TC Daily Pit Stop: Christopher Bell Scores First Truck Series Win Since 2017
TC Daily Pit Stop: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Christopher Bell Takes Bristol Truck Win After Chaotic Final Stage
While Christopher Bell wasn’t the dominant driver in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, as that honor belonged to Christian Eckes, Bell was good when it mattered most.
Bell worked his way around Eckes for the race lead with 63 laps remaining in the 250-lap contest and was able to hold Chandler Smith at bay for the win in the closing laps. For Bell, it had been a long time since he had won a race in the NASCAR Truck Series.
“Oh man, that was just so awesome to be able to win a truck race,” Bell said in his victory interview on FS1. “Man, it’s been what, since 2017, since I’ve won one of these things. So, it’s a lot of fun racing with this group, this HFR group.”
Eckes would fade to a fifth-place finish. However, Eckes was also involved in the most controversial moment of the race, when he collided with Corey Heim, who had just nudged past him for the race lead with 70 laps to go.
The contact sent Heim hard into the wall, and Heim also collected Kaden Honeycutt, the series points leader heading into the night.
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OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS
With Chandler Smith’s runner-up finish, and Kaden Honeycutt finishing 31st after the incident with Eckes and Heim, there is a change atop the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings.
With 12 races left until the Chase begins, Tyler Ankrum has fallen outside of the top-10, and is three points below the cutline.
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