RIDGEWAY, Va. — In an act of desperation, Layne Riggs executed a perfect bump-and-run to just barely beat out Brent Crews for third, the spot he thought he needed to make the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4.
Except he actually needed one more position.
Instead, Riggs’ third-place result in the Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville Speedway Friday night (Oct. 24) tied him in points with Kaden Honeycutt. And the tiebreaker went to the No. 52 driver.
“Yeah, I just, I mean, even that last lap, I thought that we were in,” Riggs told Frontstretch.
In the NASCAR playoffs, tiebreakers go to the driver with the best finish in the round. What confused Riggs, his Front Row Motorsports team and many others at the Virginia short track Friday night was that Riggs owned the tiebreaker over Honeycutt entering the race. Riggs’ best finish was fifth last week at Talladega Superspeedway, while Honeycutt’s was 10th at the same track.
But those best finishes changed when the two drivers battling on the cut line took the checkered flag at Martinsville, as Honeycutt finished second and Riggs in third. That reset both of their best finishes of the round and gave the edge to Honeycutt.
“Battling back there at the end, we thought that we were the tiebreaker winner,” Riggs said.
But despite posting three wins, 12 top fives, 15 top 10s, three poles, 473 laps led and an average finish of 9.3 (all career-highs), Riggs will not get the chance to race for a Truck championship next week at Phoenix Raceway. For comparison, Honeycutt had as many top fives as Riggs had wins.
“We’ve been strong all year,” Riggs said. “I’m not gonna hang my head about today. We’ve had such a great year all year long and battled up front. Learned a lot, excited to see what our future holds.”
Missing out on racing for a title after such a great season wasn’t what was on the No. 34 driver’s mind, though. He was more upset at how he raced Crews coming to the line.
“I got told that we were in, and I was still kind of just upset,” Riggs said. “I just don’t like how those races finish like that. You have to do what you have to do. That’s just not my kind of mentality. I don’t like doing that.”
However, Crews was not upset at Riggs.
“I’m a competitor too, and I’ve known Layne for a long time,” Crews told Frontstretch. “We’ve always raced really hard. I can’t say I’m upset at him, because if I was in his situation, we’re taught to do whatever it takes to win the race or make the final four. So I understand, as much as it’s a bummer that he had to tear our truck up and lose a spot.”
Still, Riggs continued to echo just how much he did not like what he did.
“It’s still upsetting,” Riggs said. “I just don’t like racing like that. I wanna race it straight up and how it’s supposed to be, but I’m here and got to get a spot, gotta get one. I’m gonna do what my team tells me to do to get in this championship. Roughing guys up I don’t really want to rough up. They’ve done nothing to me in the past.
“I just don’t like racing like that, man. I don’t like how it comes down to the end like this and how people have to race, especially at a track like Martinsville. Never been my favorite race of the year.”
Riggs started on the pole for Friday’s race after being fastest in practice. He led the first 27 laps, but he lost the top spot and more when he missed a shift on a restart.
“I don’t really know what happened on that restart,” Riggs said. “I mean, I’ve never missed a shift in a truck with these transmissions ever, and it just would not go into the third gear, wouldn’t go into the fourth. Like, no matter what I do, it wouldn’t go into gear. I’ve never had that problem before.
“It just summarizes our Round of 8 of things that could have happened.”
The good news for Riggs is it sounds like he’ll have another chance at winning a Truck title in 2026, as he essentially confirmed he’ll be back with the FRM No. 34 next year.
“But yeah, just excited for the future with this race team, coming back with them, fighting for it again next year,” Riggs said.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.