Late charge puts Christopher Bell in the NASCAR Truck Series victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, ARMY National Guard 250.
BRISTOL, Tenn.—Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell was thrilled to have an opportunity to drive the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Toyota in Friday night’s Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Christopher Bell Victory at Bristol
After crossing the finish line first, he had reason to be positively elated.
Corey Heim, on the other hand, had 350,000 reasons to be disappointed, after his dream of completing the Triple Truck Challenge — and earning a $350,000 bonus — ended prematurely against the first turn wall.
Bell grabbed the lead from Christian Eckes on lap 188 of 250 and held it the rest of the way, with Chandler Smith moving into second after a subsequent restart on lap 224 and chasing Bell to the checkered flag.
Finishing 0.330 seconds ahead of Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Bell scored his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory since 2017, his first on the 0.533-mile short track, and the eighth of his career.
Bell was enlisted to substitute for injured Stewart Friesen in last year’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. On Friday night, he raced as Friesen’s teammate and finished three positions better than he had at the Upstate New York road course.
“Oh, man, that was just so awesome to win a truck race,” Bell said. “It’s been since 2017 that I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this group. I got the unfortunate call last year to drive for Stewart when he was hurt, went up to Watkins Glen, and almost got it.
“They’ve been working really hard to get to Victory Lane. Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins, they mean a lot to this team, this organization.”
The most recent Cup Series winner at Thunder Valley, Bell is racing Sunday in the Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Corey Heim Misses Big Triple Truck Challenge Bonus
Heim’s bid for an extra $350,000 ($500,000 total) for a third straight Triple Truck Challenge victory ended abruptly on lap 180, moments after he had muscled past Christian Eckes to lead his only lap of the race.
Contact from Eckes’ front bumper to the right rear of Heim’s No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota sent Heim spinning into the outside wall. Pole winner Kaden Honeycutt T-boned into Heim’s Tundra, with the No. 34 Ford of two-time Bristol winner Layne Riggs nosing into Honeycutt’s truck in a chain-reaction collision.
TRICON teammates Heim and Honeycutt exited the race under the resulting red flag. With the single lap led to his credit, Heim has now led the last 30 straight Truck Series races he has entered, but that was no consolation for losing the $350,000 bonus he would have collected for winning the race.
“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything,” Heim said graciously of the contact from Eckes’ Chevrolet. “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 an 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.”
Due to the rules of eligibility, there was no $50K bonus winner of the Triple Truck Challenge finale. Chandler Smith was erroneously reported as the winner on the FOX broadcast.
The Tennessee Army National Guard 250 Results
After losing ground on the final restart, Eckes finished fifth behind Bell, Smith, Giovanni Ruggiero, and Cup driver Ross Chastain. Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar, and rookie Brenden Queen completed the top ten.
The race featured nine cautions for 76 laps. Eckes led a race-high 132 laps to Bell’s 63 and won the first stage. Ben Rhodes stayed out under caution on lap 122 and claimed the Stage 2 win.
The NASCAR Truck Series Point Standings
With his second-place finish, Chandler Smith leads the series point standings by just one point over Kaden Honeycutt in second. Corey Heim and Layne Riggs are tired and just four points behind the leader. Christian Eckes completes the top five at -17 points.
Up Next
The NASCAR Truck Series takes a break and returns to the track on Friday, May 1st, at Texas Motor Speedway. The SpeedyCash.com 250 starts at 8 pm ET. with coverage on FS1, NASCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Last year’s winner was Corey Heim for Tricon Garage.