By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
BRISTOL, Tenn – After several finishes outside of the top-30 to start the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs rebounded and scored his first top-10 finish with Front Row Motorsports (FRM).
The driver of the No. 38 Loves Travel Stops Ford F-150 entered the top-10 in the second Stage. His crew chief, Dylan Cappello, opted to keep the rookie on track at the end of Stage 1. That track position earned Riggs an additional point and he kept his track position through the cycle of pit stops.
In the final stage, following a quick caution, Riggs climbed up to seventh, using the outside lane to his advantage. Over the course of the run however, he faded back to 11th. That was until a late-race crash between Nick Sanchez and Stewart Friesen breathed new life into Riggs’ race.
In the 24-lap run to the finish, Riggs once again jumped to the outside. The second-generation racer contended for sixth with Corey Heim before once again, he faded as the tires heated up. Riggs slipped back to 10th when the checkered flag waved. It marked his first finish inside the top-20 in 2024.
“It has been a great turnaround,” Riggs said. “Of course, you still want to finish better than top ten. 10th-place is not the goal every weekend, but to dig ourselves out of the hole that we dug ourselves (into) in practice and qualifying. Really loose today really struggled with the green track and whatnot out there unexpectedly and just fired back strong, made all the positions I could on restarts. It was a lot of fun here. I was actually very happy with the way that the resident turned out at the end of the race, being able to run the top.
“The race was a lot better than I thought it would. Being able to move around and make some passes, so a lot of fun. No damage on the truck today. Yeah, we can build off of that one and I’m excited to go to the next one. It’s going to be a little tougher with the left and the rights, but it’s something I want to learn too. I’m really looking forward to Martinsville, though.”
Riggs qualified 28th after spinning in practice. That kept him from earning any Stage points in the first stage. However, that opened the door for his crew chief to make the strategy call that earned him 10th in Stage 2.
The 10th-place finish is Riggs’ first top-10 of the season and the third of his Truck Series career. The 21-year-old has finished inside the top-10 in three of his 10 career starts to date.
The top-10 finish moves Riggs up from 33rd in the points standings to 25th. He is 123-points behind leader Tyler Ankrum. Riggs is also 44-points behind the playoff cutline, currently held by Bret Holmes.
Next for the Bahama, N.C. native is the road course at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). That will be his first career road course race in NASCAR competition. Riggs plans to lean on his FRM teammate Michael McDowell as well as Ford Performance’s Joey Hand in preparation for his first road course start at COTA next weekend.
The XPEL 225 at COTA is scheduled for Saturday, March 23, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. The race will also be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.