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<\/a><\/p>\n Chandler Smith wins Daytona Truck race in unreal four-wide finish <\/a><\/p>\n Tony Stewart: “It was starting to get fun” right before race-ending crash <\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/b5ae638775d50d2d416180b7453089c7.jpeg\"\/)
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Faith is a fundamental component to who Chandler Smith is as a man, father, husband and racer, so it comes to no surprise that he leaned on his convictions in articulating the range of emotions from missing the Daytona 500 to winning in the Truck Series 24 hours later.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruthfully, I pray a certain prayer before every race, and most of my prayers are very consistent in the certain sense of I’m always going to submit myself to the Lord’s plan and whatever His will is for me,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd I am a firm believer that I wasn’t meant to be in the Daytona 500 — 110 percent.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOnce again, like I said, it’s a consistent thing that I pray about is I just want to submit myself to God and His divine will for me. When I reflect back from my career from start to finish, all the trials and tribulations, all the highs I’ve been through, when I reflect back and look, I see God’s hand, His provident hand in every single thing that that I’ve done, all the lessons that I’ve learned, even in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
That isn\u2019t to say that Smith doesn\u2019t get disappointed or frustrated in that process but he expressed conviction that it\u2019s not his path to dictate. To his point, these were the same answers he gave after his premature elimination from the Truck Series playoffs last year \u2013 that it\u2019s not his place to question a higher direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again, tonight is even more of a testimony,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI could sit back and reflect back, you could even say this is maybe — we didn’t make it to the second round of playoffs last year, we had such a crappy first round and came down to New Hampshire in a must-win, and we finished second. And everyone was like, man, how are you not hanging your head by that?<\/p>\n
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\u201cOnce again, I believe that God has a certain plan and I’m going to submit myself to that plan. And when I reflect on tonight, I could definitely see His hand in it. A lot of people call this racing luck. I don’t believe in luck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever Smith or any observer wants to call it, the final lap was genuinely chaotic in that he needed a push from Ty Majeski to be in position to win. He needed to survived some daring moves by Gio Ruggiero. Smith needed Kaden Honeycutt to get trapped without a pusher after leading in the closing lap. H e needed Christian Eckes and John Hunter Nemechek\u2019s moves to not pan out.<\/p>\n
All of that happened.<\/p>\n
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Ty Majeski: \u201cOh, just chaos, typical Daytona. I thought, for a field full of guys with nothing to lose, this race could have been a lot crazier than what it was. Just proud of the entire field and proud of Ford Racing. We stuck together all race and stuck with (Smith) at the end at got a Ford to Victory Lane. Happy to be here. Happy to be in this position with the 88 Menards F-150 and it\u2019s a great way to start off a new partnership and a new era.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gio Ruggiero: \u201cEverybody was just trying to do whatever it takes to win and that\u2019s what I did for myself and my team. I probably would\u2019ve pushed John Hunter to the win there, but he just wrecked me twice. I think overall as a group we need to do better as Toyotas. I thought me, Tanner and Taylor (Gray) worked really well together but everybody else just seemed like they were out there on their own. I definitely think we learned some things for the next superspeedway.\u201d<\/p>\n
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JH Nemechek: \u201cI haven\u2019t seen the whole replay yet, but pretty frustrated with myself. Just hard to cover all of the lanes there \u2013 should have got to the middle and blocked \u00a0(Ruggiero) faster than I did. Didn\u2019t anticipate it quite as I probably should have off of turn four, but man, it was one heck of a race. I had a lot of fun all night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaden Honeycutt: \u201cI got to the lead on the back stretch and I was locked on with (Ruggiero) and I guess he bailed and we disconnected and then he tried to block (Nemechek) and he almost got wrecked. And then I got lost in No Man\u2019s Land. \u2026 You can’t be the leader coming to white. You’re just a sitting duck and it’s so easy to get locked out. It\u2019s very hard to recover from it. Just didn\u2019t didn’t make the right moves at the end of it, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Chandler Smith wins Daytona Truck race in unreal four-wide finish <\/a><\/p>\n Tony Stewart: “It was starting to get fun” right before race-ending crash <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n