Chandler Smith won the Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro last year. He came back this year, but nobody was talking about him as a threat to repeat. What the Front Row Motorsports driver did on Saturday left little room for argument.
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Chandler Smith led 105 of 250 laps and crossed the finish line 8.479 seconds ahead of his own teammate, Layne Riggs. FS1 confirmed during the broadcast that this was the biggest margin of win on a short track in the 31-year history of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Shane van Gisbergen finished third, while Christian Eckes and Landen Lewis finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
North Wilkesboro is not a track where this kind of gap happens. It is a 0.625-mile oval in the hills of North Carolina with an uphill backstretch and a downhill frontstretch. The abrasive surface destroys tires. Clean passes are hard to find. An 8.4-second lead on a track like that does not happen by luck.
Smith’s path to the front opened in Stage 2. Carson Hocevar had controlled the race, leading 74 laps, before a left-front flat tire eventually led him to finish 27th. Riggs, fighting for the lead, came to pit road with severe handling issues and needed major adjustments. When the final stage went green, Smith was out front.
The stage ran entirely caution-free, no yellow flags, no resets. Smith just kept pulling away, lap after lap, while nobody could do anything about it. The doubts around him coming into this weekend were real, though, and they came from one very specific moment.
Chandler Smith opened 2026 by winning at Daytona and leading the points standings. Then came Rockingham in April, where he finished fourth on the track. Post-race inspection found his truck’s rear body sitting too low, an illegal position that increases downforce and cuts drag. NASCAR stripped the result, gave him 36th place, and erased 32 of his 33 earned points from that day.
The immediate question was whether his early-season speed had been legitimate at all. Twelve races went by between Daytona and North Wilkesboro without Smith registering a win. The scrutiny never fully went away.
Saturday’s result answered it. Riggs remains the points leader and has already clinched his playoff spot. Chandler Smith sits third in the standings with two wins. With Cup teammate Noah Gragson on a hot seat heading into 2027, both drivers know every race is also an audition for a promotion.
Chandler Smith was Built From Nothing
What made the win matter beyond the record was what it took to even get the No. 38 on the track.
At the end of 2024, Smith had no ride. His Joe Gibbs Racing deal collapsed due to sponsorship changes. He had no offers and was preparing to go home and work full-time in his father’s construction business.
Then, Front Row Motorsports called. They were expanding their Truck Series operation and wanted Smith for a brand-new second entry. The catch was that there was no team; just space in a shop.
Chandler Smith and crew chief Jon Leonard built it from scratch. They personally interviewed and selected every mechanic, engineer, and pit crew member. They sourced and sorted parts individually, measuring each component by hand to find legal tolerances that gave them an edge.
When Rockingham hit, and the pressure peaked, the group held together. They ran additional pit-stop practices mid-week. They held post-race breakdown meetings on the shop floor rather than pointing fingers.
Today, Smith registered the largest short-track margin in Truck Series history, with a team that not many had faith in.