Layne Riggs wins first NASCAR Truck street race in memorable finish

Layne Riggs captured the checkered flag in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ first street course race, winning at St. Petersburg as part of IndyCar’s opening weekend.

Riggs had to hold off Ben Rhodes and then Ty Majeski in the final laps, while also worrying about how much fuel he had in the tank for his #34 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

“First thing I’m going to say, thank you to Joey Hand,” said Riggs in Victory Lane. “I know he’s watching at home. A road course guy — he’s the man. He helped me so much. We’ve been working on this racetrack in the simulator at Ford Racing since December. I really, really wanted to get my first win on a road course. The short track guy from Bahama, North Carolina, won at St. Pete, can you believe it? I’ve really been trying to perfect my craft. I feel like I’ve been close in the road courses. Just a big shout out to everybody at Front Row Motorsports … I literally said, ‘I just want to win a road course, just to show I’m not just that short track guy’.”

Riggs appeared to have plenty of fuel for post-race burnouts, but he was shaking the truck throughout the final lap. He had this to say bout the fuel situation: “It sputtered with about to eight to go. The pickup on these trucks are on the left side, so every time that I would turn to the left, the fuel would slosh away. So the whole time I was just trying to get it to go. Not knowing, trying to manage your gap. Thank you to Ben [Rhodes] and Ty [Majeski]. They ran me pretty clean. I know that last corner, Ty probably could have cleaned me out if he wanted to. We were so close there. What an awesome feeling.”

Majeski finished second, Rhodes third, Chandler Smith fourth, and Kaden Honeycutt fifth. Landen Lewis, Andrés Pérez, Daniel Hemric, Colin Braun, and James Hinchcliffe filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stage 1

Track view

It was a clean opening lap with Connor Mosack leading the way. The first caution came soon after though, as Justin Haley spun off the nose of Stewart Friesen and couldn’t get back rolling.

Rhodes took the lead on the restart, but Mosack remained close throughout most of the stage.

Behind them, Dario Franchitti wheel-hopped into Turn 1 and door-slammed Hinchcliffe, causing some fender damage to Hinch’s ride, but both drivers avoided an actual crash.

Later, Tanner Gray spun into the tire pack, but got back rolling without the need for a yellow.

Rhodes went on to win the stage ahead of Mosack, Lewis, C. Smith, Ruggiero, Franchitti, Riggs, Ankrum, Honeycutt, and Perez.

Stage 2

Rhodes held the lead on the restart, while Mosack struggled to keep pace after choosing not to take fresh tires in non-competitive pit stops during the stage break. He got shuffled back several positions with C. Smith taking second.

The caution flew as Adam Andretti crashed due to contact, involving Christian Eckes and another truck. The team went to work, taking a sledge-hammer to the back of Andretti’s truck as Uncle Mario looked on from the pit box.

On the restart, the field fanned out three-wide for the lead with the FRM trucks surging through. Smith took the lead, but teammate Riggs challenged him in the closing laps of the stage. He made a bold move to the inside, battling for several corners with Riggs ultimately prevailing.

Hinchcliffe made his way up to seventh before falling through the field after missing a corner. Frankie Muniz also went to pit road with an issue, costing him multiple laps.

Riggs went on to win the stage over Smith, Lewis, Majeski, Rhodes, Ruggiero, Ankrum, Francitti, Enfinger, and Perez.

Stage 3

Riggs held the lead on the restart while Majeski moving up into second, splitting the FRM teammates.

Back in the field, it was a lot of contact throughout the run as drivers muscled each other out of the way. Some notable moments included when Lewis threw a block on Ankrum, who sustained big fender damage as he hit the back of Lewis’ truck. Cole Butcher and Kris Wright went for single-truck spins in Turn 1, while a stalled Derek White is what finally triggered a caution flag.

In the next restart, Ruggiero spun from sixth place while Hinchcliffe went for a spin back in 20th. Nathan Nicholson and Mini Tyrrell also slammed the wall on the restart, causing major damage to the right-front of both trucks. However, the caution only flew for White as he once again stalled on track.

Majeski got the lead on the restart, but it was short-lived as he ran wide in the final corner, touching the tire pack and tearing through the grass. He rejoined in sixth place.

Franchitti, who was running inside the top ten all day, made an unscheduled pit stop with a steering issue.

Despite running off the course, Majeski quickly marched back through the top five. Rhodes closed in as Riggs navigated slower traffic, and almost got alongside. Majeski then got his turn, passing Rhodes and getting right to Riggs’ back bumper on the final lap.

For Riggs, this is his sixth win in the Truck Series, and his first on a road/street course.