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Chandler Smith wins Daytona Truck race in unreal four-wide finish

Chandler Smith Truck Christian Eckes Hocevar Daytona (Facility) NASCAR Ty Majeski NASCAR Truck Series (Organization) Cleetus McFarland Gio Ruggiero

Chandler Smith was running sixth entering Turn 3, but he ended the night holding the checkered flag. He didn’t benefit from a wreck, but instead made a dramatic four-wide pass for the lead as the field drag-raced to the finish line. He beat runner-up Gio Ruggiero to the line by 0.044s, and just 0.069s separated the entire top five in the end.

John-Hunter Nemechek had the lead exiting the final corner, but ended up finishing fifth. Ruggiero made an aggressive move to the outside, slamming doors with Christian Eckes. Nemechek tried to defend, chasing them up to the track, and he had no idea that Smith was rapidly approaching with Ty Majeski attached to his rear bumper.

He completed the four-wide pass for the win, and was going so fast that he nearly cleared all three trucks by the time he reached the finish line.

At the line, it was Smith, Ruggiero, Eckes, Majeski, and Nemechek inside the top five. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth, Brenden Queen led the way for Ram's new Truck effort in seventh, Kaden Honeycutt was eighth, Tyler Ankrum ninth, and Stewart Friesen tenth.

"First off, I want to shout out all glory to God," said Smith after climbing from the truck. "Without Him, none of this would be possible. And I am super, super grateful that I serve such a loving God that blessed me with such a good group of men and women around me at Front Row Motorsports.

"Ty Majeski, one of my best four teammates I've ever worked with. He is all credit to how we just won that race truthfully. He stayed committed to a Ford and pushed a blue oval to a win.

"Have some people back at home that's struggling a little bit. Rory Smith, buddy, I know we talked about maybe making it to the Daytona 500, but hopefully this does a little better justice for you. Really happy we got a trophy here. This is our first ever NASCAR race, and was debating on if they were going to do more. Hopefully those guys, I know they're raising Cain up in the stands right now, having a great time.

"Just super, super grateful for everybody on this No. 38 Ford F-150 group. We made some changes in the off-season. I felt like last year everybody for the most part knows how this 38 group came together last year, but we built on it and made this group so much better for this year, and I'm so excited for 2026."

As for some other fan favorites, Travis Pastrana placed 15th, Frankie Muniz 16th, while both Tony Stewart and Cleetus McFarland wrecked out in the first half of the race.

Chandler Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford (Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Stages 1 and 2

The field immediately went three-wide in the season-opener, and it didn't take long for the first caution flag to fly. Just six laps into the race, Cleetus McFarland lost control at the exit of Turn 4, corrected to avoid the field of trucks, and slammed the inside wall to quickly end his NCTS debut.

Hocevar was a dominant force out front, and Stage 1 ended in a thrilling photo finish as he nosed ahead of Tanner Gray, with Christian Eckes third.

Some other trucks who chose to pit during the first caution cycled to the front during the stage break, but Hocevar quickly found his way to the lead. However, his No. 77 truck then shut off for a moment, but he was able to get out of the way.

Elsewhere in the field, Daniel Hemric fell multiple laps down as he had to pit under green for a broken spoiler brace.

Stage 2 ended under caution, as Jake Garcia lost control at the exit of Turn 4 in a drift like McFarland’s, however, Garcia instead snapped up the track and collected none other than Tony Stewart, who was making his highly anticipated NASCAR return. Both trucks crashed into the outside wall, and Stewart was unable to continue.

Smith won Stage 2 behind the pace car with Layne Riggs second and Ty Majeski third.

Stage 3

In the final stage, trouble found Hocevar again as he led the race, cutting a tire. The pack narrowly avoided him, and he spun out once everyone was clear, triggering a caution.

This was right on the edge of the fuel window, and the field got fairly single-file after as many focused on saving what they had in the tank.

There were a flurry of flat tires including Enfinger, Kitzmiller, and Riggs, but the race stayed green.

However, Hocevar lost a tire again, and that was a enough to trigger a yellow flag, ending the fuel-saving for most of the field.

It was a wild battle up front with McDowell taking control. Hocevar, who was no longer on the lead lap, spun himself out off the nose of another truck in his third incident of the night -- but the race stayed green.

With just a few laps to go, a three-truck wreck broke out between Spencer Boyd, Dawson Sutton, and Taylor Gray. It began with a bad bump from Majeski, who earned pole position for this race. Mini Tyrrell also slapped the wall trying to avoid the melee, forcing the race into overtime.

It was Honeycutt vs. McDowell on the front row, but McDowell spun out as the field raced to the white flag. Honeycutt was leading with one lap to go, but got shuffled out as the field started going every which way down the backstretch. Ruggiero nearly got turned at the same time and was below the yellow line before forcing his way back onto the race track.

And what followed was the incredible five-truck battle for the win we just highlighted, with the entire group crossing the line within a tenth of each other -- and still in one piece.

This is Smith's eighth career win as a NASCAR Truck Series driver, and puts him atop the standings to start the year as NASCAR shifts back to the Chase championship format.

2026 NASCAR Truck Daytona Results

cla # driver manufacturer laps time gap laps led
1 38 USA Chandler Smith Ford 102 2:06'00.177   8
2 17 USA Gio Ruggiero Toyota 102 2:06'00.221 0.044  
3 91 USA Christian Eckes Chevrolet 102 2:06'00.242 0.065 1
4 88 USA Ty Majeski Ford 102 2:06'00.246 0.069 5
5 62 USA John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 102 2:06'00.246 0.069 10
6 45 USA Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 102 2:06'00.305 0.128  
7 12 USA Brenden Queen RAM 102 2:06'00.500 0.323  
8 11 USA Kaden Honeycutt Toyota 102 2:06'00.504 0.327 1
9 18 USA Tyler Ankrum Chevrolet 102 2:06'00.567 0.390  
10 52 USA Stewart Friesen Toyota 102 2:06'00.643 0.466  
11 5 USA Nick Leitz Toyota 102 2:06'00.645 0.468 3
12 99 USA Ben Rhodes Ford 102 2:06'00.702 0.525  
13 44 MEX Andrés Pérez de Lara Chevrolet 102 2:06'01.029 0.852  
14 13 USA Cole Butcher Ford 102 2:06'01.278 1.101  
15 42 USA Travis Pastrana Chevrolet 102 2:06'01.946 1.769 1
16 33 USA Frankie Muniz Ford 102 2:06'02.299 2.122  
17 10 USA Daniel Dye RAM 102 2:06'03.769 3.592  
18 95 USA Clay Greenfield Chevrolet 102 2:06'04.051 3.874  
19 14 USA Mini Tyrrell RAM 102 2:06'07.268 7.091  
20 22 USA Josh Reaume Ford 102 2:06'07.283 7.106  
21 76 USA Spencer Boyd Chevrolet 102 2:06'07.892 7.715  
22 16 USA Justin Haley RAM 102 2:06'10.140 9.963 20
23 15 USA Tanner Gray Toyota 102 2:06'59.106 58.929 11
24 7 USA Michael McDowell Chevrolet 101 2:05'34.327 1 Lap 20
25 81 USA Kris Wright Chevrolet 101 2:05'50.342 1 Lap  
26 19 USA Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 101 2:06'03.952 1 Lap  
27 26 USA Dawson Sutton Chevrolet 101 2:06'07.655 1 Lap  
28 1 USA Taylor Gray Toyota 101 2:06'09.353 1 Lap  
29 9 USA Grant Enfinger Chevrolet 100 2:06'08.436 2 Laps  
30 97 USA Jason Kitzmiller Chevrolet 100 2:06'10.852 2 Laps  
31 34 USA Layne Riggs Ford 98 2:06'04.114 4 Laps 2
32 98 USA Jake Garcia Ford 98 2:06'08.802 4 Laps  
33 2 USA Jason White Ford 98 2:06'41.617 4 Laps  
34 75 USA Corey LaJoie Chevrolet 92 1:53'03.522 10 Laps  
35 77 USA Carson Hocevar Chevrolet 88 1:53'02.638 14 Laps 20
36 25 USA Tony Stewart RAM 39 52'36.956 63 Laps  
37 4 USA Cleetus McFarland Chevrolet 5 4'07.183 97 Laps  

 

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