In A Nutshell
Layne Riggs finally found his way to victory lane in 2025.
Hours after winning his first career pole, Riggs took home his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of 2025 (and third career victory) at Pocono Raceway on Friday (June 20). Riggs is the third consecutive driver to win their first race of the season to lock themselves into the playoffs, leading to smaller chances to point into the final few spots.
Tanner Gray finished second, followed by Kaden Honeycutt in third.
The Top Truckers at Pocono Raceway
Winner, Polesitter, Stage 1 Winner, Fastest Lap (54.338 seconds, 165.630 mph): Layne Riggs
Stage 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (48 of 80): Corey Heim
Biggest Mover (started 34th, finished 18th): Ben Rhodes
The Winning Move
Yet again, Corey Heim had another dominant race get away from him.
The No. 11 led 48 of the race’s 80 laps and was in prime position to take the lead for good on the final restart. Choosing the outside and starting alongside Riggs, Heim felt a tire go down heading toward turn 3 just before the restart. He showed his racing prowess and smartly moved out of line and let the field pass instead of restarting in front and risking an accident.
With Heim out of contention and needing to make a pit stop, that put Riggs in the provisional lead, and Carson Hocevar, who was due to start behind Heim on the outside, moved up to the front row.
Pause. Let’s flash back for a second to the 2024 Brickyard 400, when leader Brad Keselowski dove for pit lane and turned the lead over to Ryan Blaney. With Kyle Larson jumping up to the front row, nobody knew who the control car was, and there was confusion on whether or not Larson might have jumped the restart.
The same situation arose Friday, when Hocevar launched well before Riggs, who was technically the control truck. As such, Hocevar was penalized with a pass-through for jumping the restart. That turned the lead over to Riggs, who was able to hold on for the final 20 laps to take career win No. 3.
Playoff Rundown
Riggs is now the seventh — yes, the seventh — driver to lock himself into the Truck Series playoffs. That leaves three spots left for drivers to point their way in. The problem? There are still four races remaining before the playoffs, meaning the possibility of more than 10 winners occurring this season is very much possible.
With a 124-point lead over second, there’s almost no chance Heim will be challenged for the regular-season title, so that’s just about a non-story at this point. Back at the cut line, the final three spots available by points currently belong to Grant Enfinger (+50 over the cut line), Honeycutt (+45) and defending champion Ty Majeski (+10), who currently holds the final playoff spot over teammate Jake Garcia.
With three straight new winners in 2025, there’s a high chance that we aren’t done, especially with the upcoming diversity on the schedule — only road courses and short tracks make up the remainder of the regular season.
The dwindling playoff spots are almost like the characters Agatha Christie classic And Then There Were None — we started with 10, and one by one they have been taken away. Now we’re down to three remaining, with time running out.
Okay, maybe I just wanted a reason to name-drop one of my favorite books, but I still like the analogy.
Either way, buckle up — these next few weeks might just get crazy.
Rookie Report
Rookie of the Race: Connor Mosack’s day was highly underrated. Some solid strategy from his No. 81 team along with quiet speed all evening allowed the rookie to finish sixth, the second-best performance of his young Truck Series career. With that, he earns this week’s Rookie of the Race.
No. 2 — Cody Dennison (33rd)
No. 5 — Toni Breidinger (22nd)
No. 07 — Patrick Emerling (15th)
No. 17 — Gio Ruggiero (11th)
No. 22 — Clayton Green (30th)
No. 26 — Dawson Sutton (29th)
No. 33 — Frankie Muniz (19th)
No. 66 — Luke Baldwin (12th)
No. 69 — Tyler Tomassi (24th)
No. 77 — Andres Perez (16th)
No. 81 — Connor Mosack (sixth)
Talkin’ Truckers
Honeycutt (third) breaks down his afternoon, including late contact with Garcia:
Brandon Jones (fourth) and Patrick Emerling (15th) discuss their afternoons at The Tricky Triangle:
A frustrated Heim (23rd) talks about how bad his luck has been this season, despite his success:
Garcia (28th) gives his take on the contact with Honeycutt that resulted in the No. 13 crashing in turn 1:
Dawson Sutton, Clayton Green and Conner Jones (29th-31st) give their vantage points after they were all caught up in a big accident to begin the final stage:
Paint Scheme of the Race
Welcome back to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Mike Harmon Racing.
In both the Xfinity and Truck Series, fans have grown accustomed to seeing MHR’s No. 74 in jet black with a bright red number. But for its first Truck Series start since 2018, it showed up with a completely different look.
With driver Dawson Cram behind the wheel, MHR brought a bright blue No. 74, a major stray away from its typical colors. If there was any question where Cram was on the track and the bright blue paint scheme didn’t give it away, the gigantic number on the side should have done the trick.
Cram qualified 30th, but unfortunately went behind the wall before the end of the race. He was credited with a finish of 32nd.
Next Stop
For the second time this year, we’re heading back to a Rock — only this time, we’re adding a little bit of Lime.
Lime Rock Park makes its long-awaited debut on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule on Saturday, June 28. The race kicks off an action-packed day of stock car racing, as the ARCA Menards Series concludes the second half of a Lime Rock doubleheader, while the NASCAR Cup Series takes the green flag at EchoPark Speedway later that evening.
Coverage for the inaugural LiUNA! 150 begins at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 28. Television coverage shifts to FOX (check your local listings) while the all-new NASCAR Racing Network continues its exclusive season-long radio coverage of the Truck Series.
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
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.