Jake Garcia Wins First Truck Series Race at Bristol
This is the Happy Hour Racing race recap, where we break down what actually decided the race. This one covers the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol, not the Cup race.
The Short Version
Jake Garcia won the UNOH 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday night, his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in 94 starts. The 21-year-old from Monroe, Georgia led 104 of the 250 laps in the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford and beat Bayley Currey by 1.305 seconds. The bigger story was behind him. Layne Riggs led the first 135 laps and swept both stages, then lost a wheel, got caught in contact, and finished 32nd. His points lead in the Chase opener shrank from 25 to 3.
Layne Riggs Owned the First Half
Qualifying was cancelled by weather, so the lineup was set by formula and Riggs rolled off first in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. He then did what the points leader is supposed to do at a half-mile. He led lap one. He led lap 65 to take Stage 1. He led lap 130 to take Stage 2. He led every single lap through lap 135.
Riggs came into Bristol with six wins on the season, more than anybody else in the series, and for an hour it looked like win number seven was a formality. Kaden Honeycutt was the only truck that looked like it had anything for him, and even he admitted afterward he needed a longer green-flag run to prove it. "Our Mobil 1 Tundra was so good tonight," Honeycutt said. "I felt like we were better than the 34. I just needed a long run."
One Loose Wheel Cracked the Chase Wide Open
It came apart on pit road. Riggs had a loose wheel in the final stage and had to come back down under green to fix it. That one unscheduled stop put him two laps down with no caution in sight to get them back. From third on lap 160 he was 27th two laps later.
It got worse. Riggs and Nick Leitz rubbed fenders, Riggs took heavy left-side damage, and Leitz put the No. 1 into the outside wall in Turn 3. That brought out the caution on lap 170 and a red flag that lasted 14 minutes and 20 seconds while the track was cleaned up. Leitz was done with suspension damage and finished 34th. Riggs limped to 32nd, 16 laps down, with the fastest truck of the night.
"We had the truck to beat," Riggs said. "This one stings really bad."
He was not alone. Chandler Smith started second, worked his way up to seventh late, then got hit with a pit road speeding penalty and a loose wheel of his own and came home 24th, three laps down. Christian Eckes finished 30th, eight laps down. Honeycutt also had a loose wheel, though his crew caught it under caution and he salvaged eighth. Gio Ruggiero was the best of the Chase group in sixth.
How Garcia Actually Won It
Garcia started 12th and worked forward all night, running fourth in both stages. When Riggs dropped out of the picture on lap 136, Garcia inherited the lead and then had to earn it twice more.
The call that won the race came in the final stage break. Most of the field took tires. Garcia's crew took fuel only and nothing else. That got him off pit road in front, and it meant he had to defend on old rubber for the rest of the night. Kaden Honeycutt briefly cleared him on lap 182. Garcia took it right back on the next lap. After the debris caution in Turn 2 on lap 214, Stewart Friesen got by on the restart and led laps 220 through 229.
Garcia went back and got it on lap 230, using the inside line to clear Friesen, and held the bottom for the last 20 laps. Currey chased him down late and cleared Friesen for second on lap 247 but ran out of laps.
IT'S BRISTOL BABY!
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) September 18, 2026
The green flag waves on The Chase at @ItsBristolBaby, live on FS1.
"It's just surreal," Garcia said. "Not having a win wears on you a little bit. We've been really close a handful of times, but just haven't had things go our way and tonight everything went well for us."
Stats and Fun Facts
A few numbers worth sitting with. Riggs led 135 laps and scored 25 points. Garcia led 104 laps and scored 69. Chandler Smith set the fastest lap of the race on lap four, a 15.683, and still finished 24th. Only four drivers led all night and only two of them led more than 10 laps. Bristol did not need a big wreck to wreck somebody's season. It just needed four lug nuts.
Who Is Hot and Who Is Not
Hot: Garcia, obviously, and ThorSport. Bayley Currey quietly drove from 16th to second and was the fastest truck on the racetrack at the end. Stewart Friesen led late and took third at 43 years old. Justin Haley put the Kaulig Ram in fourth. Gio Ruggiero came from 19th to sixth on a night when most of the Chase field went backward.
Not: Front Row Motorsports. Riggs and Chandler Smith started first and second and finished 32nd and 24th, both beaten by pit road rather than by another truck. Christian Eckes has a real problem now, and Nick Leitz leaves Bristol with a torn-up truck and nothing to show for a seventh-place run in Stage 2.
Where the Chase Stands
This is the new 2026 format, and it matters here. NASCAR dropped win-and-you're-in and stage playoff points from the Truck Chase, so a win no longer bails anybody out. It is points, straight up, over seven races.
Riggs still leads with 2,125 points. Honeycutt is three back. That is the whole gap after a night where Riggs led more than half the race. Six races remain: Kansas, Charlotte, Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville and Homestead. You can see the full rest of the year, the winners so far, and the current points on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule and standings page.
The Bottom Line
Jake Garcia waited 94 starts for this and got it the hard way, on old tires, defending the bottom lane at Bristol. And the driver who was supposed to control this Chase now leads it by three points instead of 25. Six races to go.
Your take: Riggs led 135 laps and lost it on pit road. Does a loose wheel cost a team the championship, or does a six-win season have enough cushion to survive it? Tell us who you have winning this thing.
Shop the Story
We do not have Jake Garcia gear in the store yet. Here is the Truck Series and Bristol gear we do have in stock right now:
- Chase Elliott #7 NASCAR 2026 Truck Series North Wilkesboro T-Shirt
- Ty Majeski #98 NASCAR 2024 Truck Series Championship Shirt, the same No. 98 ThorSport truck Garcia won in
- Christopher Bell #20 2025 Bristol Night Winner T-Shirt
- Kyle Larson #5 2024 Bristol Night Race Winner T-Shirt
- NASCAR USA Tonal Logo Trucker Mesh Snapback Hat
If a win shirt is what you are after, the win shirt subscription fan club sends you the gear after the races that matter. New gear lands all week over on the newest arrivals.
