Following Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, six of the series’ 25 races in 2026 are complete. With the regular season a third of the way complete and full season encroaching on being a quarter of the way through, here are three major takeaways from the first six events of 2026.
Full-time drivers, where art thou?
Through the first six races, only two full-time Truck Series drivers — Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs — have won.
Kyle Busch won the second race of the season at Atlanta, defending series champion Corey Heim, who is running for Truck points but is not eligible for the title won at Darlington and Rockingham, and Christopher Bell won Friday’s race at Bristol. It’s been nearly a month-and-a-half since a Truck Series regular won a Truck Series race.
That’s not a shocking development for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series or Truck Series, but such a situation has become rarer in recent years as the talent pools in both the O’Reilly Series and Truck Series have grown and more restrictions have been imposed on Cup drivers racing in the lower series.
Even in a year with so many talented drivers and capable teams competing for the Truck Series title, it hasn’t been the Truck Series regulars who have been winning races.
RAM keeping its head above water
Give credit where credit is due: Of its now three full-time drivers due to Daniel Dye’s suspension from Kaulig Racing, RAM has Justin Haley inside the provisional 10-driver Chase field in 10th in the standings and Brenden Queen within striking distance in 14th.
Mini Tyrrell is mired in 21st in the standings, but it’s his first year of full-time NASCAR experience. The team’s other two full-time trucks have had mixed results, which isn’t especially surprising given the extenuating circumstances for the No. 10 team and there being a new driver in the No. 25 each week.
A RAM driver won’t win the championship this season, but so far, the manufacturer’s return to NASCAR is going smoothly in regard to on-track performance.
The cream is still rising to the top
The only two full-time drivers to win in 2026 drive for what is arguably the best team in the Truck Series in Front Row Motorsports. Chandler Smith leads the series standings after Bristol, with Layne Riggs in fourth.
Just behind Smith in second is TRICON Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt, who inherited Corey Heim’s No. 11 for 2026 along with crew chief Scott Zippadelli. While Honeycutt has yet to win, he has three top fives and four top 10s in six races and likely would’ve increased each of those numbers by one if not for a crash at Bristol on Friday.
Wins may be somewhat hard to come by for the series regulars, but the best drivers and teams in the Truck Series are unsurprisingly leading the pack. Even Heim, despite a crash on Friday and running only four of six races so far, is third in the standings, giving the top four spots to FRM and TRICON.