The 2026 Tennessee Army National Guard 250 was a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race held on April 10, 2026, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 250 laps on the short track, it was the sixth race of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, and the sixth running of the event.
After a controversial wreck involving Christian Eckes and Corey Heim on lap 179, Christopher Bell, driving for Halmar Friesen Racing, emerged in the final stage by leading the final 63 laps to earn his eighth career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, and his first of the season. Prior to the incident, Eckes dominated the majority of the event by winning the first stage and leading a race-high 132 laps. Chandler Smith finished second, and Gio Ruggiero finished third. Ross Chastain and Eckes rounded out the top five, while Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar, and Brenden Queen rounded out the top ten.
This was the last of three races for the Triple Truck Challenge. Since Bell won the race and was not eligible for Truck Series points, no driver was awarded the $50,000 bonus.
Report
Background
The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all-concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.
Besides holding racing events, the track has hosted the Battle at Bristol, a college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies on September 10, 2016, and the MLB Speedway Classic, an MLB baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds from August 2-3, 2025.
Tennessee Army National Guard was announced as the title sponsor on December 2, 2025.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Make 1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota 2 Luke Baldwin Team Reaume Ford 4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 5 Chase Briscoe (i) Tricon Garage Toyota 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 9 Grant Enfinger CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Corey LaJoie Kaulig Racing Ram 11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota 12 Brenden Queen (R) Kaulig Racing Ram 13 Cole Butcher (R) ThorSport Racing Ford 14 Mini Tyrrell (R) Kaulig Racing Ram 15 Tanner Gray Tricon Garage Toyota 16 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Ram 17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota 18 Tyler Ankrum McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 19 Daniel Hemric McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 22 Clayton Green Team Reaume Ford 25 Carson Ferguson Kaulig Racing Ram 26 Dawson Sutton Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet 33 Frankie Muniz Team Reaume Ford 34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Chandler Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 42 Tyler Reif Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 44 Andrés Pérez de Lara Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 45 Ross Chastain (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 56 Timmy Hill Hill Motorsports Toyota 62 Christopher Bell (i) Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 71 Daniel Suárez (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 76 Spencer Boyd Freedom Racing Enterprises Chevrolet 77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 81 Kris Wright McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 88 Ty Majeski ThorSport Racing Ford 91 Christian Eckes McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing FordOfficial entry list
Practice The first and only practice session was held on Friday, April 10, at 3:30 PM EST, and lasted for 50 minutes.
Chase Briscoe, driving for Tricon Garage, set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 15.166 seconds, and a speed of .
Practice results Pos.DriverTeamMakeTime15Chase Briscoe (i)Tricon GarageToyota15.166126.520211Kaden HoneycuttTricon GarageToyota15.169126.495377Carson Hocevar (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet15.254125.790Full practice results
Qualifying Qualifying was held on Friday, April 10, at 4:35 PM EST. Since Bristol Motor Speedway is a short track, the qualifying procedure used was a single-car, two-lap system with one round. Drivers were on track by themselves and had two laps to post a qualifying time, and whoever set the fastest time won the pole.
Kaden Honeycutt, driving for Tricon Garage, qualified on pole position with a lap of 15.066 seconds, and a speed of .
No drivers failed to qualify.
Qualifying results Pos.DriverTeamMakeTime111Kaden HoneycuttTricon GarageToyota15.066127.360291Christian EckesMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet15.085127.199334Layne RiggsFront Row MotorsportsFord15.101127.06445Chase Briscoe (i)Tricon GarageToyota15.108127.006598Jake GarciaThorSport RacingFord15.139126.745688Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord15.141126.729777Carson Hocevar (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet15.149126.66287Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet15.162126.553999Ben RhodesThorSport RacingFord15.168126.5031017Gio RuggieroTricon GarageToyota15.175126.4451145Ross Chastain (i)Niece MotorsportsChevrolet15.182126.387121Corey HeimTricon GarageToyota15.188126.3371352Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota15.189126.3281416Justin HaleyKaulig RacingRam15.196126.2701562Christopher Bell (i)Halmar Friesen RacingToyota15.206126.1871638Chandler SmithFront Row MotorsportsFord15.237125.9301713Cole Butcher (R)ThorSport RacingFord15.241125.897189Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet15.243125.8811910Corey LaJoieKaulig RacingRam15.257125.7652018Tyler AnkrumMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet15.277125.601214Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i)Niece MotorsportsChevrolet15.287125.5182215Tanner GrayTricon GarageToyota15.331125.1582319Daniel HemricMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet15.359124.9302442Tyler ReifNiece MotorsportsChevrolet15.394124.6462581Kris WrightMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet15.434124.3232614Mini Tyrrell (R)Kaulig RacingRam15.447124.2182744Andrés Pérez de LaraNiece MotorsportsChevrolet15.456124.1462812Brenden Queen (R)Kaulig RacingRam15.457124.1382925Carson FergusonKaulig RacingRam15.484123.921302Luke BaldwinTeam ReaumeFord15.497123.8183133Frankie MunizTeam ReaumeFord15.801121.435Qualified by owner's points3222Clayton GreenTeam ReaumeFord15.862120.9683376Spencer BoydFreedom Racing EnterprisesChevrolet15.992119.9853426Dawson SuttonRackley W.A.R.Chevrolet——3556Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota——3671Daniel Suárez (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet——Official qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup
Race
Race results
Stage results
Stage One Laps: 65 Pos. Driver Team Make Pts1 91 Christian Eckes McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 102 34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford 93 11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota 84 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Ford 75 98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford 66 77 Carson Hocevar (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 07 17 Gio Ruggiero Tricon Garage Toyota 48 5 Chase Briscoe (i) Tricon Garage Toyota 09 45 Ross Chastain (i) Niece Motorsports Chevrolet 010 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 0
Stage Two Laps: 65 Pos. Driver Team Make Pts1 99 Ben Rhodes ThorSport Racing Ford 102 7 Kyle Busch (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 03 16 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Ram 84 1 Corey Heim Tricon Garage Toyota 75 62 Christopher Bell (i) Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 06 91 Christian Eckes McAnally–Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet 57 10 Corey LaJoie Kaulig Racing Ram 48 11 Kaden Honeycutt Tricon Garage Toyota 39 98 Jake Garcia ThorSport Racing Ford 210 34 Layne Riggs Front Row Motorsports Ford 1
Final Stage results
Stage Three Laps: 120 FinStDriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPts11562Christopher Bell (i)Halmar Friesen RacingToyota25063Running021638Chandler SmithFront Row MotorsportsFord2500Running3531017Gio RuggieroTricon GarageToyota2500Running3841145Ross Chastain (i)Niece MotorsportsChevrolet2500Running05291Christian EckesMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet250132Running486598Jake GarciaThorSport RacingFord2500Running3973426Dawson SuttonRackley W.A.R.Chevrolet2500Running30887Kyle Busch (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet25039Running09777Carson Hocevar (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet2500Running0102812Brenden Queen (R)Kaulig RacingRam2500Running2711999Ben RhodesThorSport RacingFord25013Running43122319Daniel HemricMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet2500Running25132018Tyler AnkrumMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet2500Running241445Chase Briscoe (i)Tricon GarageToyota2500Running0151416Justin HaleyKaulig RacingRam2500Running30161352Stewart FriesenHalmar Friesen RacingToyota2500Running21172744Andrés Pérez de LaraNiece MotorsportsChevrolet2500Running20183671Daniel Suárez (i)Spire MotorsportsChevrolet2500Running0192614Mini Tyrrell (R)Kaulig RacingRam2500Running18202215Tanner GrayTricon GarageToyota2500Running17212925Carson FergusonKaulig RacingRam2500Running1622334Layne RiggsFront Row MotorsportsFord2490Running2523688Ty MajeskiThorSport RacingFord2480Running14243376Spencer BoydFreedom Racing EnterprisesChevrolet2470Running13252581Kris WrightMcAnally–Hilgemann RacingChevrolet2470Running1226214Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i)Niece MotorsportsChevrolet2470Running027189Grant EnfingerCR7 MotorsportsChevrolet2430Running10281713Cole Butcher (R)ThorSport RacingFord2410Running9291910Corey LaJoieKaulig RacingRam2140Accident1230121Corey HeimTricon GarageToyota1791Accident1431111Kaden HoneycuttTricon GarageToyota1792Accident1732302Luke BaldwinTeam ReaumeFord1780Accident5333556Timmy HillHill MotorsportsToyota1200Accident4342442Tyler ReifNiece MotorsportsChevrolet1170Accident3353133Frankie MunizTeam ReaumeFord1150Accident2363222Clayton GreenTeam ReaumeFord1030Too Slow1Official race results
Race statistics
Lead changes: 7 among 6 different drivers Cautions/Laps: 9 for 76 laps Red flags: 1 Time of race: 1 hour, 59 minutes and 58 seconds Average speed:
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 3 1 Chandler Smith 208 2 Kaden Honeycutt 207 (–1) 2 3 Corey Heim 204 (–4) 1 4 Layne Riggs 204 (–4) 2 5 Christian Eckes 191 (–17) 6 Gio Ruggiero 187 (–21) 2 7 Ty Majeski 182 (–26) 8 Ben Rhodes 181 (–27) 4 9 Jake Garcia 146 (–62) 10 Justin Haley 144 (–64)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Toyota 266 2 Ford 237 (–29) 3 Chevrolet 220 (–46) 4 Ram 168 (–98) Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.
References