A pair of tough hombres from a team that has roots in East Tennessee will power into The Last Great Colosseum in their high-revving Front Row Motorsports Ford machines looking to keep winning streaks alive and also trying to corral a championship title.
And not only are these two drivers favorites in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase, they are also really strong at the unique Bristol Motor Speedway. Riggs, the top seed for the postseason in Trucks, has won the last two UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics races.
His teammate, Chandler Smith, won the Bristol spring race in 2025 and also scored a UNOH 250 win back in 2021.
Both are ready to kick off the Chase in grand style at iconic Bristol Motor Speedway. Both expect to win Thursday night under the lights at Bristol and celebrate with their boss, Bob Jenkins, who lives in nearby Dandridge, Tennessee.
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Riggs, with the No. 1 seed, expects all of the talented competition in the class to come gunning for him.
“I do [have a target] because everybody wants to be me, who doesn’t want to be the number one guy with the target get on the back,” Riggs said. “Someone asks, ‘how do you like being hunted?’ I’m not, I’m still the hunter, hunting for a bigger points lead. I’m not on defense, I’m on just as much offense as I have been all year long and that’s not going to change."
Smith is the third seed and while the Georgia driver only has two wins on the year, he’s running near the front most of the time and now with the points reset he’s only 35 back.
“If you look at the last few races of the regular season how we started cutting that points deficit. … I think our team is in a good spot right now and I’m driving in a good spot," Smith said. “Here recently we’ve really been consistent and seen the fruits of the labor.”
Smith has maybe a little extra motivation to win the title, as he’s moving on to the O’Reilly Series in 2027. Riggs, a six-time winner this season, just signed a contract to return to Front Row for more truck racing next year.
“I’d like to leave them on a good note, leave them with a good solid foundation that whatever driver they have coming in and go out and win races and contend for championships, that they have the notebook, they have the trucks, they have everything at their disposal," Smith said.
The green flag is expected to drop at 8 p.m. that night. It’s the nightcap to a thrilling doubleheader with the ARCA Menards Series that begins at 5 p.m. where the future stars of stock car racing will take to the big stage of the all-concrete high-banked short track.
There are others looking for Bristol wins and championship trophies.
One of the top challengers is driver of the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota, the truck that won it all one year ago. Kaden Honeycutt is a tough Texan who has shown moxy at times this season. He and his team have the mantra, why not us?
“If we can go out and start really good at Bristol, be really consistent," Honeycutt said. “We've obviously seen the last couple races for Cup have completely turned upside down for most of the guys. I feel like if we just execute, do our own deal, race our race, and not try to do anything else other than that and not focus on points so much, just focus on winning, and everything kind of takes care of itself after that.”
Christian Eckes in the No. 91 Chevy for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing is always a top contender and promises to be a tough out in the Chase. He is still looking for his first win, but as he’s seen in the Cup series, a pair of winless drivers in the regular season have come out hot winning races. He’d like to do the same in the truck division.
“For us, it’s definitely not dragging us down at all," Eckes said about his lack of a win and entering the Chase. “If anything, I’d say it really puts us into a position where we don’t have anything to lose because we’re not the [championship] favorite and we haven’t been the best running truck throughout the year. So, it puts us in a spot, where whatever happens, happens and we’ll do the best we can.”
Honeycutt’s teammate, Gio Ruggiero, who drives the No. 17 Tricon machine, has also showed flashes of brilliance this season and if the class has a dark horse contender for the season crown, it’s him. The fifth-seeded driver is making his first run in the Chase.
“We've been off for a couple weeks now and everybody's hungry to get back out there and race," said Ruggiero, who is ranked fifth in the reseeded Chase standings. “Starting up the Chase, everybody's trying to make up those points now. I feel like it's going to be a hectic race for sure. I think everybody's going to race each other hard and restarts there are super important because it can be a hard track to pass at, if the bottom lane is super gripped up. I think the restarts; you're going to see some really good racing and hopefully not too many wrecks.”
Other top contenders in the Chase to keep an eye on include Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum and veterans Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski.
Those outside the Chase who could make an impact include Parker Klingerman, who will drive the No. 75 machine for the Abingdon, Va.-based Henderson Motorsports team. Another moonlighting TV reporter who will be in the race will include Regan Smith, who is set to drive the No. 25 Dodge Ram for Kaulig Racing. Smith has raced a truck at Bristol before.
“Trading in the microphone for a helmet and stepping down from the broadcast booth back into the cockpit gives you a whole different perspective,” Smith said. “I report on these drivers and setups with FOX Sports, so getting to take that insider knowledge, strap in, and actually execute behind the wheel at Bristol will be a blast.”
O’Reilly Series star William Sawalich will drive the No. 62 truck for Halmar-Friesen Racing in the UNOH 250. This is the truck that Cup star Christopher Bell drove to Victory Lane at Bristol this past April. Sawalich, who will also drive the No. 18 in the Food City 300 on Friday night, has won two ARCA Menards Series races at Bristol in the past and likes the layout of the high-banked short track.
Rookie Tristan McKee, driving the No. 77 Chevy for Spire Motorsports, also may surprise some fans, as the young driver has posted a pair of top 10s in six starts this season. Spire also will field rising star Connor Mosack in the No. 7 Chevy.
The Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Sept. 19 will feature a star-studded entertainment lineup, including Academy Award-winning actor and producer Brad Pitt as a Grand Marshal and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time INDYCAR Series champion Josef Newgarden as the honorary pace car driver leading the NASCAR Cup Series field to green. Saturday’s festivities also will include appearances by WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, a pre-race concert by Brian Kelley, Bristol’s signature driver introductions featuring music personally selected by the competitors, a children’s choir performing the national anthem, and Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” as a bald eagle soars above the stadium, followed by a dramatic flyover featuring two U.S. Air Force C-130s. Fans also will receive yellow “Rowdy Towels” and unite for an emotional Lap 18 tribute honoring Kyle Busch and his unmatched success at Bristol—another powerful, only-at-Bristol moment before the NASCAR Cup Series’ biggest stars battle under the lights in one of America’s most iconic sporting events.
The Bass Pro Shops Night Race weekend, Sept. 17–19, will transform Bristol Motor Speedway and the surrounding Northeast Tennessee region into a three-day celebration of racing, music and unforgettable entertainment. Championship competition in all three of NASCAR’s national series begins Thursday with the Bush’s Beans 200 ARCA Menards Series race and the UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics, which opens the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase, followed by Bristol’s popular Foam Party. Friday features Nobody Trashes Tennessee Qualifying, the Food City 300 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase race and a post-race concert featuring Tim Dugger. The weekend culminates Saturday night with the 500-lap, post-season Bass Pro Shops Night Race for the NASCAR Cup Series.
