2026 Tennessee Army National Guard 250 Recap — Bell Wins as Eckes Spins the Points Leader
Friday, April 10, 2026
The Short Version
Christopher Bell won the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol in an invitational entry, surviving a race that ended Corey Heim’s night on lap 180. Christian Eckes dominated — 132 laps led, no pit stops, both stages in the lead — but spun Heim in a contact-heavy battle for the lead in the final third. Bell put his Toyota in the right lane on a lap 187 restart and led the rest of the way, winning by 0.330 seconds over Chandler Smith.
What Happened
Kaden Honeycutt led the field to green and held the top spot early, but Christian Eckes got to the front by Stage 1 and was dominant. He won Stage 1, stayed out when most of the field pitted on lap 71, and built a lead that looked insurmountable through Stage 2. By lap 130, when Ben Rhodes won Stage 2 with Eckes cycling through the top five, the No. 91 had made its strategy clear: no stops, manage the tires, win it on fuel.
Eckes led 132 laps total. His fastest lap (124.363 mph) was the quickest of the race. On a clean afternoon, he wins this race.
The night wasn’t clean.
Kyle Busch (#7) was a second factor — he won Stage 2 officially from the pit cycle and ran up front before his engine briefly refused to refire after he shut it off to save fuel on lap 175. That dropped him from the lead battle to 10th, then he recovered to finish eighth.
Bell, meanwhile, took two right-side tires at his lap 122 stop. Everyone around him took four. He cycled to the front on track position and was running second to Eckes when the race turned.
Lap 179: Eckes leads the restart from the inside, Bell outside. Eckes cleared by turn 1. Then Eckes bumped Bell in turn 4, looking inside for the lead — and Bell bumped back at lap 180, spinning Eckes into turn 1. Eckes backed into the wall. The crash collected Honeycutt (#11) and Layne Riggs (#34) in the same incident. Heim, who had been running near the front, ended up P30. Honeycutt P31.
Restart at lap 187: Eckes leads from the outside. Bell chooses to restart behind him. Eckes cleared in turn 1, but Bell fought back on the outside through turns 3-4 and edged ahead coming off turn 4. He had the lead, he had two right-side tires relative to Eckes running on nothing, and he never gave it back.
Lap 201: Bell led Eckes by 0.37 seconds. He crossed the finish line 0.330 ahead of Chandler Smith.
The Defining Moment
Lap 180. Eckes had dominated this race. He ran the whole thing on a set of tires that everyone else changed twice. He had the fastest lap, won Stage 1, and was holding off Bell in the closing runs. Then he and Bell made contact. Eckes ended up in the wall, and so did Heim and Honeycutt. The two drivers most likely to win this race without the incident finished 30th and 31st. Bell went on to win it.
Numbers That Matter
- Winner: Christopher Bell (i) — No. 62 Toyota
- Margin of Victory: 0.330 seconds
- Cautions: 7 for 76 laps
- Lead Changes: 7 among 6 leaders
- Stage 1: Christian Eckes | Stage 2: Ben Rhodes (pit cycle)
- Laps led: Eckes — 132 | Bell — 63 | Busch — 39 | Rhodes — 13 | Honeycutt — 3 | Heim — 1
- Fastest lap: Christian Eckes — 124.363 mph, lap 26
- Notable DNFs: Corey Heim (P30), Kaden Honeycutt (P31) — both collected in lap 180 incident
Take
Eckes ran a race that should have been a win. 132 laps led, fastest truck on the track — and he finished fifth because he couldn’t stay out of Bell’s bumper when the lead was there to take cleanly. The contact on lap 180 eliminated the two most dominant regular-series trucks (Heim and Honeycutt) and set up Bell’s win on track position.
Bell’s two-tire call at lap 122 was the decision that put him in position. He lost ground in the run time relative to four-tire cars, but the track position made it back. When the lap 187 restart came, he was in the right place to fight Eckes for the lane — and when Eckes got aggressive, Bell was still there.
Heim’s night is worth noting. He went from running up front to P30 in one incident he didn’t cause. His points lead survives — nobody in the regular field had a great night either — but Bristol was a reminder that his run can be ended by someone else’s decision. Honeycutt, who’s been the closest thing to a challenger this season, went out in the same incident. Neither driver made the mistake that ended their day.
Notes
- Ross Chastain ran invitational (No. 45 Chevrolet), finished fourth
- Carson Hocevar ran invitational (No. 77 Chevrolet), finished ninth
- Daniel Suarez ran invitational (No. 71 Chevrolet), finished 18th
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr ran invitational (No. 4 Chevrolet), finished 26th
- Chase Briscoe ran invitational (No. 5 Toyota), finished 14th
- Frankie Muniz (No. 33 Ford) — completed 115 laps, finished 35th
- Dawson Sutton (No. 26 Chevrolet) — finished seventh from P34 on the starting grid