The Front Row Motorsports tandem of Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith have won the last two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway and will both be among the favorites going into Thursday night’s UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics (8 p.m., FS1, PRN Radio).
The race is a part of the Craftsman Trucks Round of 10 Playoffs, race No. 2 in the three-race opening round. It’s also part of a Thursday night doubleheader at The Last Great Colosseum, which also features the ARCA Menards Series Bush’s Beans 200. The ARCA race will kick things off at 5:30 p.m. (FS1).
Regular-season champion Corey Heim is bringing all the momentum in the world to the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, however, as he took the victory in the Playoff opener at Darlington two weeks ago and is riding a three-race winning streak. Heim’s eight victories this season is a category-best stat.
“It feels like I’m in a dream,” Heim said. “Eight wins this year is phenomenal, man. It’s great to look back on, but we’ve also got so much to look forward to.”
Heim is also a past Bristol winner, so look out for the No. 11 truck to be a factor in qualifying as well as the 250-lap race. A sidenote on Heim, he is pulling double duty at Bristol and will also pilot the No. 67 23XI Racing machine in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Riggs, Daniel Hemric and Grant Enfinger are hot on Heim’s tail from a Playoff points perspective.
Riggs was emotional after winning here under the lights last September and this type of track certainly fits his aggressive style of racing.
“I wasn’t scared to throw it against the fence tonight,” Riggs said in Bristol’s Victory Lane one year ago. “The track was so fun. So much fun… At the end you could run the bottom or the top and get equal lap times.”
Riggs, currently second in the Playoffs, wasn’t a part of the Round of 10 when he won here last year and hopes to be able to cash in on another Bristol win when it will boost his post-season standing.
Two drivers looking for a strong run at Bristol to help their Playoff standing are Smith, who got off to a slow start in South Carolina, and Kaden Honeycutt, who also needs a bounce-back weekend in Tennessee. Both drivers enter the UNOH 250 below the cut line.
A championship favorite before his Darlington miscue, Smith, who admitted he made a rookie mistake by trying to run the wall a little too hard in that race, remains optimistic about his chances, especially since Bristol is next on his dance card.
“It stings, but right now it looks like we’re plus-one, but we’ve still got two races left going back to Bristol, where we won earlier this year and then New Hampshire for the last race of this round, where I’ve been really strong in the past as well,” Smith said. “I’m not really discouraged or anything about that. I think our pace in our trucks and our trucks here recently have been really good. Everybody at Front Row Motorsports has been giving be a truck capable of going out there and winning.”
Rising star Brent Crews will pilot the No. 1 truck for TRICON Garage and Corey Day will be at the controls of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevy.
A couple other drivers to watch include former Cup wheelman Corey LaJoie, who will be driving the No. 77 Chevy for Spire and Mason Maggio, who will be filling in for the injured Frankie Muniz in the No. 33 Reaume Brothers entry.
The Abingdon, Va.-based Henderson Motorsports team will be racing with a heavy heart as they try to bring home a trophy in memory of their owner Charlie Henderson, who recently passed away. Driver Parker Kligerman has been a part of two NASCAR victories this season and would love to be able to grab a victory here in the No. 75 Chevy for the hometown team.
Some other drivers to keep an eye on are the rest of the Playoff contenders, who need a win to automatically advance to the Round of 8: Tyler Ankrum, former Bristol winner Ty Majeski, Rajah Caruth and Jake Garcia.
The young guns in the ARCA Menards Series return to take on the challenging half-mile bullring in the Bush’s Beans 200 and some of the featured drivers in the race include multi-time season winner Lawless Alan, Lavar Scott, Zachary Tinkle, Brent Crews, “Butterbean” Brenden Queen, Thad Moffitt, Jason Kitzmiller and Isabella Robusto.
Friend of Bristol Garrett Mitchell, known better as YouTube sensation Cleetus McFarland, is expected to make his fourth start of the season in the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford. McFarland opened his ARCA season with a 30th place finish at Daytona in February, then improved to post a 10th-place finish at Talladega in April and in his most recent start earned a 9th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.
Nashville-based Logan Misuraca is scheduled to make her second Bristol ARCA appearance in the No. 9 Chevy for Rev Racing. It will be her first start this season and fifth career ARCA start. Her career-best finish of 18th came at Daytona in 2023.
A late entry into the Bush’s Beans 200 was Bobby Dale Earnhardt, the grandson of nine-time Bristol Cup winner Dale Earnhardt Sr. Bobby Dale will be driving the No. 31 Team Main Street machine for Rise Motorsports. This is Bobby Dale’s first Bristol start and it will be his fourth career ARCA Menards Series start.
The race weekend also features the Food City 300 NASCAR Xfinity Race on Friday night (7:30 p.m., The CW and PRN Radio) and Saturday’s crown jewel Bass Pro Shops Night Race in the NASCAR Cup Series (7:30 p.m., USA Network and PRN Radio). Both of those races are also NASCAR Playoff events.
To purchase tickets, please visit the Bristol Motor Speedway website, or call (866) 415-4158.
