Chandler Smith Takes The Win, Ben Rhodes Wins Truck Series Championship

It’s a beautiful Friday evening in Phoenix, Arizona and the sun is setting on another NASCAR season. For the Camping World Truck Series, it came down to four drivers to duel for the championship. John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Rhodes, Zane Smith, and Matt Crafton. 150 laps remained in the season, and a champion would be crowned.

Chandler Smith won the pole for the race and 2020 champion Sheldon Creed started next to him to begin the final race of the season. Every truck fanned out on the dogleg to start the race as trouble was already taking place for John Hunter Nemechek as he ended up in the wall on the first lap. The worst-case scenario ended up happening for Nemechek on lap seven, as he ended up having a flat tire and had a long way to go to get back to pit road. Already, one of the championship contenders was in a big hole, as Chandler Smith would go on to win Stage One. During Stage One, a caution came out from a solo wreck from Lawless Alan. Ben Rhodes was the highest running championship driver, finishing in fifth.

Stage One Results:

1. Chandler Smith
2. Sheldon Creed
3. Todd Gilliland
4. Stewart Friesen
5. Ben Rhodes*
6. Carson Hocevar
7. Matt Crafton*
8. Christian Eckes
9. Zane Smith*
10. Derek Kraus

As Sheldon Creed led early on in Stage Two, on lap 58, Ty Dillon got loose and tapped the wall. While dealing with lapped traffic, the battle for the race lead began to heat up between Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith. In the mess, Smith took the lead and would run away with winning stage two, giving him the stage sweep.

Stage Two Results:

1. Chandler Smith
2. Sheldon Creed
3. Ben Rhodes*
4. Stewart Friesen
5. Todd Gilliland
6. Zane Smith*
7. Carson Hocevar
8. Matt Crafton*
9. Grant Enfinger
10. Christian Eckes

The race resumed with 51 laps to go, as Sheldon Creed used the outside line to get around Stewart Friesen for the lead. Zane Smith finally caught up to Ben Rhodes with 42 laps to go and made the power move on the outside to take the championship lead. Meanwhile, for the race lead, the battle heated up with 24 laps to go between Sheldon Creed, Stewart Friesen, and Chandler Smith. Then with less than 10 laps to go, Ben Rhodes caught back up to Zane Smith and gave him a bump to take the championship lead back. Rhodes took off and never looked back. Chandler Smith went on to grab his second win of the season at Phoenix and Louisville, Kentucky’s Ben Rhodes finished in third, scoring the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship.