As the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series heads for its first Chase race on Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Layne Riggs plans to keep using the approach that earned him top seeding in the 10-driver Chase field.
In other words, Riggs, who announced Tuesday that he will be back in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford next year, plans to be at the front of the field in the UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics on Thursday night (8 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Who doesn’t want to be the number one guy with a target on your back?” Riggs asked rhetorically during Tuesday’s Chase Media Day for the Truck Series. “Somebody else said, ‘How do you like being hunted?’ I’m still the hunter, hunting for a bigger points lead.
“I’m not on defense. I’m on just as much offense as I have been all year long—and it’s not going to change.”
Bristol is an excellent starting point for Riggs, who has two victories and four top 10s in five Truck Series starts at the 0.533-mile concrete track. The 24-year-old from Bahama, N.C., who spent part of three pre-Chase off weeks in the Bahamas, is the defending winner of the fall race at Thunder Valley.
Riggs’ Front Row Motorsports teammate, Chandler Smith—third in the standings and 35 points back to start the seven-race Chase—has an equally enviable record at Bristol. In seven starts at the track, Smith has two wins and six top 10s.
Kaden Honeycutt, who earned second seeding in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota that carried Corey Heim to the series championship last year, has work to do at Bristol. In seven starts there, Honeycutt one pole and one top 10 to his credit—an eighth-place run in the spring of 2025.
Honeycutt starts the Chase 25 points behind Riggs.
— NASCAR News Wire —