Smith shares ‘bittersweet’ mindset, Caruth ready for ‘free game’ as Truck Round of 8 is set

LOUDON, N.H. -- Chandler Smith tallied his fifth top-five finish of the 2025 season after Saturday afternoon's Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a runner-up, following Corey Heim, who won for the ninth time. But the second-place finish still wasn't what the driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford needed to secure his spot in the Round of 8 of the playoffs. RELATED: Race results | Best photos from Loudon While the temporary disappointment of the weekend will persist, nearly tracking down Heim in the closing laps, Smith continues to take pride in the effort demonstrated by the newly formed team during their first complete season together. "I feel like, honestly, don't get me wrong, we have the expectation to go win and stuff, but man, we've really accomplished a lot more than I think we all envisioned us to do," Smith said on pit road post-race. "So it's bittersweet because obviously, I'd like to race for a championship, but it's sweet because I know that we have trucks capable of winning every time we show up to the race track. Just wasn't meant to be, simple as that. We finished 30th at Darlington, which was on me. We had a mechanical issue last week at Bristol, finished 30th again, and came here to finish second. So move on, just going out to win these last few races." An early exit in the playoffs may seem like a disappointment to some on the outside for a team with two wins on the season, but the driver from Talking Rock, Georgia, had nothing but praise for his No. 38 crew. "To accomplish what we've been doing on a consistent basis is -- from the outside looking at, it's like, 'Oh, why couldn't they?' But when you really get into the trenches of it, and the logistics of everything and the personnel and the equipment and all, it's really not as clean cut as what you think it is. So that's the positive right there, being able to do that. "We did come together and get a really good group that was bound and determined to do everything the right way and start building this program the right way, and not rush things and shortcut things, just so they can get it done right. We're doing it the right way, and we have a really good culture at Front Row Motorsports as well that I'm proud of." On the flip side of the Truck Series Playoffs coin sits Rajah Caruth, the driver who bested Smith for the final spot in the Round of 8 with a 10th-place finish. A consistent but admittedly lacking performance in the opening round for the No. 71 Spire Motorsports group gave Caruth enough to move onto the next round. The upcoming three-race stretch, which starts Fri., Oct. 3 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), makes the 23-year-old believe anything is possible. "Man, it's free game with the second round," Caruth said. "You got the Roval, which is a wild card with the road course. Watkins Glen, we didn't run as good as we should have, but Lime Rock, we were very competitive. So I'm excited to see how the Roval is for us. And then Talladega, I mean, anything can happen there. Martinsville, as you've seen last year, it becomes kind of jungle rules. "I'd say (Heim) is pretty much a lock for Phoenix. (Riggs) could be pretty much as well and those last two spots are up for grabs, so just can't take yourself out of it"