NASCAR this week: Few best mid-run teams from the Bristol Night Race

Oh so close to Brad Keselowski after he finished 2nd to Christopher Bell by 0.343 seconds but super proud to have a fast No.6 Nascar Mustang with a great Stage 3 strategy to finish out well for Roush.

Yes, it’s a bummer having to settle 2nd best when neither of the three Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing teams have scored a race win so far 2025, especially when their Playoffs hopes were completely out of reach by the end of last month.

But these Mustangs can still be fast, threatening and aggressive where all of them are not only running well Top 10 but sometimes can finish within the Top 3-5.

Safe to say that this Roush group where they’re at right now is as good as the good golden days from 1990s and 2000s than the last half decade of 2010s.

Then there’s another Ford with Zane Smith next in 3rd for Front Row Motorsports who benefitted a big push both his No.38 car & pit crew – that’s how he stayed Top 5-10. 

We know Zane is happy right where he belongs after he was no longer wanted by Trackhouse having previously been with Front Row when they won a Truck Series championship together back in 2022. 

He may be someone who sits somewhere at the back 20 of the points’ standings but don’t forget Zane had some good finishes plus the odd pole award back in April this year at Talladega before at Cup level. 

Not saying he is close to any of these Roush guys not even to Ross Chastain and his Trackhouse successor SVG. 

Again, he wouldn’t be there anywhere else other than Front Row Motorsports.

Best mid-run Toyota and Chevy other than 2 x Fords just outside of the victory lane circle

Regular Trucks racer Corey Heim at Cup level in 6th as didn’t hear much in the first half but stayed off the wall really well before that lead lap lifeline gave him everything. He was able to go within reach of the Top 10 and although he would’ve loved to go for the win since he was in a part-time No.67 for 23XI Racing, his incredible driving talent speaks of itself likewise every weekend at Trucks level.

Another plus for Corey out of this this race was that he defeated his former arch-rival from the ARCA National days in Ty Gibbs who went on to finish 10th in the No.54 machinery for his granddad’s team. 

Poor Gibbs though who had a solid first half: close 2nd to Ryan Blaney in Stage 1 followed by a Stage 2 win. It’s a shame that the constant yellows stuffed up Ty’s momentum where he was barely the same fast driver as once was with 1-2 unforced errors & pit road ill-discipline against him.

Latest overall bow-tie runner goes to Carson Hocevar in 7th for Spire following some brilliant front row battles with his aggressive driving style. Credit to Luke Lambert every time ahead of yellow flag restarts when Carson couldn’t make the most out of his Stage 1 performance & tried a few things out with the pit cycles from 11th. It goes to show he can keep Hocevar in check where these rocket ships has arrived in a bid to steal that spotlight.

Now Carson may not have gone within reach when it comes to the equipment for race wins but overall, still a good Top 10. 

Post-Race Notes

That’s the last Saturday night race of 2025 done and dusted with a record 14 cautions mirroring “The Big Ones” without multi-car pile ups but on the short track.

So does the opening 16 knockout round Playoffs as we farewelled the following first four ahead of New Hampshire for the second 12 knockout round next weekend:

• Alex Bowman, 13th: finished 8th in this race but not enough to get out of a must-win position or at least better.
• Austin Dillon, 14th: barely a chance to match the other front-running pace.
• Shane Van Gisbergen, 15th: may not have the ovals experience to top decent finishes but there’s always the Charlotte Roval next month.
• Josh Berry, 16th: unlucky yet again.

Craftsman Truck Series: UNOH 250

Huge race by Layne Riggs in the No.34 F-150 following an impressive Stage 3 including the opening restart and never looked back for Front Row Motorsports. 

The choices they made tonight were loud and clear! Never mind the spin that he had to go through at the start following contact with Rajah Caruth (No.71 Silverado for Spire Motorsports), it’s just the speed and the teamwork that matters.

Now with the next round’s playoff locked in, what Layne needs to do is keep pushing Corey Heim to the limit and maybe things could go his way after all.

Now Corey Heim finished 3rd behind Ben Rhodes for Tricon along with the Stage 2 win.

For Rhodes, it’s been a while following his best race as a non-Playoffs challenger.

Even though he couldn’t quite catch up on fellow Ford driver in Riggs when he was 2nd for ThorSport, he at least had a brilliant 2nd half performance off the back of yellows and decisive pit road calls  – and that helped him land that sweet spot.

For Heim & the No.11 team, that no adjustments call for may have backfired in the final stage all under green but still made some late strides towards the end.

All in all he just needs a bit more speed to justify his run upfront more often as seen inconsistently having also came close earlier on to Stage 1 winner Jake Garcia who later had power steering issues. 

But again, it’s up to his pit crew to give their overall best for Corey to dominate this series & win championships 100%. 

Meanwhile, Daniel Hemric was the top Chevy in 5th for McNally-Hilgemann Racing off the back of a slow and poor start. Daniel made huge gains though with thanks to these Stage 2 yellows where he was running in Top 10s for the first time & turned into a Top 5 caution-free finish. 

Don’t forget his team-mate also had the same uptick momentum in none other than Connor Mosack from 23rd up to 7th.

What’s even better is that Daniel is right behind Layne and Corey in the Playoffs standings with one more first round of 10 race to go next Saturday afternoon (12pm ET) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 

As long as Daniel runs well, he’ll be wanting to mess both guys up when he could be the next one to add another NASCAR Championship but in Trucks.

We don’t know much about him with his mixed and less impressive Cup career who has been there and done that twice with Richard Childress Racing first time (2019) and back again with Kaulig Racing (2024).

What we do know that he’s been an consistent front-runner for many years despite the odd win or two and Daniel enjoys walking away with solid results since he returned to Trucks this year.