In the opening laps of Friday’s Ecosave 200, as he was slicing his way forward from the 13th starting position, Layne Riggs declared on his team radio “They’re in trouble”—meaning the competition.
Riggs’ seventh victory of the season wasn’t quite as easy as that assessment might have implied. In fact, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford had to pass Chase leader Kaden Honeycutt on Lap 128 of 134 to secure his second NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the 12th win of his career.
The victory had enormous implications for the series championship. In taking the checkered flag, Riggs narrowed his Chase deficit to 17 points behind Honeycutt, who finished third after losing the runner-up spot to Christian Eckes one lap after Riggs made the winning pass.
“That was a hell of a battle there at the end with me and the 11 (Honeycutt),” said Riggs, who got past Honeycutt when the No. 11 Toyota broke loose in the top lane and tagged the outside wall with the right rear. “That was a lot of fun.
“I think I had to pass the 11 three or four times (after losing spots in the pits). We’ve got to still work on pit road. That was our weakness still, but I kept driving to the front.”
For Riggs, the victory was redemption for the second Chase race Sept. 26 at Kansas, where Riggs hit the outside wall while running second late in the race and finished 19th.
“At Kansas, I was up there, and internally I pressured myself that I needed to go win. Today, I didn’t have any pressure. I just went out and wheeled it.”
Honeycutt repeatedly beat Riggs off pit road but couldn’t hold off the No. 34 Ford on the race track.
“I don’t know how the heck I saved that,” Honeycutt said of his near-spin near the wall while trying to defend the lead with seven laps left. “Just seeing the replay, I wish I hadn’t been air-blocking him as much as I did. It just took away what I was trying to do.
“I just focused on him too much. I should have run my own race.”
Riggs and Honeycutt split the first two stages, with Riggs winning his 12th of the season in Stage 1 and finishing second to Honeycutt in Stage 2.
Eckes finished second for the second straight race but remains fourth in the standings, 88 points behind Honeycutt with four Chase races left. Chandler Smith came home fifth behind non-Chase driver Bayley Currey and trails Honeycutt by 77 points.
“Our Chevrolet was really solid all day,” Eckes said. “We just kind of slow down the straightaway and struggled with a couple balance items. It’s still good to finish second in back-to-back weeks.
“Obviously, we want to win, and I feel like we’re right on the cusp of doing that.”
The race featured five cautions for 28 laps and one 12-minute, 58-second red-flag period for an eight-car accident on Lap 118. That wreck took out two of the five Kyle Busch tribute cars entered in the race, which preceded a celebration of the life of the late NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Both the No. 7 of pole winner Connor Mosack (honoring the 100th Truck Series victory of Kyle Busch Motorsports) and the No. 77 of Rajah Caruth (commemorating KBM’s first win) exited the race at that point.
Daniel Hemric, Landen Lewis, Andres Perez De Lara, Tyler Ankrum and Justin Haley completed the top 10.
The Truck Series Chase continues next Friday at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
— NASCAR Wire Service —
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Point Standings, Owner Point Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report