BRISTOL, Tenn. — Layne Riggs recovered from a first-lap spin at Bristol Motor Speedway and rallied to win Thursday night’s UNOH 250 Presented by Ohio Logistics, the second race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs.
Grabbing the lead after a restart on Lap 142 of 250, Riggs held off a determined charge by two-time series champion Ben Rhodes to win this third race of the season, second at Bristol and fifth of his career.
“You don’t get two mulligans in the Playoffs, and I got two,” said Riggs, who salvaged a 17th-place finish after slamming the outside wall in the first Playoff race Aug. 30 at Darlington. “The first lap of the race to spin out, it’s a blow to your confidence, for sure, but I’ve got faith in this team, and I’ve got faith in everybody here…”
With the victory, Riggs earned a berth in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs and won’t have to worry about the Sept. 20 Round of 10 elimination race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I think this shows that we’re right there, we’re in contention, we can do it,” said Riggs, who ran the final 109 green-flag laps with scuffed qualifying tires on his No. 34 Ford, having used a set of stickers after the spin on Lap 1. “That’s three in a row at Bristol for Front Row Motorsports. It’s a big testament to all these guys. We’ve got a really good package here.
“Man, I’m excited for New Hampshire. I’ve never even been there, and I already love that race track.”
Riggs’ victory ended a three-race winning streak for series leader Corey Heim and kept the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota from equaling Greg Biffle’s series record of nine wins in a single season.
Heim won Stage 2 but lost three spots on pit road under caution during the break and lined up third for the Lap 142 restart behind Cole Butcher, who stayed out on old tires. Butcher backed up the bottom lane on the restart and Heim fell to seventh in the running order.
All the winner of the first Playoff race could do was claw his way back to a distant third at the finish.
“It was a debatable choose on that last restart, lining up behind the truck that stayed out—I think it was the 62 (Butcher),” said Heim, who led a race-high 122 laps to Riggs’ 110. “He spun the tires really bad, and we fell back to seventh or eighth, and it was just a super track-position-dependent race.
“I thought our truck was good. I think the best team won for sure. Those guys were lights-out.”
Playoff drivers Ty Majeski and Daniel Hemric ran fourth and fifth, respectively, and take comfortable points positions into the elimination race at New Hampshire.
Riggs’ teammate, Chandler Smith, winner of the spring race at Bristol, wasn’t as fortunate. Smith fell off the pace with what he described as a power steering issue on Lap 32 and lost 12 laps on pit road during repairs.
Smith finished the night 10th in the standings, 24 points below the current elimination line for the next round.
Similarly, pole winner Jake Garcia, who captured the first stage win of his career in Stage 1, lost power on Lap 84, took his No.13 Ford to the garage for repairs and finished 33rd—three spots behind Smith and 31 laps down.
Garcia is 14 points below the cut line entering the Round of 10 elimination race.
Non-Playoff drivers Tanner Gray, Connor Mosack, Andres Perez de Lara, Corey LaJoie and Matt Crafton completed the top 10.