AVONDALE, Ariz. — Layne Riggs might’ve missed the Championship 4 in a gut-wrenching tiebreaker with Kaden Honeycutt at Martinsville Speedway, but he still entered Friday’s (Oct. 31) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finale at Phoenix Raceway with a chance to score his fourth win of the year and an owners’ championship for Front Row Motorsports.
Riggs looked like one of the trucks to beat by winning the pole, but a pre-race inspection violation — which resulted in a crew chief ejection and a pass-through penalty at the start of the race — put him behind the eight ball.
It just didn’t faze him. Riggs was fast enough to stay on the lead lap despite the consequences, leaving him right back in the mix after the end of stage one.
“Thank you to Front Row Motorsports and their fight,” Riggs said after the race. “I know we had a pretty rough day today … having to start in the rear.”
It was a tough climb, one both team and driver were able to make. With 40 laps to go, Riggs was running fifth, back in contention to take the win. A lap 112 caution opened the door for strategy plays, and the No. 34 team rolled the dice by heading to pit road for four tires.
The strategy worked, and with 24 laps to go, Riggs took the lead for the first time all night.
“(We) had the right strategy,” Riggs said. “Not having my crew chief or car chief here, my engineer had to step up and be crew chief for the first time ever.
“He did an amazing job. Jonathan Coates; really, really proud of that guy. He’s going to be a crew chief one day.”
Riggs had the lead, the freshest tires and the right strategy, but with two laps to go, he got burned by a controversial caution.
“You hate to see that,” Riggs said.
Connor Mosack had a tire rub on his No. 81 truck, but he elected to stay on the track. The tire blew two laps later, and Mosack pounded the wall to bring out the yellow flag.
Mosack declined comment to Frontstretch after the crash. Mosack, his crew chief Blake Bainbridge and spotter Derek Kneeland were all called to the NASCAR hauler after the conclusion of the race.
Riggs and the No. 34 team took four tires under yellow. Ty Majeski and Honeycutt — two of Riggs’ competitors in the owners’ championship fight — leap-frogged him by taking two tires. Corey Heim, the third competitor, took four alongside Riggs.
By the time the dust settled, Heim powered through on four tires to score the race win, drivers’ championship and owners’ championship trifecta. Majeski finished second, followed by Honeycutt in third. As for Riggs, who was poised to score his sixth career win and an owner’s championship for FRM until the Mosack caution, he had to settle for a disappointing fourth. It left him last in both the race and the owners’ standings among the championship contenders.
All that work, an impressive comeback was wiped out with one wave of the yellow flag.
“I really didn’t want to see that last caution,” Riggs said. “It’s really tough.”
Despite the gut-wrenching loss, Riggs gave Heim — who won a series-record 12 races en route to the championship — his flowers.
“[Heim] taught me a whole lot,” Riggs said. “I’ve become a lot better racecar driver as the year’s gone on. Racing up front with him about every single race has taught me a whole lot.
“I’ve enjoyed it. We raced late models together for a long time. Obviously, we had our scuffles here and there, but that’s all in good racing. In the end, he won, and he’s a great representation of a champion. He’s done a lot of good things and won a lot of races. Hopefully, it’s me next year.”
With the 2025 season in the books, Riggs is all-in on running it back and prepping for a title run in 2026.
“Happy to be back with this No. 34 truck,” Riggs said. “I really enjoy working with this race team.
“We’ve got to clean some things up if we’re going to try to execute to win a championship, but this year we definitely learned a lot and what not to do.”
Another lesson? You need a little Lady Luck on your side, too.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
They were only called to the Hauler to reclaim lost luggage.
I hope Conner got invited to Corey’s victory celebration.
Prime example of why a one race shootout with the entire field as your opponent is a ridiculous way to crown a champion. unless they want to just put the 4 finalists on track by themselves. Then it makes sense….sorta.
Strange situation where the correct outcome happened, for all the wrong reasons. Heim was dominant all season.
Shame it took luck to make the proper conclusion a reality.