Layne Riggs Scores Dramatic Win in Streets of St. Petersburg

Layne Riggs performs a burnout after winning the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 from the St. Petersburg Street Course. (Photo Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With all of the chaos that the Streets of St. Petersburg brought to the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series on Saturday afternoon, one of the field’s most prominent rising stars grabbed the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 by the horns.

From the drop of the green flag at noontime on Saturday, Layne Riggs was already showing the pace of a race-winning truck, moving from a starting spot of 28th, due to most of practice and all of qualifying being rained out, to just outside the top 10 by Lap 9. The fire under the hood of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports machine was persistent, specifically when Riggs had competition for lead.

The six-time Truck Series winner would go on to lead 40 laps on the day, the most in the field by any driver, while also running the fastest lap by any driver in the Streets of St. Petersburg. Even with the level of dominance that Riggs displayed for the most part, in the final few laps of the show Riggs started to lose his lead over ThorSport Racing teammates Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes. The lead went from around two seconds, to under a second, and eventually leading to the No. 99 Campers Inn RV truck of Rhodes being all over the rear bumper of the No. 34.

FOX NASCAR’s telecast reported that Riggs was in communication with his team that he might run out of fuel in the closing laps, which resulted in his lead dwindling every second. But the young star handled the situation incredibly, keeping his F-150 clean through every twist and turn of the course while holding off a hard-charging ThorSport duo for Riggs first win on the new season.

Ben Rhodes (left), Layne Riggs (middle), and Ty Majeski (right) at the podium celebration for the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 from the St. Petersburg Street Course. (Photo Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)

“It was a lot of fun racing here at St. Pete, I think everybody heard street course and thought they weren’t going to be able to pass… but this was one of the raciest tracks we’ve ever gone to.” said Riggs in his post-race comments. “It is an amazing place to come and I don’t know why we couldn’t come back next year … I couldn’t believe how packed the grandstands were and I thought it was one of the best road-course races the NASCAR CRAFSTMAN Truck Series has ever seen.”

The impressive victory in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series first time seeing a street course marked the second win on the season for the Front Row Motorsports organization, giving them good footing to start the 2026 campaign. Also, the street of NTT INDYCAR Series‘ season opening race produced other great storylines as well.

ROAD COURSE ACES SEE THE SPOTLIGHT

Over the years, NASCAR has seen many different faces from several different forms of auto-racing try to wrangle the beast that is a NASCAR stock car. Drivers from Formula One, such as Jenson Button, and drivers from Nitro Rallycross, such as Travis Pastrana, have all made attempts to run with best that NASCAR has to offer.

This weekend, former IndyCar stars had the opportunity to shine once again.

Dario Franchitti (front) slides through Turn 1 at the St. Petersburg Street Course during the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150. (Photo Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)

Dario Franchitti, the former four-time IndyCar champion and 21-time race winner, climbed in the driver’s seat of racing vehicle for only the second time since 2013 in his career-ending crash during the Shell-Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston. Franchitti sustained two spinal fractures in a horrific accident during the race, which resulted in the veteran being medically sidelined for the foreseeable future. Earlier this year, Franchitti returned to the auto racing at the Dubai 24 Hour.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson initiated conversations and plans for Franchitti to get behind the wheel of the No. 1 Dollar General TRICON Garage Toyota this weekend, and even with the 27th place finish Franchitti ended up with at the end of the day, the IndyCar champion ran up front for a majority of the race and enjoyed the entire process of being back at St. Petersburg for the first time in 13 years.

“I had a blast. It was really good. I made some rookie errors.” Franchitti told Bob Pockrass after the race. “But how fortunate am I with what I went through in 2013 to come back and do this 13 years later.”

James Hinchcliffe was another IndyCar veteran who was participating in the field Saturday. The six-time IndyCar winner was behind the wheel of the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports. The veteran, like Franchitti, also saw lots of action inside the top 10. Unfortunately for the Canadian, on Lap 33 the No. 77 went off the track and fell from 7th in the running order to 23rd. Hopes of a good result looked bleak for the Spire group, but Hinchcliffe defied the odds.

James Hinchcliffe (back) comes out of Turn 9 and heads down Dan Wheldon Way behind Daniel Hemric (front) during the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 from the St. Petersburg Street Course. (Photo Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)

The No. 77 drove all the way, slowly and methodically, back to the front of field and ended the race with a 10th place result. Outside of running select events in IMSA, Hinchcliffe has not been behind the wheel of race car since 2021. The veteran showed tremendous fight and speed all day and wishes that the Trucks Series could run again today.

“I mean, if I could start the race, knowing what I knew by Stage 3, it would be different (outcome).” said Hinchcliffe in an interview with FOX NASCAR post-race. “I learned so much out there about managing tires and traffic and racing these guys out there. But, hey, it was a great effort to come from the back twice and up in the top ten.”

With IndyCar drivers starting get into the mix with select NASCAR events such as St. Petersburg, the possibility of NASCAR drivers getting in the seat of an IndyCar ride continues to grow, with two-time champion Kyle Larson already having made multiple attempts at the Indianapolis 500 the past couple years.

BEN RHODES AND THORSPORT CAN’T RUN DOWN A WIN

Last weekend, Rhodes yet again fell short of his first Truck Series victory since 2023, but the fight that the No. 99 team and ThorSport Racing has had to start the 2026 season has been noticeable. The speed that ThorSport has brought to the track, whether it is Rhodes, Majeski, or their younger drivers such as Jake Garcia or Cole Butcher, the organization has been near the front of races, from the start of the weekend in practice and qualifying to the end of the few races on the dawn of the season.

Rhodes and Majeski have led that front by the Ford camp, and with the success that their Ford competition in Front Row has shown, the manufacturer is looking like the organzization to beat from the get-go this year.

Ben Rhodes makes his way through Turn 1 during the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at the St. Petersburg Street Course. (Photo Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)

Both former champions came out of another event where ThorSport did not end up as the victor doing burnouts for the fans, but the vibes and energy from both drivers seem to be heading in a positive direction. ““It was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a long time.” said Majeski in post-race availability. “Just made a little mistake into (Turn) 13, got a little wheel-hop and had to chase it and battle my way back. Hope everyone enjoyed the show. We passed a lot of trucks today.”

“That’s all we had in the tank for our F-150 here, literally I was running out of gas those last two laps.” said Rhodes. “Our truck’s in one piece, and a lot of these trucks aren’t. Very excited though. Brand new truck and a good showing for it.”

Both drivers will be back on track around three weeks from now, hitting the treacherous banks and walls of Darlington Raceway on March 20th.

KAULIG AND RAM CONTINUE TO BUILD ON THEIR SUCCESS

As mentioned in last week’s recap, what Kaulig Racing is doing in their short time in the Truck Series is impressive. Every race this season, Kaulig and RAM have found a way to place one of their five entries inside the top 10 by the end of race. Most of the NASCAR community could predict that RAM would not have lights out speed to start the season but putting together a solid and complete race week in and week out is a great start for a brand-new program.

Full-time IMSA driver and one-time NASCAR Truck Series winner Colin Braun got the call from Kaulig and RAM to strap into the seat of the No. 25 free agent machine for yesterday’s event, and the skills that Braun put on display did not disappoint.

Justin Haley (left) and Daniel Dye (right) battle for position during the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 from the St. Petersburg Street Course. (Photo Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)

It was clear that RAM was not in the competition for a win on the streets of St. Petersburg, but Braun, like the rest of non-regulars in the field, took his time to learn the abilities his truck had. By the end of the day, the veteran driver battled his way to a 9th place effort, showing that RAM and Kaulig have the ability to adapt and find speed on tracks outside of superspeedways.

“In the end I’m really proud of these Kaulig RAM guys.” said Braun in his post-race comments. “To come away with a top 10 in their first road course (race) I think is just a testament to the hard work… and considering our whole day yesterday (Friday), you know, not a lot of practice overall for anybody, but we had a little bit of an issue and I got no laps yesterday (Friday)… Alex Yontz did a great job getting it better every stage and, in the end, decently happy.”

Kaulig will look to build off a solid result from their program, with Braun collecting his first top 10 in 15 years, while Justin Haley and Daniel Dye both finished inside the top 20.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results:

1. Ben Rhodes
2. Connor Mosack
3. Landen Lewis
4. Chandler Smith
5. Giovanni Ruggiero
6. Dario Franchitti
7. Layne Riggs
8. Tyler Ankrum
9. Kaden Honeycutt
10. Andres Perez

Stage 2 Top 10 Results:

1. Layne Riggs
2. Chandler Smith
3. Landen Lewis
4. Ty Majeski
5. Ben Rhodes
6. Giovanni Ruggiero
7. Tyler Ankrum
8. Dario Franchitti
9. Grant Enfinger
10. Andres Perez

OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at the St. Petersburg Street Course Race Results: