Joey Logano‘s NASCAR Cup Series spotter Coleman Pressley could not serve in the spot for Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway as he was with Taylor Gray‘s team, so he jokingly asked his team-mate Ryan Blaney to fill in. Sure enough, the move paid off big time.
With Blaney atop the spotter’s stand giving signals, Logano manhandled the field by leading all but twelve laps in the 150-lap race for his second career Truck victory. He also won his heat race.
“I called him up after we got done qualifying [at Atlanta] and said, ‘Would you want to do it?’ And he was all in,” recalled Logano. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, absolutely, but I never really spotted before. I’ve only done it a couple times and the last time I did it the guy wrecked.’ So I’m like, ‘Well, we can’t do much worse.’
“But he did a good job. Obviously, anytime you put a race car driver up there, that’s why a lot of the spotters used to be race car drivers, they understand what you’re looking for as far as speed and honestly Ryan knows what he wants to hear on the radio, which I typically want to hear a lot more than him. I was trying to get him to keep talking more and more, which he was. We had some fun and some good laughs and it all worked out.”
Multiple wrecks resulted in green-flag laps only lasting about seven laps including a multi-car crash that took out defending winner Ben Rhodes with ten laps remaining. Logano faced a challenge from ThorSport Racing team-mate Ty Majeski but easily held him off on the final restart.
Logano attributed much of his success in keeping Majeski at bay to Blaney as “line-wise, he was able to see some things in three and four that as he leader you don’t get to follow anybody and see. Majeski was entering a little bit higher and being able to turn down across the track and he did a good job explaining that to me and was able to adjust that line and that made the difference a lot. He was starting to close the gap on us speed-wise and that kind of made the difference for us.”
William Byron and Chase Briscoe, the only other Cup regulars in the race, respectively finished third and seventh. Briscoe had broken his left middle finger in a dirt track race on Thursday, but intends to race the entire weekend before getting surgery. Jonathan Davenport, another driver doing both the Truck and Cup races, placed fourteenth in his NASCAR début.
Zane Smith won the pole after scoring enough passing points in his heat, but was embroiled in a crash with Chase Purdy and Christian Eckes on lap 97 and settled for twenty-first.
Besides Davenport, other dirt ringers included Tanner Carrick (finished twenty-sixth) and Tyler Carpenter (twenty-ninth). Carpenter struggled throughout the night as he was responsible for three cautions due to spins.
Race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 4 | 66 | Joey Logano* | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 2 | 2 | 98 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 3 | 14 | 51 | William Byron* | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 4 | 8 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 5 | 11 | 23 | Grant Enfinger | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 6 | 26 | 35 | Jake Garcia | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 7 | 10 | 22 | Chase Briscoe* | AM Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 8 | 34 | 15 | Tanner Gray | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 150 | Running |
| 9 | 3 | 04 | Kaden Honeycutt | Roper Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 10 | 24 | 25 | Matt DiBenedetto | Rackley WAR | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 11 | 15 | 24 | Rajah Caruth | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 12 | 29 | 5 | Dean Thompson | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 150 | Running |
| 13 | 6 | 13 | Hailie Deegan | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 14 | 25 | 7 | Jonathan Davenport* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 15 | 12 | 11 | Corey Heim | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 150 | Running |
| 16 | 22 | 12 | Spencer Boyd | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 17 | 27 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 18 | 17 | 2 | Nick Sanchez | Rev Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 19 | 7 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 20 | 19 | 32 | Bret Holmes | Bret Holmes Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 21 | 1 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 150 | Running |
| 22 | 32 | 43 | Daniel Dye | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 23 | 5 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 150 | Running |
| 24 | 30 | 6 | Norm Benning | Norm Benning Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | Running |
| 25 | 28 | 56 | Timmy Hill | Hill Motorsports | Toyota | 148 | Running |
| 26 | 31 | 30 | Tanner Carrick | On Point Motorsports | Toyota | 147 | Running |
| 27 | 35 | 9 | Colby Howard | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet | 147 | Running |
| 28 | 16 | 4 | Chase Purdy | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Chevrolet | 147 | Running |
| 29 | 33 | 41 | Tyler Carpenter | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 117 | Accident |
| 30 | 13 | 19 | Christian Eckes | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 96 | Accident |
| 31 | 21 | 75 | Parker Kligerman* | Henderson Motorsports | Chevrolet | 85 | Accident |
| 32 | 36 | 02 | Kris Wright | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 75 | Accident |
| 33 | 23 | 16 | Tyler Ankrum | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota | 25 | Accident |
| 34 | 9 | 17 | Taylor Gray | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 8 | Accident |
| 35 | 18 | 33 | Mason Massey | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | 7 | Accident |
| 36 | 20 | 20 | Stefan Parsons* | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 | Accident |
| DNQ | 45 | Lawless Alan | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 34 | Josh Reaume | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | |||
| DNQ | 62 | Jessica Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | |||
| DNQ | 46 | Jerry Bohlman | G2G Racing | Toyota | |||
| DNQ | 47 | Andrew Gordon* | G2G Racing | Toyota |
* – Ineligible for points
Heat results
Heat #1
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 3 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | 15 | Running |
| 2 | 6 | 13 | Hailie Deegan | 15 | Running |
| 3 | 2 | 4 | Chase Purdy | 15 | Running |
| 4 | 1 | 20 | Stefan Parsons* | 15 | Running |
| 5 | 11 | 17 | Taylor Gray | 15 | Running |
| 6 | 9 | 33 | Mason Massey | 15 | Running |
| 7 | 8 | 7 | Jonathan Davenport* | 15 | Running |
| 8 | 5 | 34 | Josh Reaume | 15 | Running |
| 9 | 10 | 45 | Lawless Alan | 13 | Running |
| 10 | 7 | 02 | Kris Wright | 11 | Running |
| 11 | 4 | 15 | Tanner Gray | 11 | Running |
Heat #2
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 4 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | 15 | Running |
| 2 | 10 | 38 | Zane Smith | 15 | Running |
| 3 | 6 | 22 | Chase Briscoe* | 15 | Running |
| 4 | 3 | 75 | Parker Kligerman* | 15 | Running |
| 5 | 8 | 19 | Christian Eckes | 15 | Running |
| 6 | 2 | 16 | Tyler Ankrum | 15 | Running |
| 7 | 7 | 35 | Jake Garcia | 15 | Running |
| 8 | 9 | 56 | Timmy Hill | 15 | Running |
| 9 | 5 | 62 | Jessica Friesen | 15 | Running |
| 10 | 1 | 9 | Colby Howard | 0 | DNS |
Heat #3
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 5 | 66 | Joey Logano* | 15 | Running |
| 2 | 9 | 98 | Ty Majeski | 15 | Running |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | Nick Sanchez | 15 | Running |
| 4 | 7 | 11 | Corey Heim | 15 | Running |
| 5 | 8 | 51 | William Byron* | 15 | Running |
| 6 | 1 | 25 | Matt DiBenedetto | 15 | Running |
| 7 | 3 | 5 | Dean Thompson | 15 | Running |
| 8 | 4 | 43 | Daniel Dye | 15 | Running |
| 9 | 10 | 30 | Tanner Carrick | 13 | DNF |
| 10 | 6 | 46 | Jerry Bohlman | 11 | DNS |
Heat #4
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 3 | 88 | Matt Crafton | 15 | Running |
| 2 | 2 | 24 | Rajah Caruth | 15 | Running |
| 3 | 10 | 04 | Kaden Honeycutt | 15 | Running |
| 4 | 7 | 23 | Grant Enfinger | 15 | Running |
| 5 | 5 | 12 | Spencer Boyd | 15 | Running |
| 6 | 8 | 32 | Bret Holmes | 15 | Running |
| 7 | 6 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | 15 | Running |
| 8 | 9 | 6 | Norm Benning | 15 | Running |
| 9 | 4 | 41 | Tyler Carpenter | 15 | Running |
| 10 | 1 | 47 | Andrew Gordon* | 14 | Running |
Points earned
| Position | Number | Driver | Total Points |
| 1 | 38 | Zane Smith | 17 |
| 2 | 98 | Ty Majeski | 16 |
| 3 | 4 | Kaden Honeycutt | 15 |
| 4 | 66 | Joey Logano* | 14 |
| 5 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | 13 |
| 6 | 13 | Hailie Deegan | 13 |
| 7 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | 12 |
| 8 | 88 | Matt Crafton | 12 |
| 9 | 17 | Taylor Gray | 12 |
| 10 | 22 | Chase Briscoe* | 11 |
| 11 | 23 | Grant Enfinger | 10 |
| 12 | 11 | Corey Heim | 10 |
| 13 | 19 | Christian Eckes | 9 |
| 14 | 51 | William Byron* | 9 |
| 15 | 24 | Rajah Caruth | 9 |
| 16 | 4 | Chase Purdy | 8 |
| 17 | 2 | Nick Sanchez | 8 |
| 18 | 33 | Mason Massey | 8 |
| 19 | 32 | Bret Holmes | 7 |
| 20 | 20 | Stefan Parsons* | 7 |
| 21 | 75 | Parker Kligerman* | 7 |
| 22 | 12 | Spencer Boyd | 6 |
| 23 | 16 | Tyler Ankrum | 5 |
| 24 | 25 | Matt DiBenedetto | 5 |
| 25 | 7 | Jonathan Davenport* | 5 |
| 26 | 35 | Jake Garcia | 4 |
| 27 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | 4 |
| 28 | 56 | Timmy Hill | 4 |
| 29 | 5 | Dean Thompson | 4 |
| 30 | 6 | Norm Benning | 4 |
| 31 | 30 | Tanner Carrick | 3 |
| 32 | 43 | Daniel Dye | 3 |
| 33 | 41 | Tyler Carpenter | 2 |
| 34 | 15 | Tanner Gray | 1 |
| 35 | 9 | Colby Howard | 1 |
| 36 | 2 | Kris Wright | 0 |
| DNQ | 34 | Josh Reaume | 4 |
| DNQ | 45 | Lawless Alan | 3 |
| DNQ | 62 | Jessica Friesen | 2 |
| DNQ | 46 | Jerry Bohlman | 1 |
| DNQ | 47 | Andrew Gordon | 1 |