Chandler Smith activates clutch gene, wins UNOH 200

Chandler Smith entered Friday’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway as the ninth of ten drivers and needed a win to advance to the next round of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs. In a dramatic five-lap restart, he did just that as he held off the dominant truck of Sheldon Creed and got some help from Kyle Busch Motorsports team-mate John Hunter Nemechek to win his maiden Truck race.

Creed, who hoped to sweep the Round of 10 by winning all three races, started on the pole and quickly asserted his dominance by leading every lap in the first two stages. When Carson Hocevar finally marked the first “lead change” of the night by staying out under caution before Stage #3, Creed had led a career-best 116 straight laps; his previous best was 114 en route to his Gateway win two rounds prior.

While Creed led the way throughout the first two segments, trucks behind him began wrecking quickly with three cautions coming out in Stage #1. The first yellow flag came after two laps when Sam Mayer spun while racing Spencer Boyd, with Howie DiSavino III and Josh Reaume also taking damage. Tanner Gray and Boyd also brought out cautions with spins of their own, the latter once again tangling with DiSavino. By the end of the stage, Creed led Austin Hill, Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, Hocevar, Stewart Friesen, Todd Gilliland, Tyler Ankrum, and Johnny Sauter; Enfinger, Ankrum, and Sauter were non-playoff drivers.

Lap 69 was not very nice as eight drivers were involved in a frontstretch crash: Drew Dollar got loose off turn four while racing Enfinger and Chase Purdy, causing him to go sideways and clip Cory Roper, triggering a pile-up as Tate Fogleman, Dawson Cram, and DiSavino drove into him. Lawless Alan attempted to dodge the stationary Dollar and spun after diving to the inside. The accident resulted in a red flag that lasted six minutes, twenty-three seconds before resumption.

By the end of Stage #2, Creed led Ankrum, Hill, Zane and Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Friesen, Enfinger, Parker Kligerman, and Crafton. Enfinger and Kligerman are both part-time drivers and thus not in playoff contention.

Although Hocevar snapped Creed’s lead between stages, it did not last long as he eventually pulled ahead on the restart. On lap 129, Kligerman spun after contact with Hailie Deegan while Clay Greenfield also went around. Another accident involving Purdy, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Taylor Gray, and Zane Smith on lap 154 resulted in a yellow as well.

On the ensuing lap 164 green flag, Nemechek broke up the Creed/Hocevar front row to take second from the latter. Seven laps later, Kligerman spun on his own, setting up a restart and battle between Creed and Nemechek. The two ran side-by-side before Creed cleared him on lap 179, though another reprieve came moments later for Austin Wayne Self‘s spin. While Creed still led, Chandler Smith pounced on the restart to claim second from Nemechek.

A larger crash took place two laps later when Hill was clipped by Josh Berry into the inside wall and bounced up into Deegan, destroying their trucks and collecting Alan and Self. The accident eliminated Hill from the playoffs.

Creed and Smith, respectively on the outside and inside, paced the field to the final restart with six laps left. The two ran side-by-side before contact sent Creed up and into the wall which Nemechek capitalised upon to take the lead. However, Nemechek slowed and his team-mate passed by, which enabled Smith to lock himself into the Round of 8.

Gilliland finished tenth but joined Hill as the two eliminated drivers. Despite leading a career-high 190 laps, the contact and eventual spin from a downed tyre resulted in him placing nineteenth and two laps down. Whelen Modified Tour great Doug Coby finished twelfth in his maiden national series start.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	7	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
2	6	98	Grant Enfinger	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
3	2	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	200	Running
4	5	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	200	Running
5	13	13	Johnny Sauter	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
6	8	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
7	4	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
8	9	21	Zane Smith	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
9	11	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	200	Running
10	3	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	200	Running
11	17	25	Josh Berry*	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	200	Running
12	30	24	Doug Coby	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
13	15	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Toyota	200	Running
14	16	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
15	20	9	Colby Howard*	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
16	26	40	Ryan Truex	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
17	32	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
18	25	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
19	1	2	Sheldon Creed	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	198	Running
20	37	04	Cory Roper	Roper Racing	Ford	198	Running
21	14	75	Parker Kligerman	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	197	Running
22	39	32	Sam Mayer*	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	193	Running
23	34	11	Clay Greenfield	Spencer Davis Motorsports	Toyota	193	Running
24	10	16	Austin Hill	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	188	Accident
25	23	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	188	Accident
26	38	33	C.J. McLaughlin	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	188	Running
27	36	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Ford	188	Running
28	33	3	Howie DiSavino III	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	169	Electrical
29	35	17	Taylor Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	156	Accident
30	19	23	Chase Purdy	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	154	Accident
31	27	20	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	146	Overheating
32	18	26	Tyler Ankrum	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	123	Accident
33	22	30	Danny Bohn	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	70	Accident
34	12	51	Drew Dollar	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	69	Accident
35	29	41	Dawson Cram	Cram Racing Enterprises	Chevrolet	69	Accident
36	24	02	Kris Wright #	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	Engine
37	31	12	Tate Fogleman	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	30	Accident
38	21	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	21	Accident
39	40	49	Ray Ciccarelli	CMI Motorsprots	Ford	15	Rear Gear
40	28	34	Josh Reaume	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	3	Accident

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Underline – Eliminated from playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Truck points