In the end, it was all about Chandler Smith.
And not in the polite, “he led the most laps and managed his tires” sort of way. No. This was Daytona. This was overtime. This was 32 lead changes, a handful of blown tires, a mysterious disappearing engine, and enough bent sheet metal to open a recycling center.
Smith wasn’t even leading when the field roared out of Turn 4 for the final time. But thanks to a perfectly timed shove from fellow Ford driver Ty Majeski, he suddenly found himself shot out of a four-wide stampede like a cork from a champagne bottle. Forty-four thousandths of a second later, he had won the NASCAR Truck Series season opener at Daytona. By .044. In a four-wide finish. Because of course he did.
Earlier, it looked like it might be someone else’s night. Cup regular Michael McDowell tied for most laps led with Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley and controlled the field when overtime began. But control at Daytona is a temporary condition—like calm before a hurricane. Kaden Honeycutt grabbed the top spot at the white flag. Then John Hunter Nemechek muscled ahead entering Turn 3 on the final lap. By the time they exited Turn 4, Christian Eckes and Gio Ruggiero were locked in a three-wide brawl with Nemechek, while Majeski was shoving Smith on the inside to create a four-wide drag race to the stripe. Ruggiero was scored second. Everyone else was left wondering what just happened.
There was no easing into the season. From the green flag, the field resembled an angry hornet’s nest, with McDowell leading a two-wide street fight that lasted until lap six. That’s when YouTube star Cleetus McFarland, making his NASCAR debut, got loose off Turn 4 and was sent hard into the inside wall near pit road. He climbed out unhurt, but his truck—and his night—were done. Daytona can be a cruel welcoming committee.
McDowell and Hocevar kept sparring until a third lane finally formed near the end of Stage 1. The stage win came down to a three-wide photo finish, with Hocevar edging Tanner Gray and Eckes at the line.
Stage 2 belonged to Hocevar—until it didn’t. On lap 33, his engine mysteriously shut off, as if it had simply decided it had other plans for the evening. He plummeted down the order while Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs traded the lead. Then, just as mysteriously, Hocevar’s engine came back to life. He still finished the stage 26th. Mechanical gremlins, it seems, enjoy prime time.
Elsewhere, Tony Stewart, back for a one-off race after a decade away from NASCAR, appeared content to lurk just inside the top 20—biding his time, waiting for the madness to sort itself out. It didn’t. On lap 36, Jake Garcia got loose off Turn 4 and slid up into Stewart, sending both into the outside wall. Garcia drove away. Stewart limped to pit road for repairs, tried to continue, and eventually parked it in the garage. His NASCAR return ended not with a bang, but with a shrug and a battered truck.
Nick Leitz and Majeski led the field back to green on lap 45. Majeski took command briefly before Hocevar returned to the point on lap 53, proving once again that Daytona forgives nothing but occasionally forgets.
Then Hocevar’s truck decided to unravel again. On lap 57, the engine stumbled. Moments later, the left rear tire detonated entering Turn 4, sending him spinning and bringing out another caution. Most of the field pitted for fuel only, gambling that track position would matter more than fresh rubber.
With one lap to go before another round of stops, Justin Haley—one of the few who stayed out—led the field back to green on lap 63, giving Ram its first laps out front in its return to the series. Behind him, a five-truck freight train formed, with Haley and Tanner Gray ahead of Nemechek, Ruggiero, and Majeski.
The closing laps were a test of nerve and arithmetic. Grant Enfinger and Layne Riggs each lost a tire. Jason Kitzmiller spun near pit entry but kept going. Somehow, none of it triggered a caution.
Hocevar, however, wasn’t done with drama. Another blown left rear tire sent him around again with 22 laps to go, bringing out yet another yellow. With 16 to go, the green flew once more. Tanner Gray held the point while Nemechek stalked him. McDowell surged back to the lead with under 10 laps remaining.
Then, with four to go, Taylor Gray, Dawson Sutton, and Spencer Boyd tangled deep in the pack, forcing the sixth caution and setting up overtime. Crew chiefs started doing frantic math on the pit box while drivers listened for the most important words in racing: “You’re good to the end.”And then came that final lap. The shove. The four-wide chaos. The blink-and-you-miss-it margin.
Chandler Smith’s last-gasp move sealed a victory in a race that featured a record 32 lead changes, multiple blown tires, a self-healing engine, and enough heart-stopping moments to power an entire highlight reel.
And that was just Race One.
Welcome back to the Truck Series. Daytona, as always, chose violence.
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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