In A Nutshell
Chandler Smith took advantage of some hard racing (if you want to call it that) and contact between Layne Riggs and Corey Heim to steal the victory In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The final lap was the only lap the No. 38 truck led all day on Saturday (May 17), but it was the most important one of all.
It’s Smith’s second win of the season, which allows him to close the gap on Heim for the regular season points lead. Smith’s teammate Riggs, meanwhile, has some questions to answer after a messy final lap in Wilkes County.
The Top Truckers at North Wilkesboro Speedway
Winner, Fastest Lap (18.981 seconds): Chandler Smith
Polesitter, Most Laps Led (162 of 255): Corey Heim
Stage 1 Winner: Gio Ruggiero
Stage 2 Winner: Grant Enfinger
Biggest Mover: Layne Riggs (started 27th, finished second)
The Winning Move
The only driver who could hold a candle to Heim was Smith, despite neither Heim nor Smith winning the two stages. With a handful of laps to go, Smith caught Heim and proceeded to execute a bump-and-run on the No. 11. Just as Smith started running, however, a caution came out for Heim’s rookie teammate Brent Crews, who was spun by Ben Rhodes while running fifth.
On the overtime restart, Smith admitted in his post-race interview with FOX Sports 1 that he did “everything but the right thing,” allowing Heim to scoot away. Smith’s teammate Riggs was able to follow Heim on the outside lane and clear Smith for second. After Heim washed up the hill in turn 4, Riggs was underneath the No. 11 going into turn 1 on the final lap.
Riggs threw a slide job on Heim — one that was not meant to clear him, but rather to push Heim up the hill to the highest lane in turn 2 and into the dirt and dust that lies out there. It worked, and Heim, who started on pole and led 162 of the race’s 255 laps, half-spun in front of the field off of turn 2. Rajah Caruth, who was running in the top 10 off of turn 2, had nowhere to go and ran into the side of Heim, costing him a decent finish.
Meanwhile, up front, Riggs had lost a ton of momentum, due to having to slow down to actually make the corner once Heim was out of the way. That allowed Smith to dive underneath the No. 34 and take the lead heading into turn 3.
Riggs tried one last-ditch effort to move his teammate in turn 4, but washed up the racetrack and about junked his own truck. He hung on to finish second while Smith cruised to his second victory of 2025. It’s the first 1-2 finish in Front Row Motorsports’ Truck Series history.
Heim, meanwhile, limped across the line in 17th, having seen another race get away from him.
Playoff Rundown
Smith’s win, combined with Heim’s 17th-place finish, allowed the No. 38 to gain 17 points on Heim — that’s the good news. The bad news? Smith is still 47 points behind Heim for the regular season championship.
Back at the cut line, Stewart Friesen holds just a six-point margin over Rhodes, who lost a heap of points after his crash with Crews.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: Gio Ruggiero had himself one of his best days of the season. He led laps resulting in a stage one win, and continued to learn from those around him to finish seventh in his first time in a truck at the famed short track. Ruggiero has a start in the zMAX CARS Tour there, but he impressed in his first time out in a big-time stock truck — earning him this week’s Rookie of the Race … again.
But don’t overlook Crews’ performance. The 22nd-place finish doesn’t tell the whole story of his day — he was running in the top five for the entire afternoon prior to his contact with Rhodes. He certainly has a bright future in this sport.
No. 1 — Brent Crews (22nd)
No. 2 — Derek White (33rd)
No. 02 — Jayson Alexander (30th)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger* (21st)
No. 7 — Sammy Smith (10th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero* (seventh)
No. 22 — Tyler Tomassi (31st)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton* (26th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz* (29th)
No. 66 — Luke Baldwin (13th)
No. 67 — Ryan Roulette (32nd)
No. 75 — Patrick Emerling (19th)
No. 77 — Andres Perez* (24th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack* (16th)
*Denotes 2025 Rookie of the Year contender
One Big Takeaway From This Race
Two weeks in a row, Riggs has made Truck Series headlines by making a misguided, aggressive last-lap move in turn 1 in desperation for the victory.
Last week at Kansas Speedway, Riggs tried the same aggressive slide job move on Carson Hocevar, but was nowhere close to clear, and he damn near wrecked both of them. Hocevar let Riggs know that he was number one (not in the friendly way) as he came down the frontstretch to take the checkered flag.
Fortunately, Hocevar held on to the win, and Riggs second — though that second eventually became 31st when it was revealed that Riggs had failed post-race inspection and thus was disqualified from his runner-up.
Fast forward to Saturday, and Riggs found himself in a similar situation, this time with Heim in Hocevar’s place. Entering turn 1 on the final lap, Riggs had no intention of clearing the No. 11, and instead pushed Heim into the outermost lane — where the dust and rubber was — and caused Heim to crash.
Riggs proceeded to back this up by … not winning the race?
Hold on. We need to talk.
As a driver, the No. 1 rule of pulling a stunt like Riggs did is that you need to back it up with a victory. Riggs did not. Instead, he let Smith underneath him and faded back to second — the same position he was in before dive-bombing Heim.
Riggs then appeared to overdrive the final corner in an attempt to move his teammate for the win, which nearly caused Riggs to crash his own truck.
Then after being confronted by Heim, Riggs told FOX Sports 1 that he was only focused on himself and his team.
Oy vey.
Let’s not forget that Riggs pulled the same move on Heim earlier in this same race. He overdrove turn 1 on the restart to begin stage two and ran Heim up the hill, which allowed Grant Enfinger to take the lead (and eventually the stage win).
So he pulled the same move twice on the same driver, ending in the victim of his actions wrecked. He then offers no apology and doubles down on the move. This, coming one week after he pulled the same stunt at Kansas.
The sophomore driver is slowly become NASCAR’s next Hocevar-like antagonist.
Not necessarily a Kyle Busch-esque villain, just a young racer who has a lot to learn and will be a thorn in the field’s sides.
In their confrontation, Heim told Riggs, “You’re driving like a f*cking idiot. Calm down, or somebody’s gonna take care of you.” So should the North Carolinian be expecting payback for his dive bombs?
Given he’s attempted three of them in the last two races (twice for the win) and none of them resulted in him standing in victory lane — let’s not rule it out. Some will argue it’s deserved, some not.
But that’s racing.
Talkin’ Truckers
Riggs (second) and Heim (17th) give their perspectives on their last-lap contact:
Tyler Ankrum (third), Grant Enfinger (fifth) and Ty Majeski (sixth) break down their afternoons:
Ruggiero (seventh), Crews (22nd) and TRICON Garage team owner David Gilliland give their thoughts on their races and the contact between Heim and Riggs:
Paint Scheme of the Race
Add Riggs to the list of drivers sponsored by their alma mater.
With sponsorship from Long John Silver’s on the hood, Riggs repped his former school on the rear of his No. 34. Riggs graduated in 2024 from University of North Carolina-Charlotte with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. UNC Charlotte is now promptly reinvesting in their alum by sponsoring him in this race and the next.
As a fan of the color green, this basic combination of green and black looked so good out on the track. Riggs joins a list of NASCAR and ARCA Menards Series drivers such as Brandon Brown (Coastal Carolina University), Bryce Haugeberg (North Dakota State University) and William Byron (Liberty University) to gain sponsorship from the college they attended.
Perhaps Riggs will get a cut of the sponsorship money to pay off student loans.
Next Stop
We’re staying in-state and heading to NASCAR’s home track.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will head straight down I-77 and over on I-485 to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 23 to kick off Memorial Day weekend. Nick Sanchez won last year’s race, but as he is currently not scheduled to run Charlotte due to his status as an Xfinity Series driver, he will not be able to defend his race win.
Coverage for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 begins at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday, May 23. Television coverage yet again remains on FOX Sports 1, while the all-new NASCAR Racing Network continues its exclusive season-long coverage of the Truck Series.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.