BRISTOL, Tenn. — Full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell was thrilled to have an opportunity to drive the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Toyota on Friday in the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
After crossing the finish line first in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event, he had reason to be positively elated.
Corey Heim, on the other hand, had 350,000 reasons to be disappointed, after his dream of completing the Triple Truck Challenge — and earning a $350,000 bonus — ended prematurely against the Turn 1 wall.
Bell grabbed the lead from Christian Eckes on Lap 188 of 250 and held it the rest of the way, with Chandler Smith moving into second after a subsequent restart on Lap 224 and chasing Bell to the checkered flag.
Finishing 0.330 seconds ahead of Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Bell scored his first Truck Series victory since 2017, his first at the 0.533-mile short track and the eighth of his career.
Bell was enlisted to substitute for injured Stewart Friesen in last year’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. On Friday night, he raced as Friesen’s teammate and finished three positions better than he had at the Upstate New York road course.
“Oh, man, that was just so awesome to win a truck race,” Bell said. “It’s been since 2017 that I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this group. I got the unfortunate call last year to drive for Stewart when he was hurt, went up to Watkins Glen and almost got it.
“They’ve been working really hard to get to Victory Lane. Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins, they mean a lot to this team, this organization.”
The most recent Cup Series winner at Thunder Valley, Bell will race Sunday in the Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Heim’s bid for an extra $350,000 ($500,000 total) for a third straight Triple Truck Challenge victory ended abruptly on Lap 180, moments after he had muscled past Eckes to lead his only lap of the race.
Contact from Eckes’ front bumper to the right rear of Heim’s No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota sent Heim spinning into the outside wall. Pole winner Kaden Honeycutt T-boned into Heim’s Tundra, with the No. 34 Ford of two-time Bristol winner Layne Riggs nosing into Honeycutt’s truck in a chain-reaction collision.
TRICON teammates Heim and Honeycutt exited the race under the resulting red flag. With the single lap led to his credit, Heim has now led the last 30 straight Truck Series races he has entered, but that was no consolation for losing the bonus he would have collected for winning the race.
“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything,” Heim said graciously of the contact from Eckes’ Chevrolet. “I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix-up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck.
“I had an issue with my transmission sticking into gears, and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free. I just packed some air and got him free. I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it.
“I’ve been racing him for a long time, and I don’t think he would do that on purpose, so we are all good.”
After losing ground on the final restart, Eckes finished fifth behind Bell, Smith, Giovanni Ruggiero and Cup driver Ross Chastain. Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar and rookie Brenden Queen completed the top 10.
The race featured nine cautions for 76 laps. Eckes led a race-high 132 laps to Bell’s 63 and won the first stage. Ben Rhodes stayed out under caution on Lap 122 and claimed the Stage 2 win.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race — Tennessee Army National Guard 250
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Friday, April 10, 2026
1. (15) Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 250.
2. (16) Chandler Smith, Ford, 250.
3. (10) Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 250.
4. (11) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 250.
5. (2) Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 250.
6. (5) Jake Garcia, Ford, 250.
7. (34) Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 250.
8. (8) Kyle Busch(i), Chevrolet, 250.
9. (7) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 250.
10. (28) Brenden Queen #, RAM, 250.
11. (9) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 250.
12. (23) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 250.
13. (20) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 250.
14. (4) Chase Briscoe(i), Toyota, 250.
15. (14) Justin Haley, RAM, 250.
16. (13) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 250.
17. (27) Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, 250.
18. (36) Daniel Suarez(i), Chevrolet, 250.
19. (26) Mini Tyrrell #, RAM, 250.
20. (22) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 250.
21. (29) Carson Ferguson, RAM, 250.
22. (3) Layne Riggs, Ford, 249.
23. (6) Ty Majeski, Ford, 248.
24. (33) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 247.
25. (25) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 247.
26. (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr(i), Chevrolet, 247.
27. (18) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 243.
28. (17) Cole Butcher #, Ford, 241.
29. (19) Corey LaJoie, RAM, Accident, 214.
30. (12) Corey Heim, Toyota, Accident, 179.
31. (1) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, Accident, 179.
32. (30) Luke Baldwin, Ford, Accident, 178.
33. (35) Timmy Hill, Toyota, Accident, 120.
34. (24) Tyler Reif, Chevrolet, Accident, 117.
35. (31) Frankie Muniz, Ford, Accident, 115.
36. (32) Clayton Green, Ford, Too Slow, 103.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 66.644 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 59 Mins, 58 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.330 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 76 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Honeycutt 1-2;C. Eckes 3-122;B. Rhodes 123-135;K. Busch(i) 136-174;C. Eckes 175-178;C. Heim 179;C. Eckes 180-187;C. Bell(i) 188-250.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Christian Eckes 3 times for 132 laps; Christopher Bell(i) 1 time for 63 laps; Kyle Busch(i) 1 time for 39 laps; Ben Rhodes 1 time for 13 laps; Kaden Honeycutt 1 time for 2 laps; Corey Heim 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 91,34,11,99,98,77,17,5,45,7
Stage #2 Top Ten: 99,7,16,1,62,91,10,11,98,34
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
