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Chandler Smith ends NASCAR Truck regular season with Pocono win
Chandler Smith will have plenty of momentum entering the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs after dominating Saturday’s regular season finale at Pocono Raceway, leading forty-nine of sixty laps to secure his second win of the season.
Smith took the lead from pole-sitter Zane Smith and led every lap in Stage #1 and much of the second, but elected to pit before the latter’s conclusion which cycled the segment lead and victory to fellow Toyota driver Christian Eckes. A late caution set up a fourteen-lap duel to the finish between Smith and Ryan Preece, one that the former won.
“[Holding off Preece] was really hard because I was losing fuel pressure down the straightaway and it would sputter and he would get a huge run and I would have to block bottom, top, bottom, top every two seconds and every minute,” said Smith. “I had my work cut out for me today to say the least.”
While Chandler celebrated, Zane finished a distant fourteenth due to throttle issues but only needed to score at least two points to clinch the regular season title. The latter occurred after just one lap when Todd Bodine, making his 800th career NASCAR start, was caught in an opening-lap wreck with Jack Wood and Hailie Deegan.
As the regular season champion, Smith receives fifteen bonus points entering the seven-race playoffs.
“We started out our year as best as we possibly could at Daytona,” Zane Smith commented. “From there on, we have shown speed each and every weekend. I think this is like our second worst finish all year. That is still pretty good. I am disappointed in our new truck that we brought here today. We had higher hopes for it than that and it just wasn’t quite there. But we know we have some rockets back at the shop, so we will bring those into the playoffs.”
As for the unrelated race winner, Chandler Smith’s triumph was “big because we didn’t have a lot of points going into the playoffs and today we got one stage win and won the race, so I think we’ll be looking pretty sharp going into IRP.”
The Smiths occupy the top two in the ten-driver playoff grid as the only multi-race winners. Also vying for the crown are reigning champion Ben Rhodes, 2021 regular season winner John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Eckes, Ty Majeski, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, and Matt Crafton.
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 2 | 18 | Chandler Smith | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 2 | 22 | 17 | Ryan Preece | David Gilliland Racing | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 3 | 12 | 4 | John Hunter Nemechek | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 4 | 17 | 51 | Corey Heim | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 5 | 3 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 6 | 31 | 7 | Austin Hill* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 7 | 6 | 66 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 8 | 5 | 98 | Christian Eckes | ThorSport Racing | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 9 | 7 | 19 | Derek Kraus | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 10 | 18 | 15 | Tanner Gray | David Gilliland Racing | Ford | 60 | Running |
| 11 | 15 | 61 | Chase Purdy | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 12 | 16 | 25 | Matt DiBenedetto | Rackley WAR | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 13 | 1 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 60 | Running |
| 14 | 4 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 15 | 13 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ThorSport Racing | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 16 | 14 | 16 | Tyler Ankrum | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 17 | 8 | 23 | Grant Enfinger | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 18 | 10 | 91 | Colby Howard | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 19 | 11 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 20 | 36 | 26 | Tate Fogleman | Rackley WAR | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 21 | 27 | 22 | Max Gutiérrez | AM Racing | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 22 | 23 | 45 | Lawless Alan | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 23 | 9 | 02 | Kaz Grala | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 24 | 26 | 40 | Dean Thompson | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 25 | 33 | 30 | Kaden Honeycutt | On Point Motorsports | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 26 | 32 | 20 | Jesse Little | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 27 | 24 | 44 | Kris Wright | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 28 | 20 | 56 | Timmy Hill | Hill Motorsports | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 29 | 28 | 9 | Blaine Perkins | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet | 60 | Running |
| 30 | 35 | 5 | Tyler Hill | Hill Motorsports | Toyota | 60 | Running |
| 31 | 29 | 43 | Armani Williams | Reaume Brothers Racing | Chevrolet | 59 | Running |
| 32 | 21 | 12 | Spencer Boyd | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 59 | Running |
| 33 | 19 | 1 | Hailie Deegan | David Gilliland Racing | Ford | 57 | Brakes |
| 34 | 30 | 33 | Josh Reaume | Reaume Brothers Racing | Toyota | 55 | Running |
| 35 | 25 | 24 | Jack Wood | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 18 | Accident |
| 36 | 34 | 62 | Todd Bodine | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 12 | Accident |
| DNQ | 28 | Bryan Dauzat | FDNY Racing | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 6 | Norm Benning | Norm Benning Racing | Chevrolet |
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points
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