NASCAR Truck Series

Chandler Smith ends NASCAR Truck regular season with Pocono win

2 Mins read
Credit: Logan Riely/Getty Images

Chandler Smith will have plenty of momentum entering the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs after dominating Saturday’s regular season finale at Pocono Raceway, leading forty-nine of sixty laps to secure his second win of the season.

Smith took the lead from pole-sitter Zane Smith and led every lap in Stage #1 and much of the second, but elected to pit before the latter’s conclusion which cycled the segment lead and victory to fellow Toyota driver Christian Eckes. A late caution set up a fourteen-lap duel to the finish between Smith and Ryan Preece, one that the former won.

“[Holding off Preece] was really hard because I was losing fuel pressure down the straightaway and it would sputter and he would get a huge run and I would have to block bottom, top, bottom, top every two seconds and every minute,” said Smith. “I had my work cut out for me today to say the least.”

While Chandler celebrated, Zane finished a distant fourteenth due to throttle issues but only needed to score at least two points to clinch the regular season title. The latter occurred after just one lap when Todd Bodine, making his 800th career NASCAR start, was caught in an opening-lap wreck with Jack Wood and Hailie Deegan.

As the regular season champion, Smith receives fifteen bonus points entering the seven-race playoffs.

“We started out our year as best as we possibly could at Daytona,” Zane Smith commented. “From there on, we have shown speed each and every weekend. I think this is like our second worst finish all year. That is still pretty good. I am disappointed in our new truck that we brought here today. We had higher hopes for it than that and it just wasn’t quite there. But we know we have some rockets back at the shop, so we will bring those into the playoffs.”

As for the unrelated race winner, Chandler Smith’s triumph was “big because we didn’t have a lot of points going into the playoffs and today we got one stage win and won the race, so I think we’ll be looking pretty sharp going into IRP.”

The Smiths occupy the top two in the ten-driver playoff grid as the only multi-race winners. Also vying for the crown are reigning champion Ben Rhodes, 2021 regular season winner John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Eckes, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, and Matt Crafton.

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
1218Chandler SmithKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota60Running
22217Ryan PreeceDavid Gilliland RacingToyota60Running
3124John Hunter NemechekKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota60Running
41751Corey HeimKyle Busch MotorsportsToyota60Running
5342Carson HocevarNiece MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
6317Austin Hill*Spire MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
7666Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingToyota60Running
8598Christian EckesThorSport RacingToyota60Running
9719Derek KrausMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet60Running
101815Tanner GrayDavid Gilliland RacingFord60Running
111561Chase PurdyHattori Racing EnterprisesToyota60Running
121625Matt DiBenedettoRackley WARChevrolet60Running
13138Zane SmithFront Row MotorsportsFord60Running
14452Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota60Running
151388Matt CraftonThorSport RacingToyota60Running
161416Tyler AnkrumHattori Racing EnterprisesToyota60Running
17823Grant EnfingerGMS RacingChevrolet60Running
181091Colby HowardMcAnally-Hilgemann RacingChevrolet60Running
191199Ben RhodesThorSport RacingToyota60Running
203626Tate FoglemanRackley WARChevrolet60Running
212722Max GutiérrezAM RacingChevrolet60Running
222345Lawless AlanNiece MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
23902Kaz GralaYoung’s MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
242640Dean ThompsonNiece MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
253330Kaden HoneycuttOn Point MotorsportsToyota60Running
263220Jesse LittleYoung’s MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
272444Kris WrightNiece MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
282056Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota60Running
29289Blaine PerkinsCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet60Running
30355Tyler HillHill MotorsportsToyota60Running
312943Armani WilliamsReaume Brothers RacingChevrolet59Running
322112Spencer BoydYoung’s MotorsportsChevrolet59Running
33191Hailie DeeganDavid Gilliland RacingFord57Brakes
343033Josh ReaumeReaume Brothers RacingToyota55Running
352524Jack WoodGMS RacingChevrolet18Accident
363462Todd BodineHalmar Friesen RacingToyota12Accident
DNQ28Bryan DauzatFDNY RacingChevrolet
DNQ6Norm BenningNorm Benning RacingChevrolet
Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points
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Justin is not an off-road racer, but he writes about it for The Checkered Flag.
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