-old Garcia from Monroe, Georgia, led three times for 104 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he took the green flag from a 12th-place starting spot from a qualifying metric formula due to inclement weather canceling the event’s on-track qualifying session. After motoring his way to finish fourth at the first stage’s conclusion, he was among select names who strategically pitted during the first stage’s break period prior to the second stage period. The pit move paid off as Garcia carved his way back towards the front and notched another fourth-place result at the second stage’s conclusion.
Then prior to the final stage period, Garcia, who pitted with the lead lap field, only pitted for fuel to his entry while a bulk of his competition behind pitted for fresh tires. Nevertheless, Garcia made both the clean air and outside lane work to his advantage as he maintained the lead through two late-race restarts. Despite losing the lead during a tight three-wide battle with Stewart Friesen and Bayley Currey during the final restart with 31 laps remaining, Garcia reeled in and reassumed the lead from Friesen with 21 laps remaining. From there, Garcia motored away to his first elusive victory in the Truck Series division under the lights at the Last Great Coliseum.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula after on-track qualifying scheduled for Thursday was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, Chaser Layne Riggs was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with teammate and Chaser Chandler Smith.
Prior to the event, Connor Hall and Caden Kvapil dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Layne Riggs, who opted to start on the outside lane, rocketed his No. 34 Love’s Ford F-150 entry away from the field for a full circuit as he then proceeded to lead the first lap. With the clean air working to his advantage in the early stages, Riggs proceeded to lead by two-tenths of a second over teammate Chandler Smith on the fifth lap while Tristan McKee, Kaden Honeycutt, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Daniel Hemric, Justin Haley, Jake Garcia and William Sawalich trailed in the top 10, respectively.
Through the Lap 10 mark, Riggs slightly increased his early advantage up to four-tenths of a second over Smith while Honeycutt, McKee, Majeski, Hemric, Garcia, Friesen, Haley and Sawalich continued to trail in the top-10 mark, respectively. By then, half of the Chase competitors (Riggs, Smith, Honeycutt, Majeski and Hemric) were racing in the top 10 in the leaderboard while the rest of the Chasers that include Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Christian Eckes and Giovanni Ruggiero were mired in 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 24th, respectively.
With Riggs approaching the tail end of the field by Lap 18, including Regan Smith, he led by two-tenths of a second at Lap 20 over Smith while third-place Honeycutt trailed by half a second in third place. Riggs, who lapped seven competitors over the previous 12 laps, stretched his lead up to nine-tenths of a second over Smith on Lap 30 before the former’s lead increased up to a second over both Smith and Honeycutt at the Lap 40 mark.
On Lap 42, Eckes made an unscheduled pit stop for repairs under green after he made contact with Enfinger by sliding up and getting turned sideways by Enfinger towards the outside wall in the backstretch. With Eckes then getting penalized for having too many pit crew members over the pit wall, he lost multiple laps in the process. Meanwhile, Riggs continued to lead by two seconds over Honeycutt and Smith by Lap 50 as Honeycutt overtook Smith for the runner-up spot. Behind, Majeski navigated his way up to fourth place ahead of teammate Garcia and McKee while Hemric, Rhodes, Friesen and Haley trailed in the top 10, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 65, Riggs cruised to his 10th Truck stage victory of the 2026 season with an advantage of nearly three seconds. Honeycutt and Smith followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Garcia, Majeski, McKee, Hemric, Rhodes, Friesen and Haley were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 19 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, six Chasers (Riggs, Honeycutt, Smith, Majeski, Hemric and Rhodes) were awarded the event’s first round of stage points while the remaining Chasers that include Ankrum, Enfinger, Giovanni Ruggiero and Eckes were mired in 13th, 14th, 15th and 35th, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, split strategies ensued as some led by Garcia and including Chasers Hemric, Ankrum, Enfinger and Ruggiero pitted. Friesen, Haley, Bayley Currey, Sawalich, Cole Butcher, Tanner Gray, Landen Lewis and Nick Lietz also pitted while the rest led by Riggs remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 76 as Riggs and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, Riggs used the outside lane to motor ahead of Honeycutt and the field through the first two turns while Smith, who restarted behind Riggs, followed suit in second place. Riggs led the next lap and he proceeded to lead Smith by four-tenths of a second while Honeycutt trailed in third place by nine-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Garcia, the highest-running competitor with fresh tires, motored his No. 98 Quanta/Curb Records Ford F-150 entry up to fourth place ahead of teammate Majeski and McKee while Rhodes, Friesen, Hemric and Tanner Gray were racing in the top 10, respectively.
At the Lap 90 mark, Front Row Motorsports’ duo of Riggs and Smith led the field, with Riggs leading the event by half a second over Smith. Behind, Honeycutt and Garcia trailed by a second in third and fourth, respectively, while Majeski settled in fifth ahead of McKee, Rhodes, Friesen, Hemric and Sawalich. By then, six of 10 Chasers settled in the top 10 on the track while Ankrum, Ruggiero, Enfinger and Eckes were mired in 14th, 15th, 18th and 35th, respectively, with Eckes being pinned six laps behind.
On the Lap 100 mark, Riggs, who was mired in lapped traffic, maintained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Smith as Honeycutt reel in on Smith for the runner-up spot. Honeycutt proceeded to overtake Smith for a second time for the runner-up spot and both Garcia and Majeski continued to occupy the remaining top-five spots, respectively, while Riggs led by a second just past the Lap 110 mark. With half of the field lapped by Riggs, the latter stabilized his lead by more than a second at the event’s halfway mark on Lap 125.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 130, Riggs powered to his second Truck stage victory of the event and the 11th of the 2026 season. Honeycutt, Smith, Garcia, Majeski, Friesen, Nick Leitz, Tanner Gray, Bayley Currey and McKee were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, only four Chasers (Riggs, Honeycutt, Smith and Majeski) received the event’s second wave of stage points while the remaining Chasers that include Rhodes, Hemric, Ankrum, Ruggiero, Enfinger and Eckes were mired in 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th and 35th, respectively.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Riggs pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Garcia, who only opted for fuel to his entry, exited pit road first and he was followed by Friesen, the latter of whom pitted for two fresh tires. Smith, Honeycutt, Currey, Riggs, Ruggiero, Hemric, Majeski and Leitz followed suit, respectively. Following the pit stops, Smith was sent to the tail end of the field after he was penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 109 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Garcia and Friesen occupied the front row. At the start, Garcia motored ahead of Friesen to lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Honeycutt, who restarted behind Garcia, followed suit. As Garcia led the next lap, Riggs used the outside lane to reel in on Honeycutt for the runner-up spot. Amid Riggs’ charge through the turns from the outside lane, Honeycutt managed to move up and fend off Riggs’ charge on multiple occasions. Riggs would then lose slight momentum and be challenged by Friesen for third place with 105 laps remaining. With teammate Smith mired in 20th place, Riggs managed to fend off Friesen for third place while Garcia, who was holding strong with worn tires, led by seven-tenths of a second over Honeycutt with 100 laps remaining.
Down to the final 90 laps, Garcia was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Honeycutt while third-place Riggs trailed by. Behind, Friesen and Currey were racing in the top five ahead of Ruggiero, Leitz, Majeski, Haley and Hemric while Ankrum, Enfinger, McKee, Sawalich and Landen Lewis trailed in the top 15 over Corey LaJoie, Rhodes, Smith, Dawson Sutton, Tanner Gray and Andres Perez De Lara, all of whom were scored on the lead lap.
A lap later, Riggs, who endured a slow pit service during the second stage’s break period, pitted under green to have a loose wheel (potentially around the right-rear area) addressed. By the time Riggs returned on the track, he was mired two laps down in 27th place. Then with 82 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Nick Leitz, who was racing in sixth place, getting loose entering Turn 3 while reeling in on teammate Ruggiero and hitting the outside wall. Behind, Kris Wright got loose and smacked the frontstretch’s inside wall while Majeski got loose and spun below the track through the frontstretch. The trio of incidents placed the event in a red flag period for 14 minutes and 20 seconds to have the track cleared and inspected for potential oil spilled.
When the red flag lifted and the field restarted with 69 laps remaining, Garcia retained the lead through the first two turns before he transitioned from the outside to the inside lane. This allowed Honeycutt to use the outside lane and duel with Garcia for a lap before he briefly got loose an was outdueled by Garcia shortly after. As Garcia maintained a steady lead over Honeycutt with 65 laps remaining, Currey tried to reel in from third place while Friesen, Haley and Ruggiero occupied the top-six spots in front of Enfinger, Ankrum, Smith and Hemric. Amid the battles within the field, Garcia led by eight-tenths of a second over Honeycutt with 60 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 50-lap mark, Garcia retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Honeycutt while Currey, Friesen, Ruggiero, Haley, Enfinger, McKee, Smith and Sawalich raced in the top 10 ahead of Ankrum, Hemric, Rhodees and Majeski, respectively. Meanwhile, Riggs and Eckes were the two lowest-running Chasers in 26th and 34th, respectively, while also mired two and eight laps behind. As Garcia extended his late lead by a second with 40 laps remaining, Honeycutt, who radioed a vibration in his entry and had initially kept Garcia within his sights, lost the runner-up spot to teammate Currey.
With 38 laps remaining, the caution flew due to debris on the track. During this caution period, Honeycutt, Hemric, Tanner Gray, LaJoie and Leitz pitted, with Chasers Honeycutt and Hemric pitting for four fresh tires, while the rest led by Garcia remained on the track. By then, Ruggiero was the highest-running Chaser in fourth place while Chandler Smith was up in eighth place.
The next restart with 31 laps remaining featured a tight three-wide battle between Friesen, Garcia and Currey through the first two turns and the backstretch. Amid a slight bobble and tap from Currey into Garcia as Garcia almost got Friesen loose, Friesen, who restarted in fourth place, used the outside lane towards the outside lane to bolt ahead into the lead for the next lap. As the field scrambled and jostled for late spots, Friesen maintained a narrow lead over Garcia and Currey with 25 laps remaining.
Meanwhile, Riggs sustained heavy left-side damage to the left side of his entry as he rubbed fenders with Leitz within the mid-pack area. The event remained under green as Garcia, who intimidated Friesen for the lead, used the inside lane through the first two turns and with Friesen running a little too high to reassume the lead with 21 laps remaining. Garcia started to slowly pull away over the next two laps while Currey challenged Friesen for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Haley lurked and reeled in from fourth place along with McKee while Ruggeiro was the highest-running Chaser in sixth place.
Down to the final 15 laps, Garcia led by eight-tenths of a second over Friesen while Currey, Haley and McKee, all of whom were not in the Chase, occupied the top-five spots ahead of Ruggiero and Sawalich. Behind, Chasers Majeski, Honeycutt, Smith, Enfinger, Rhodes, Hemric and Ankrum were running from eighth through 14th, and Riggs was mired 11 laps down in 33rd place while Garcia stretched his late lead up to a second with 10 laps remaining. With Chandler Smith reporting a potential flat tire to his entry, slowly slipping out of the top-10 mark and eventually pitting under green, Garcia continued to lead by more than one-and-a-half seconds over Friesen and Currey.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Garcia remained in the lead by more than a second over Currey as the latter outdueled Friesen for the runner-up spot. With no competition reeling in from behind, Garcia smoothly cycled his way around Bristol for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch victorious for his first-ever checkered flag in the series.
With the victory, Garcia, who won in his 94th series’ start and had notched five top-five results prior to the Bristol victory, became the 129th competitor overall to win in the Truck Series division, the second first-time winner of the 2026 season and the sixth competitor to achieve a first Truck career victory in the UNOH 250 event since 2014.
Garcia’s Bristol victory was also the ninth of the 2026 campaign for Ford and the first for ThorSport Racing since the organization last won the 2024 finale at Phoenix Raceway, the exact event in which they also won their latest championship. Garcia also became the first competitor to win the Truck opener at Bristol as a non-Chase contender since Sam Mayer achieved the previous feat in 2020.
“I’ve been pushing for it for 94 starts,” Garcia said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Really proud of all my guys. They brought an amazing truck tonight. It was good today, but qualifying got rained out. We had a good strategy that helped us come from the back. Get some track position, start Stage 3 with the lead and just kind of took off from there. I had some adversity during that last restart, but fortunately, the truck was fast enough to overcome that. Just really proud of this moment. ThorSport Racing’s a really strong team, especially historically. Just proud of all my guys on the No. 98 team for being able to end that winless streak. It’s been so long since we’ve got a win. It feels really good to be the one to get it done.”
Bayley Currey, who works as a Truck chief at TRICON Garage and made his first national touring series start behind the wheel since the 2025 finale at Phoenix Raceway, notched a career-best runner-up result in his 84th Truck career start. Stewart Friesen, who, like Garcia, missed the 2026 Chase by a slim margin, settled in third place for his third top-five result of this season.
Justin Haley achieved the highest-finishing result for himself and Kaulig Racing’s RAM Truck Series program thus far by finishing in fourth place and Tristan McKee, the 2026 ARCA Menards Series East champion, achieved his first top-five result in the Truck division by finishing in fifth place. Thus far, McKee has finished no lower than eighth in his three Truck starts.
Giovanni Ruggerio emerged as the highest-finishing Chase contender in sixth place ahead of William Sawalich while a host of Chasers that include Kaden Honeycutt, Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Daniel Hemric and Tyler Ankrum finished eighth through 13th, respectively, on the track. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes and Layne Riggs ended up 24th, 30th and 32nd, respectively.
The 2026 Craftsman Truck Series’ Chase opener at Bristol generated five lead changes for four different leaders, and four cautions for 38 laps. In addition, 19 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Race Results:
- Jake Garcia, 104 laps led
- Bayley Currey
- Stewart Friesen, 10 laps led
- Justin Haley
- Tristan McKee
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- William Sawalich
- Kaden Honeycutt, one lap led
- Ty Majeski
- Grant Enfinger
- Ben Rhodes
- Daniel Hemric
- Tyler Ankrum
- Landen Lewis
- Dawson Sutton
- Tanner Gray
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Corey LaJoie
- Luke Baldwin
- Nick Sanchez, one lap down
- Brenden Queen, one lap down
- Timmy Hill, one lap down
- Regan Smith, two laps down
- Chandler Smith, three laps down
- Connor Mosack, four laps down
- Mini Tyrrell, five laps down
- Kris Wright, six laps down
- Cole Butcher, six laps down
- Connor Hall, seven laps down
- Christian Eckes, eight laps down
- Parker Etamon, nine laps down
- Layne Riggs, 16 laps down, 135 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
- Frankie Muniz, 19 laps down
- Nick Leitz – OUT, Suspension
- Caden Kvapi – OUT, Engine
- Jackson Macenko – OUT, Too Slow
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Following the first Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs leads the Chase standings by three points over Kaden Honeycutt. The rest of the 10-truck Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
- Layne Riggs
- Kaden Honeycutt -3
- Chandler Smith -30
- Ty Majeski -35
- Giovanni Ruggiero -39
- Grant Enfinger -53
- Daniel Hemric -56
- Christian Eckes -58
- Ben Rhodes -61
- Tyler Ankrum -71
The 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase, which has officially commenced, continues next Saturday, September 26, at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Race to Stop Suicide 200. The event’s broadcast is slated to commence at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
