Riggs Plays Spoiler In Truck Series Playoff Opener

Layne Riggs celebrates in victory lane Sunday at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile. (HHP/Andrew Coppley photo)

WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Layne Riggs’ NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series breakthrough may have come one race too late to put him in championship contention, but that didn’t make it any less special.

Riggs played spoiler during the opening race of the Truck Series playoffs Sunday afternoon at the Milwaukee Mile, with a fierce, late-race drive reminiscent of his early late model days in the CARS Tour.

The 22-year-old, second-generation driver from Bahama, N.C., started 16th but worked his way to third through the first two stages of the LiUNA 175, then put on the jets once the final stage got going.

He sliced past race-long dominator Christian Eckes for second on a restart with 56 to go, as home hero Ty Majeski took the lead, then waited for the right moment to charge to Majeski’s inside three laps later.

After getting a run down the backstretch, the Sunoco rookie-of-the-year contender completed the pass in turn four and set sail from there.

Riggs led the final 53 laps at the 1.015-mile oval for his first Truck Series victory in his 23rd start, and though his advantage fluctuated at times, he took the checkered flag 1.547 seconds clear of Majeski.

If Sunday’s celebration was at all bittersweet because Riggs won after not making the Truck Series playoff field, he didn’t show it, jumping on top of his truck to raucous cheers from the crowd.

In fact, Riggs tipped afterward that he was so excited, he actually popped his right shoulder out of place while fist-pumping atop his truck.

“I dislocated my shoulder I was celebrating so hard!” he admitted with a chuckle. “It hurts, but it was worth it. It’s not the first time it’s happened to me, but it ain’t gonna slow me down.”

Once he finally settled into victory lane, the reality of the moment began to hit home.

“I don’t even know how to describe [this win],” Riggs admitted. “The biggest thing I can do is thank Zorn – it was their first race and it’s awesome for them to win this with us – as well as Love’s Travel Stops and everyone at Front Row Motorsports. It’s awesome.

Layne Riggs (38) leads Ty Majeski Sunday at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile. (HHP/Andrew Coppley photo)

“Thank you to Bob Jenkins and Jerry Freeze for letting me drive this truck and still believing in me, because we’ve had a terrible year. It’s been an awful year,” he continued, referencing a rookie season that has featured just six top 10s in 17 races. “I’ve learned so much, though, in my rookie season. After the start [of the year] I thought there was no way we were going to get a win, that we’d do the best we could, but we were just learning for next year, but man … I knew in practice this thing was pretty awesome.

“Like I said, I couldn’t be more thankful to Front Row and everybody on this team. We have a good time together and we’re a family now.”

Sunday’s 175-lap race featured just two cautions, and only one of those was officially for incident, when Jayson Alexander came to a stop in turn three on lap 48.

Due to a lengthy process of getting the field realigned properly, that yellow ultimately ended the first stage, with Ty Dillon notching his first Truck Series stage win.

Eckes led every lap of the caution-free second segment en route to his series-leading ninth stage victory this year.

Once the race went green for good on lap 120, however, Eckes began to fade and Riggs asserted himself as the best driver in the field when it counted.

Majeski’s runner-up finish was best among the 10 playoff contenders, moving him up to second in the standings and giving him a comfortable 44-point buffer over the elimination line with two races left in the Round of 10. He’s finished top two in each of his last three starts, including two victories.

However, the Seymour, Wis., driver said he was “a bit bummed” not to be able to win at his home track.

“I think the fact we missed [the balance of the truck] as bad as we did, and we were [still] as close as we were, is super encouraging. That means we have a lot of speed in our trucks,” noted Majeski, who led 45 laps from the pole. “It’s just up to us to hit the package right at this point. Joe [Shear Jr., crew chief] and I put our heads together to come up with our Phoenix package and [tweak on] it to try and make it better, and I don’t know that we’re quite there yet, but I’m super proud of the run we’ve had the last three races.

“We’re hitting on all eight cylinders right now … and super proud of everybody back at the shop who worked hard over the course of the Olympic break to get our trucks better. We’re seeing that improvement and I feel good about where we’re at.”

Eckes finished third, but his haul of 18 stage points helped him to ascend to the top of the standings, 16 ahead of Majeski and 60 clear of ninth-placed Ben Rhodes.

Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray closed the top five, followed by Tyler Ankrum, Corey Heim, Daniel Dye, defending series champion Rhodes, and three-time champion Matt Crafton, who missed the playoffs this year for the first time in his career.

Kaden Honeycutt and Sammy Smith, driving entries for Niece Motorsports and Spire Motorsports that are in contention in the owners’ championship playoffs, finished 12th and 17th, respectively.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season continues the first round of its playoff run at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway with the running of the UNOH 200.

Broadcast coverage at the half-mile, high-banked concrete oval is slated for Thursday night, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.