Layne Riggs waves to the fans during driver introductions before the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Chloe Gunn | The Podium Finish)
CONCORD, N.C. — Layne Riggs continued to keep up the strong race-winning pace his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team has shown through the past few races, but he finished the race in a polar opposite position than his past outings.
Riggs had a clean weekend all around, starting in the top 10 and running as high as 2nd place throughout Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The lowest he ran was at 24th place, due to green flag pit stops that cycled him to the back of the field.
Riggs maintained his presence up front, even with the opposition he was racing against, like NASCAR Cup Series regulars, like Kyle Busch, the winningest Truck Series driver in the history of the sport, and Ross Chastain, who has proved his talents in the Truck Series time and time again. The defending Truck Series rookie of the year award recipient has kept pace with some of the biggest names in the Truck Series, like Kaden Honeycutt and Grant Enfinger. The No. 34 Ford F-150 had good speed all night, but didn’t have the pace to keep up with a dominant Corey Heim, who led 98 laps and won both Stage 1, Stage 2, and the race to complete the sweep.
Riggs went on to finish in the 4th position, and he did it without any conflicts on or off the track. At Kansas Speedway two weeks ago, Riggs and Cup Series regular Carson Hocevar had a hard-fought battle for the win with only a few laps remaining. Riggs almost wrecked Hocevar in Turn 2 on the final lap of the event, eventually finishing a then 2nd place, but he was later disqualified in post-race inspection, and he was shuffled back into the 31st finishing position.
The following week at North Wilkesboro Speedway saw even more chaos. Riggs found his way to the front at the end of the race, and he was caught up in a battle with Heim and teammate Chandler Smith for the victory. And again, on the final lap in Turn 2, the driver of the No. 34 Ford F-150 made slight contact with Heim, which sent Heim spinning, resulting in a 2nd place finish for Riggs and a 17th-place finish for Heim. Words were exchanged between the two competitors after that scuffle, resulting in a very disgruntled Heim, which could have been fuel to the fire that resulted in his blowout victory yesterday evening.
Contact between Layne Riggs and Corey Heim resulted in a post-race exchange of words last weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
“Honestly, it’s just nice to be far enough away that somebody can’t clean me out,” Heim said in his post-race interview with FOX. This again was another knock at Riggs for the driving that he displayed last weekend, but yesterday evening showed some promise for the young driver out of Bahama, North Carolina.
Riggs ran a complete, clean race without any major on or off-track conflicts, a result that could help Riggs get back on the same page with his competitors, like Heim and Hocevar. Riggs battled the likes of Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain all night without any major incidents or damage. The night was quiet for the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team, but the speed was there from the very beginning of the show.
Riggs will be back on track next Friday in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Nashville Superspeedway, looking to keep up the momentum that he and his No. 34 team found on Friday night at Charlotte.
