Chandler Smith Snags Last-Gasp Truck Win At Martinsville

Chandler Smith celebrates with a burnout after winning Friday night at Martinsville Speedway. (Christian Wilson/SWN photo)

By Thomas Hughes, SWN Staff Writer

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Oct. 30, 2026) — You’d be forgiven if you didn’t think Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith would be the one celebrating in victory lane after Friday night’s Black’s Tire 200 at Martinsville Speedway.

For much of the evening, that distinction appeared destined for his teammate, Layne Riggs.

Instead, Smith took advantage of a late-race restart with 13 laps remaining, powering around Riggs on the outside to steal his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season in the penultimate race of the 2026 campaign.

“We had a solid truck tonight, especially when it counted,” Smith said. “We’ve got one more race left and we’ll try to end that with a band with these Front Row Motorsports fellas.”

Smith led just 12 of the race's 200 laps, but the final dozen after a late restart proved to be the most important, as the driver of the No. 38 Ford held off Ben Rhodes by .574 seconds — while Riggs, who led a race-high 156 laps, was left settling for third.

“I felt better on the top on restarts all night long, taking the lead back from the 77,” Riggs said. “I just felt like I was just too loose to fire off on restarts. When you have a good balance on the long run, you have to be too free on the initial runs, so I wanted to take the top. My team kind of differed against that. They didn’t want me to take the top because then you put the control of your race in the guy’s hands on the inside of you.

“He can use you up. Who knows if he would have played nice or not.”

The race began with 16-year-old Tristan McKee on the pole after becoming the youngest polesitter in Truck Series history earlier Friday. However, Riggs wasted little time establishing himself as the driver to beat, taking the lead on the opening lap from the outside of the front row.

Riggs quickly built an advantage over the field, maintaining control until the first caution flew on lap 37 after Frankie Muniz spun following contact involving Christian Eckes and championship points leader Kaden Honeycutt.

The interruption did little to slow Riggs, who went on to capture the opening stage on lap 50 ahead of McKee and Smith. The second stage followed a similar pattern. Riggs maintained the lead on the restart and continued to pull away, while McKee, Smith and Rhodes battled behind him.

Riggs ultimately swept the opening two stages, crossing the line on lap 100 with a 2.6-second advantage over McKee.

However, the complexion of the race began changing after the second stage. Stewart Friesen stayed out on older tires during the stage-two break to briefly lead, but Riggs retook control right away on the restart with 86 laps to go. A multi-truck accident brought out another caution three circuits later, interrupting the battle at the front.

McKee then wrestled the lead away on a lap-126 restart with an outside sweep past Riggs, beginning his longest stretch out front.

The race continued to be interrupted by incidents, however, including successive cautions around laps 130, 138 and 147. McKee remained in control through lap 150, but Riggs returned to the lead on lap 154 and began pulling away once again.

Another caution came on lap 165, followed by an incident involving Tyler Reif and Carson Ferguson that set up the decisive restart. With 13 laps remaining, Riggs lined up alongside Smith, hoping to complete a dominant performance and strengthen his championship position. Smith had other plans.

The Georgia native used the outside lane to clear his teammate, officially taking the lead on lap 189 as Riggs lost momentum exiting turn four. Behind them, Honeycutt's championship hopes took a hit when contact from McKee in turn one sent the points leader up the racetrack and outside the top 10.

Smith never relinquished the lead, completing the final 12 laps out front to claim the victory. Rhodes finished second, followed by Riggs, Ty Majeski and McKee, who recorded his fourth top-10 finish in five Truck Series starts.

Andrés Pérez de Lara, Tyler Ankrum, Giovanni Ruggiero, William Sawalich and Eckes rounded out the top 10.

Although Riggs missed out on the victory, his dominant performance helped tighten the championship battle heading into the season finale. Honeycutt finished 14th, allowing Riggs to erase 23 points from his deficit.

The two will enter Homestead-Miami Speedway separated by just 20 points, with Smith, Majeski and Eckes eliminated from championship contention. 

“All positivity — we’re gonna go win it,” Riggs said. “With this format having 20 bonus points, it’s pretty much a winner-take-all again, in my opinion. Instead of having four, it’s two this time, so we’re gonna go win. That’s all I can go do. Go win. At least go match [Honeycutt] in stage points.

“We can’t have a bad qualifying effort or have something bad on pit road. We’ve just got to go there and execute. As you saw tonight, he’s not as dominant as some people think. He had a little issue that kind of helped us out as well, but it would have been nice to win for me. We would have been in the plus right now.”

For Smith, Friday's victory was a case of being in the right position when it mattered most, while for Riggs, it was 156 laps of dominance undone by one restart.

Broadcast coverage of the Truck Series championship race from Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway airs Friday night, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.