Tomassi Experiences Both Success & Heartache At Bristol

Tyler Tomassi leads a line of trucks at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

BRISTOL Tenn. – The Bristol Motor Speedway race weekend for Tyler Tomassi illustrated both the highs and lows of racing and how quickly the pendulum can swing from one to the other.

It started with a major positive for Tomassi, who earned a career-best 21st-place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol, driving the No. 22 for Reaume Brothers Racing.

Tomassi made his first start of the year and third Truck Series start of his career in the Weather Guard Truck Race at The Last Great Colosseum. While it was a quiet Friday night, Tomassi and the team worked hard and were able to turn in a notable run for the smaller organization.

“I had a blast,” the West Greenwich, N.J., native said after the race. “It was nerve wracking with no practice, but I think it helped me.

“We showed good pace. I think we were faster than some really good [trucks],” Tomassi continued. “We struggled on the short run; [that’s] what killed us. Once we got lapped, we started falling behind a bit, but then we started keeping up with [trucks] that lapped us. We had top 15 pace on the long run.”

While Bristol was Tomassi’s first official start in 2025, it wasn’t his first attempt. He entered the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway two weeks ago but was unable to qualify in.

Friday’s rebound meant a lot and helped his confidence.

“Missing the Xfinity race a few weeks ago sucked, but this makes up for it,” Tomassi said. “I’m just excited. I had a great run. One spot short of a top 20, but I think I proved a lot of people wrong today and showed some good speed.”

He also attempted to qualify for the Xfinity Series SciAps 300 the next day, and felt the good run in the truck helped his belief in himself a lot.

“I know that I can do it, I just need the car to do it,” he said prior to Xfinity Series qualifying. “I think I’ll be better in the Xfinity car. I’m usually better with more power. It’s tough. You’re the first car out. The odds are against you, but I know I can do it. If we make the race, I think we can get a top 25 easily.”

Unfortunately, Tomassi never got a chance to set a lap in qualifying for the Xfinity Series race. A lower control arm broke on his MBM Motorsports No. 66 in practice, and since the team had to take the car to the garage to fix it, they were not allowed to set a time.

Tyler Tomassi in the garage area after a NASCAR Xfinity Series practice incident Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

As he was lowest in the provisional rankings, Tomassi ended up as the lone driver who failed to make the starting field.

“It’s disappointing with what happened,” Tomassi said of the issue. “We went out for practice and I noticed that we were unusually tight, where I could tell that something didn’t feel quite right. I came in [to the pits], and everything looked fine, so I went back out … and ran about 12 laps, and then going into the corner I heard a ‘thunk’ and lost steering. It took me straight into the fence after that.

“I felt like I minimized the damage pretty well – I only hit with the tire – and the car looks perfectly fine, honestly, save for maybe a scuff. We’d have been able to [qualify and] race once it was fixed, but once we went behind the wall to fix it, we weren’t allowed to qualify,” Tomassi added. “There was nothing I could do.”

Even with the misfortune, it doesn’t take away Tomassi’s momentum and great run in the Truck Series race, and he knows that.

“This won’t be the end of the journey,” he affirmed. “My next race is Nashville (Superspeedway) in the Truck Series. I feel like I showed that I belong with how I ran Friday. As a driver, I don’t really get mad at myself unless I feel like I did something wrong. And in this case, there was nothing I could’ve possibly done.

“Last night was such a good feeling that it’s going to be hard to forget about for a while.”

Broadcast coverage of Tomassi’s next NASCAR start, the Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville, is slated for Friday night, May 30 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Tomassi will drive Reaume Brothers Racing’s No. 2 truck at the 1.33-mile concrete oval.