NASCAR Ford F-150 Breaks Blue Oval Dry Spell At Bristol

Chandler Smith, in his first year behind the wheel of the No. 38 NASCAR Ford F-150 race truck, fended off one of the best of the business to give The Blue Oval its first Truck Series win of 2025 at Bristol on April 11^th. He outran Kyle Larson, Cup Series regular, to make it happen, capitalizing on a late-race caution to charge into the lead.

Smith took control of the race just before a caution waved on Lap 237, passing Corey Heim’s No. 11 Toyota TRD Tundra. That gave him control of the race when the green flag fell, and he settled into the high line, digging in for the remainder of the race. He’d struggled with an ill-handling NASCAR Ford truck in the earlier stages of the race along with a speeding penalty.

Larson, driving the No. 07 Chevy Silverado, tried just about everything he could to track Smith down. His tires were much fresher than those of Smith’s No. 38 NASCAR Ford, but even he couldn’t track him down. While Larson passed Heim for second, Smith ran off with the race lead, virtually untouchable as the laps ticked off. All told, Smith finished 0.934 seconds ahead of Larson when the checkers dropped.

“I’m more excited for the team than I am for myself,” said Smith, reflecting on the last-minute contract that brought him into the NASCAR Ford stable. “This group came together-we hired my crew chief (Jon Leonard) two weeks before Daytona … My life’s been really, really crazy recently, and there were a lot of unknowns about my future going into the season, and we kind of had our backs against the wall putting this group together like I said. But holy (crap), I wouldn’t want any different of a group than I had behind me.”

Smith’s Bristol victory gives him an automatic pass into the postseason Playoffs, where he’ll compete for the 2025 series championship later this year. The No. 98 NASCAR Ford of Ty Majeski is the defending champion.