Wednesday, Feb 08

Late Spin Relegates Chandler Smith to 19th-Place Finish at Bristol Dirt Race

NASCAR Truck Series News
Sunday, Apr 17 770
Late Spin Relegates Chandler Smith to 19th-Place Finish at Bristol Dirt Race NK Photography Photo
Chandler Smith won his qualifying race and ran inside the top 10 for the majority of Saturday night’s Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol before his Charge Me Tundra TRD Pro became ill handling in the Final Stage. Smith lined up fifth when the Final Stage went green but began to fall to the back side of the top 10 before spinning out while running 10th with 25 laps remaining.
 
Smith was able to avoid any damage during the spin and after pitting for a chassis adjustment would return to the track in the 28th position. Over the final 18 laps he would gain 11 spots to bring home a 19th-place finish.
 
 
Stage One Recap
 
·        Smith started Thursday’s 150-lap event from the fifth position based on his win in Qualifying Race Four and the additional passing point he earned.
·        He had fallen back to seventh when the first caution occurred on lap 24, reporting that he was struggling with rolling speed in the corners with his Charge Me Tundra.
·        After restarting seventh with 10 laps remaining in the opening stanza, Smith would gain two positions and cross the stripe fifth when Stage One ended on lap 40.
 
 
Stage Two Recap:
 
·        Veteran crew chief Danny Stockman summoned his young driver to pit road for four fresh tires and a chassis adjustment. The pit stop took place under controlled conditions with scoring frozen per the rules of the unique event.
·        With three drivers electing not to pit, including one that was behind him in the scoring at the stage break, the Georgia driver lined up sixth when Stage Two went green on lap 42.
·        Smith would maintain a position inside the top 10 for the entirety of the stage, crossing the stripe in the ninth position when it came to completion on lap 90.
 
 
Final Stage Recap:
 
·        With tire wear not being a major issue, most of the teams that pitted at the end of Stage 1 remained on track between stages, leaving the Charge Me Tundra scored in the fifth position when the Final Stage went green on lap 93.
·        Smith reported an issue with his Toyota getting extremely sideways when he used the brakes and despite attempts to change the bias from inside the truck the problem worsened as the stage went along.
·        With 25 laps remaining he spun out but was able to do a complete 360 and remain headed in the right direction. The incident slowed the field for the seventh time.
·        Under caution Smith brought his truck to the attention of the pit crew who made a quick adjustment to tighten it up for the closing laps of the race.
·        Over the final 18 laps Smith was able to improve from 28th to 19th but was relegated to a disappointing 19th-place finish.
 
 
 
Chandler Smith, driver of the No. 18 Charge Me TRD Pro for KBM:
 
How did your race go?
“We had a really strong Charge Me/Safelite Tundra TRD Pro in the heat race and in the early stages of the feature. We were in a good position headed into the Final Stage lining up fifth, but something happened where when I barely touched the brakes my truck and the truck would pitch sideways, and we ended up spinning. Came back over the last 20 laps and gained 10 spots but wasn’t the finish I was hoping for with Charge Me in their first race as a primary sponsor. We’ve got four more this year with them and hopefully we can get them to victory lane.” 
 
 
Pinty's Dirt Race Recap
 
·        Ben Rhodes picked up his sixth career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win. Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Kligerman and Christian Eckes rounded out the top-five finishers.
·        There were eight cautions for 43 laps. There were three lead changes among two drivers.
 
 
How Chandler Smith's KBM Teammates Fared:
 
·        John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the No. 4 Toyota, finished third.
·        Buddy Kofoid, driver of the No. 51 Toyota, finished 27th.
 
 
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship Standings
 
Smith maintained the second position in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks series regular season standings. After six events, he sits 38 tallies behind reigning Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes.
 
 
Next Race:

KBM PR

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