BRISTOL, Tenn. – Once Christopher Bell took control of the Tennessee Army National Guard 250, he never looked back on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bell, who is a regular in the NASCAR Cup Series, started 15^th, and throughout the first two stages, he physically battled his way to the front. The driver of the Halmar Friesen Racing (HFR) No. 62 Halmar Infrastructure Development Toyota passed by Christian Eckes with 63 laps to go and held on to the lead to win his first series race since 2017.

“That was just so awesome to win a truck race. I think it’s been since 2017 since I’ve won one of these things. It’s a lot of fun racing with this HFR group. I got the call last year whenever Stewart (Friesen) got hurt and went out to Watkins Glen and we almost got it and they’ve been working really hard to get back to victory lane.

“When Stewart and Jimmy (Villeneuve, crew chief) called me about this opportunity to try and run some races this year, I was like heck yeah, lets do it. It’s just so special for me to be able to race with these guys, these wins mean a lot to this team and this organization and can’t say thank you enough to Stewart Friesen and Jimmy over at HFR. Thank you for the opportunity, glad we got his logo in victory lane there. I love this racetrack, love you fans, you guys got to see some demo racing there for a bit, I’m sure you guys love that.”

Chandler Smith finished runner-up also after working his way towards the front of the field. The strong performance marked Smith’s third top-five finish of the season, and it comes following a weekend where he finished last at Rockingham Speedway.

Giovanni Ruggiero carried the TRICON Garage banner with a third-place finish after his teammates were caught up in an accident. Rounding out the top-five was NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain and Eckes. Completing the top-10 was Dawson Sutton, NASCAR Cup Series regulars Kyle Busch and Carson Hovecar and Brenden Queen.

Eckes won Stage 1 and Ben Rhodes won Stage 2.

There were seven lead changes among six drivers. Eckes led a race high of 132 laps.

The caution came out on nine occasions for 76 laps.

The most notable caution of the night came out on Lap 181, when contact with Eckes, sent Corey Heim spinning into Turn 1. The two drivers were battling for the race lead. As Heim spun, his TRICON Garage teammate, Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs piled in. The crash looked questionable to spectators; however, Heim shined light on the situation.

“I don’t think he did it on purpose or anything,” Heim said. “I think the lead was super important to win the race, just having track position and control. Then they had a mix up on who was starting the race as far as the control truck. I had a issue with my transmission sticking into gears and I had to pack a little bit of air. I don’t think I touched him to get him out of the way. He was already free, I just packed some air and got him free. I think he was trying to get behind me and ship me, which would have been fine because I did it to him. Just misjudged it. I’ve been racing him for a long time and I don’t think he would do that on purpose so we are all good.”

Honeycutt on the other hand, was frustrated with the entire situation. He entered the weekend finishing second to Heim at Rockingham, so he was eager to reach Victory Lane. He’s also battling for the top spot in the standings.

“Two guys history affecting everyone else’s race,” Honeycutt said. “We had 70-something laps to go, had plenty of time. We could have just raced. I know Corey (Heim) got into him a couple of times, that’s just dumb. Four or five trucks that were really good trucks. We had a good strong day, didn’t fire off well. We were a little bit loose on the side, but I was really good on the long run.”

Smith now leads Honeycutt in the standings by a mere point.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will visit Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, May 1, for the SpeedyCash.com 250. Live coverage will broadcast on FS1 at 8 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images