MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Layne Riggs got a firsthand reminder Friday night at Martinsville Speedway of just how valuable a victory can be in the 2026 Craftsman Truck Series Chase.
Instead of celebrating what would have been his eighth win of the season, Riggs left Martinsville trailing Kaden Honeycutt by 20 points — the exact margin between first and second place — with the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway looming. A late-race restart ultimately proved costly, relegating the No. 34 truck to third behind Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith and ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes.
“Those bonus points really would have been nice,” Riggs told a group of reporters after hopping out of the No. 34 car and assessing his 20-point deficit. “Even more than that, I wanted a grandfather clock really, really bad.”
Riggs controlled much of the Black’s Tire 200, sweeping the opening two stages and leading 156 of 200 laps. Despite having to navigate a flurry of late-race cautions, the No. 34 truck repeatedly maintained the lead on restarts. But Smith finally broke through with 13 laps remaining, launching off the outside lane to clear Riggs and take control. Rhodes followed suit, moving into second.
Further back, Honeycutt, who battled an ill-handling No. 11 Toyota throughout the event, found himself caught in the middle of the chaos. The championship leader traded paint with 16-year-old upstart Tristan McKee, sending him tumbling to 15th with 11 laps remaining. Honeycutt recovered one position before the checkered flag, finishing 14th.
Honeycutt could see ahead that Smith had gotten by Riggs, pushing him back a couple of positions. His eyes lit up, knowing the damage would be minimized.
“I was like, ‘Oh wow, OK, he’s going for the win,’” Honeycutt recalled. “When Layne got up to the 99, he pushed him right in the fence and I thought that was my opportunity to maximize my day and find him and run where he was at the rest of the night. I went down into 1 and had some unfortunate contact and nothing I could do or Tristan could honestly do. Just tight racing around the Paperclip.”
With Smith passing his Front Row teammate of two seasons, it cost Riggs 22 points. But he remains within striking distance, believing that it’s going to take a victory at Homestead to be crowned 2026 champion.
“We’re going to go win it,” Riggs added. “With this format having 20 bonus points, it’s pretty much a winner-take-all again, in my opinion. Instead of having four, it’s two this time. We’re going to go win. That’s all I can go do. We’ve got to at least go match him in stage points, we can’t have a bad qualifying effort or something bad on pit road. Just got to go there and execute and, as you saw tonight, he’s not as dominant as some people think.”
Honeycutt isn’t backing down, either, especially with how stout the No. 11 Toyota has been at intermediates throughout the 2026 season. He had a runaway victory last month at Kansas Speedway and hasn’t finished off the podium in four attempts at 1.5-mile venues in 2026.
Honeycutt concluded: “Looking forward to next week. It’s going to start right off the trailer in practice and it’s not going to stop until the checkered flag.”