Homestead, Fla. – Layne Riggs stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kaden Honeycutt on the Homestead-Miami Speedway driver introduction stage, posing alongside the Craftsman Truck Series championship trophy. It was the closest he would come to hoisting it as the 2026 champion.
By the end of Lap 2, Riggs knew he was in for a long 200 miles. Contact with polesitter Nick Sanchez left the No. 34 with a right-rear tire rub, and the tire finally gave way on Lap 16.
“We were going to have to execute almost a perfect race and Lap 2 or 3 that was out the window,” a frustrated Riggs said after finishing six laps down in 32nd position.
After repairing the right-rear quarter panel, Riggs fell two laps off the pace. He took the wave-around at the end of Stage 1 to get back within one lap of the leaders, but his championship hopes officially went flat on Lap 45. Another right-rear tire failure sent the No. 34 Ford seven laps down, effectively ending his shot for the title.
“I just know that when I had the tire issue, it was going down that entire run and I was losing spots,” Riggs added. “I knew that no matter what, we weren’t going to know what exactly we were going to have, or even if we had a shot.”
Riggs entered Championship Weekend 20 points behind Honeycutt, knowing he needed a flawless performance to keep the No. 11 within reach by the checkered flag of the 134-lap event. Instead, execution once again eluded the No. 34 team at Homestead, continuing a trend that plagued much of its Chase presented by Mobil 1 campaign.
“I had plenty of time riding about 10 laps down to think about my day today, my year leading up to it,” Riggs stated. “Of course, I’m disappointed about this one race, but at the same time, I’m so proud of being in a position to walk out on the stage before the race, have the potential at a championship.
“We were there all the way until the end. We had speed all year long, we just didn’t have the consistency that we needed to be champions.”
Riggs closes the season with a series-best seven checkered flags and 988 laps led, 396 more than Honeycutt, who ranked second among drivers to compete in a 2026 Truck Series race. He’ll leave South Florida disappointed, but with the reassurance of returning to Front Row Motorsports in 2027. Riggs will look to turn that success into a championship run next season and once again emerge as one of Honeycutt’s biggest challengers.
“Racing as a whole, you have a lot more disappointing days then you have exciting days, right?” Riggs added. “Today, just wasn’t that exciting day for us. I knew it was going to be a Hail Mary to get the job done. Heck, the pressures weren’t even up on the tires yet and we were already out of contention and never knew what the balance was going to be or how fast our truck was going to be. I look at it as we blew up on Lap 2 or 3 just from a notes standpoint. We don’t even know what we were going to have. That’s what is more disappointing for me.”
Riggs ends the season 83 points shy of Honeycutt.