In what turned out to be a fairly clean NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, Chandler Smith pulls off an epic ninja move in a 4-wide finish to capture the first checkered flag of 2026. For most of the race, he was a non-factor. But as the front of the pack broke up and became all the more organized, as many almost wrecks happened in NASCAR overtime, Chandler Smith, somehow, was able to slice and dice his way to the race win.
This is a huge deal for Smith, who, on Thursday, failed to race his way into the Daytona 500. This marks his eighth career NASCAR Truck Series win and his eleventh national series victory.
The first caution of the day came when YouTube star, Cleetus McFarland got loose on Lap 6 while coming out of turn 4. He tried to correct it but, as a result, he overcorrected and spun out his No. 4 truck. This resulted in him sliding toward the infield and making substantial contact with the inside SAFER barrier.
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The second caution for incident (third overall) flew at Lap 36. This was following an incident in which Jake Garcia (No. 98), who was running in the middle lane, got loose. Like fellow young driver, McFarlane, he overcorrected and went up a lane, making contact with Tony Stewart. This ended Stewart’s night, marking an unceremonious conclusion of Stewart’s shocking NASCAR return.
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Though he dominated the first half of this race, around the halfway mark, Carson Hocevar was caught on the outside and shuffled from the lead. It was downhill from there, with Hocevar spinning out on three separate occasions, triggering two caution flags. All three accounts were single-car incidents with Hocevar keeping his truck relatively clean.
Official race results pending.
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