The Craftsman Truck Series teams have closed out the first round of the playoffs with a Saturday afternoon race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Here's who advanced to the Round of 8.
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Corey Heim continued his dominant season by winning two of the first three playoffs races to advance. Layne Riggs joined him by winning at Bristol Motor Speedway. The other drivers who advanced on points included Daniel Hemric, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger, Kaden Honeycutt, and Rajah Caruth.
Ten drivers entered the Truck Series playoffs. Two failed to advance. Jake Garcia exited the playoffs after finishing 10th, 33rd, and 16th in the three races.
Chandler Smith missed the second round after 30th, 30th, and second. He needed to win to advance to the Round of 8, but he fell short of his goal after failing to chase down Heim at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
"I feel like it's a little bittersweet, to be honest with you," Smith said on Saturday. "I had a fast truck that was capable of winning. I started hauling butt there at the end and running down the 11, but it wasn't in the Lord's will today, honestly. I pulled everybody together before the race. We prayed together and I wanted to let them know that I'm proud of them no matter the outcome today.
"We've had so much fun this season and the way this deal came about so late, I felt like honestly, don't get me wrong, we had the expectation of wanting to go win, but we've really accomplished a lot more than I think we all envisioned us to do, so it's bittersweet.
"It's bitter because I would obviously like to race for a championship, but it's sweet because I know that we have trucks capable of winning every time we show up to the racetrack."
With the field whittling down to eight drivers, the pressure will only increase. The remaining eight will head to the Charlotte Roval for the first time on Friday, Oct. 3. They will then take on Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, Oct. 17.
The final race of the Round of 8 will be at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, Oct. 24. This race will determine which four drivers head to Phoenix Raceway in contention for the championship.
"I feel like we're in a good spot," Majeski said after advancing on points. "Six of the last seven races we've been in the top five, so we just need to keep doing what we're doing and if we do that, we'll advance to Phoenix.
"There are some crazy racetracks coming up. It's kind of a wild card round. Our road course package has been pretty good and that's been one of our strengths. Hopefully, we can go to the Roval and have a good run and not be in a must-win situation come Talladega and Martinsville."
Said Honeycutt, who made the playoffs for the first time, "Not really sure where we'll stack up heading into the next round, but either way going to the Roval it's about surviving for sure at the Roval and Talladega no doubt.
"We'll see what we can approach with and see what we need to do at the Roval to go race by race to hopefully get to Phoenix and challenge for a championship at the end of it."
