Christopher Bell wins NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol

Christopher Bell held off Chandler Smith and won Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tennessee Army National Guard 250 after taking the lead on a late restart and holding on over the race's final run. 

In a similar fashion to how he won the 2025 Cup Series fall race at Bristol, Bell used an excellent restart to take the top spot and never relinquished it. The victory is his eighth in Truck Series competition and his first since 2017. 

Bell, a full-time Cup Series driver with Joe Gibbs Racing, will now look to win Sunday's Food City 500.

"That was just so awesome to be able to win a Truck race," Bell told Fox Sports. "It's been what, since 2017, that I've won one of these things? Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins mean a lot to this team and this organization."

Bell won driving the No. 62 Toyota Tundra for Halmar-Friesen Racing. It's the organization's first win since co-owner and driver Stewart Friesen suffered an injury during a dirt race in 2025. Friesen returned to full-time Truck Series competition in 2026.

While it was Bell who won the race, the biggest story of the evening involved several drivers who didn't even finish the race. 

Corey Heim nudged Christian Eckes out of the way for the race lead on Lap 180, but Eckes, eager to take the lead back, attempted to give Heim a retaliatory bump. However, Heim spun off the front bumper of Eckes into turn 1, making hard contact with the outside wall. Polesitter Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs were also involved in the crash, with the former being knocked out of the race. Heim told the Fox telecast that he believed Eckes simply "misjudged" his corner entry ahead of the crash. 

Notable results

Smith, Gio Ruggiero, Ross Chastain and Eckes rounded out the top five, with Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar and Brenden Queen completing the top 10. 

Other notable finishers include Ben Rhodes in 11th, Chase Briscoe in 14th, Riggs in 22nd, Heim in 30th and Honeycutt in 31st.