Scoring 75 of a possible 76 points in a dominating victory Sept. 26 at Kansas Speedway, Kaden Honeycutt seized control of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase, as top-seeded Layne Riggs suffered devastating issues for the second consecutive race.
Honeycutt will try to expand his lead in Friday’s Ecosave 200 (5 p.m. ET on FOX, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), as Riggs—now 37 points behind Honeycutt in second place—attempts to right his ship.
Riggs was running second behind Honeycutt at Kansas when he smacked the wall in the closing laps and dropped to 19th at the finish.
“I just went for it there at the end,” Riggs said. “I feel like we were kind of behind the eight ball all day long. Had rough stops on pit road, had issues. I was going for a win, had a shot at a win, and tried a little too hard. So definitely really disappointing. Really big blow to our points.
“Should have been just fine with chalking up a second-place finish instead of trying to go for the win. But at the same time, the team (Front Row Motorsports) pays me to go win races. And that’s what we did. I just have to be smarter in the long run if I’m going to get this thing. Keep my head about me a little bit better, instead of looking at just three or four laps. Got to look at the whole Chase.”
The good news for Riggs is that he and Honeycutt have created separation from the rest of the Chase field in just two races. Third-place Chandler Smith, Riggs’ teammate, trails Honeycutt by 71 points, with fourth-place Gio Ruggiero 72 points back.
–NASCAR Wire Service–