Layne Riggs notched a thrilling NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory over Rajah Caruth and teammate Chandler Smith in the rain-delayed Allegiance 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday, May 29.
The 23-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 99 of 150-scheduled laps in an event where he was awarded the pole position based on the metric qualifying formula and swept the event’s first two stage periods. Then after being shuffled towards the top-10 mark due to various pit strategies and struggling to launch forward with fresh tires, he spent the majority of the final stage period trying to navigate his way back to the front.
Through two late-race cautions and ensuing restarts, including the final one with 16 laps remaining, Riggs used his fresh tires and the restarts to muscle his way up the leaderboard. With three laps remaining, he overtook teammate Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot. Then on the final lap, he outdueled Rajah Caruth to storm back atop the leaderboard and cruise to his third Truck victory of the 2026 season.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula due to on-track qualifying being shortened and canceled from inclement weather. As a result, Layne Riggs, winner of last weekend’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Kaden Honeycutt.
Prior to the event, rookie Mini Tyrrell was dropped to the rear of the field due to repairs and unapproved adjustments that were made to his No. 14 Kaulig Racing RAM 1500 entry. Andres Perez De Lara was also forced to start at the rear of the field and serve a drive-through penalty at the event’s start due to technical issues with his No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced under the lights following a delay that lasted more than two hours due to inclement weather, Layne Riggs motored his No. 34 Love’s Ford F-150 entry ahead from the inside lane and he quickly transitioned to the outside lane to fend off Kaden Honeycutt through the first two turns as the field fanned out. Amid a series of on-track battles around the superspeedway venue, Riggs led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Riggs increased his early advantage to more than a second over Honeycutt while Jesse Love, Christian Eckes and Giovanni Ruggiero occupied the top-five spots over Ben Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric and Jake Garcia, respectively. Riggs stabilized his lead to one-and-a-half seconds over Honeycutt at the Lap 10 mark as all but one of 36 starters, minus Andres Perez De Lara amid the latter’s opening lap drive-through penalty through pit road, were scored on the lead lap.
Through the first 20-scheduled laps, Riggs added another second to his advantage as he was leading by more than two seconds over Honeycutt while Love, Eckes, Ruggiero, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones and Hemric trailed in the top 10, respectively. Jake Garcia, William Sawalich, Stefan Parsons, Grant Enfinger, Tyler Reif, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Parker Retzlaff, Stewart Friesen and Ty Majeski were mired in the top 20 ahead of Tyler Ankrum, Rajah Caruth, Dawson Sutton, Cole Butcher and Daniel Dye while Justin haley, Mini Tyrrell, Brenden Queen, Carson Ferguson and Kris Wright rounded out the top 30 ahead of Frankie Muniz, Clayton Green, Spencer Boyd, Derek Lemke, Andres Perez De Lara and Caleb Costner, respectively.
Ten laps later, Riggs built his advantage to three seconds over Honeycutt while third-place Love and fourth-place Eckes trailed by eight and nine seconds, respectively. Meanwhile, Ruggiero trailed in fifth place by 11 seconds while Chandler Smith, who started in 22nd place, was up to sixth place amid an earlier battle with Ben Rhodes. Jones, Garcia and Hemric rounded out the top 10, respectively, as Riggs, who lapped 12 competitors racing at the tail end of the field, continued to lead by more than four seconds by Lap 35.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Riggs, who lapped Dawson Sutton and Corey LaJoie over the previous 10 laps, cruised to his third Truck stage victory of the 2026 seaosn. Honeycutt trailed in second by two seconds while Love, Eckes, Ruggiero, Chandler Smith, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Garcia and Hemric were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 22 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while LaJoie managed to fend off Sutton to be the first competitor scored a lap down and was awarded the free pass.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Riggs peeled off the racetrack and pitted for the first time of the event. Following the pit stops, Riggs exited pit road first ahead Honeycutt while Eckes, Jones, Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Chandler Smith, Love, Ruggiero and Garcia followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Mini Tyrrell sent Parker Retzlaff for a spin in his pit box while both Friesen and Rhodes returned to pit road as Friesen had a left-front tire that was flat.
The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Riggs and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, Riggs gained another strong launch from the inside lane as he motored ahead of the field that had fanned out and jostled for spots. A lap later, the caution returned due to Tyler Reif getting loose beneath teammate Stefan Parsons, spinning and rear-ending his No. 42 Comprehensive Logistics Chevrolet Silverado RST entry against the outside wall from Turns 3 and 4.
The start of the next restart on Lap 60 only lasted two turns before the caution returned due to Carson Ferguson getting loose through the first two turns and wrecking the No. 25 ‘Free Agent’ RAM 1500 entry for Kaulig Racing hard against the outside wall. At the moment of caution, Riggs fended off Honeycutt to be scored the leader. Riggs managed to motor ahead of the field during the next restart on Lap 67 while Honeycutt, Eckes and Chandler smith battled for the runner-up spot in front of Enfinger. The caution flew on lap 68 due to Jesse Love, Tanner Gray and Garcia wrecking through Turns 3 and 4.
As the event restarted on Lap 75, Riggs extended his strong launch from the inside lane as he both maintained and rocketed away from the field for a full lap. As Riggs led, Eckes navigated his way into the runner-up spot over Honeycutt as the field that had been fanned out since the restart continued to instigate with a series of on-track battles ensuing. The caution then returned on Lap 78 due to debris on the course that came off the damaged entry of Garcia. During this latest caution period, some including Ross Chastain, Rajah Caruth, Ruggiero, Retzlaff, LaJoie and Tyler Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Riggs remained on the track. Ruggiero was then penalized for speeding on pit road.
When the event restarted on Lap 84, Riggs motored ahead from the inside lane while Eckes was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Honeycutt and Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot. The field fanned out, scattered and jostled for spots as Riggs led the next lap. With Riggs leading Honeycutt, the battles all around the field continued to ensue as Chandler Smith, Eckes and Enfinger were racing in the top five ahead of Rhodes, Daniel Dye, Majeski, Hemric and Chastain, respectively.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Riggs captured his fourth Truck stage victory of the 2026 season and his second of tonight’s event at Nashville. Honeycutt followed suit in the runner-up spot by more than a second while Chandler Smith, Eckes, Enfinger, Rhodes, Dye, Majeski, Hemric and Chastain were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while 24th-place competitor Cole Butcher was awarded the free pass by being the first competitor scored a lap down.
During the event’s second stage break period, a majority of of the field led by Riggs pitted while the rest led by Chastain, Caruth, Ankrum and Perez De Lara remained on the track. Following the pit stops and with mixed strategies ensuing, Retzlaff exited pit road first ahead of LaJoie and Ruggiero while Honeycutt followed suit ahead of Sutton, Riggs and Chandler Smith.
With 47 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Chastain and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Chastain led Ankrum, Caruth and the field through the first two turns as the field fanned out, scrambled and jostled for late spots through the backstretch. Chastain and Caruth dueled for the lead through the frontstretch to start the next lap before Caruth used the inside lane to muscle his No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead of Chastain through the first two turns. As Caruth led, Honeycutt navigated his way to third place while Riggs was mired in 12th place. Chastain maintained the runner-up spot over Honeycutt, Perez De Lara and Ankrum as Caruth continued to lead with 44 laps remaining.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Caruth was leading by six-tenths of a second over Chastain as Honeycutt continued to reel in Chastain for the runner-up spot. Caruth spent the next five laps extending his late advantage to a second over both Chastain and Honeycutt while Ankrum and Perez De Lara remained in the top five over LaJoie, Enfinger, Retzlaff, Eckes and Rhodes, respectively. Then with 34 laps remaining, Honeycutt dropped off the pace from third place due to losing power and having electrical issues to his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry. Honeycutt would then draw a caution with 32 laps remaining as his entry crept to the entrance of pit road and needed a wrecker to have the entry pushed to his pit stall. During this caution period, some like Retzlaff, Friesen, Riggs, Brenden Queen, Jones, Ruggiero, Sutton and Tyrrell pitted while the rest led by Caruth remained on the track.
The next restart with 26 laps remaining featured Caruth receiving an excessive push from Ankrum to motor ahead of Chastain from the inside lane through the fronstretch. As the field fanned out through the first two turns, LaJoie scrapped the outside wall due to contact from Rhodes as the field fanned out, but the event remained under green flag conditions as Caruth led the next lap. Caruth proceeded to lead by more than a second over Chastain before the caution flew with 22 laps remaining due to a left-rear wheel being detached off of Rhodes’ No. 99 Nashville Stampeded Ford F-150 entry.
As the event restarted with 16 laps remaining, Caruth and Chastain dueled for the lead through the frontstretch after Caruth did not get the push needed from Ankrum from the inside lane at the launch and briefly got loose. Following a duel with Chastain, Caruth managed to fend off the latter and lead the next lap. He then built a reasonable lead within half a second with 14 laps remaining while Chandler Smith, Chastain, Perez De Lara, Ankrum and a hard-charging Riggs followed suit, respectively. Riggs was then mixed in a tight battle with Friesen, Enfinger, Eckes and Perez De Lara to maintain sixth place while Caruth maintained his lead to six-tenths of a second over runner-up Chandler Smith and by more than a second over third-place Chastain.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Caruth continued to lead by half a second over Chandler Smith as Smith had fresher tires than Caruth. As both Chastain and Riggs trailed by two seconds within the top-four mark, Smith continued to reel in Caruth through every turn and straightaway, but he had teammate Riggs reeling in on both him and Caruth. Riggs then overtook Smith through the backstretch and the former proceeded to reel in Caruth as he had fresher tires than Caruth.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Caruth remained in the lead by a narrow margin as he briefly fended off Riggs by trying to slide in front of him entering the frontstretch. Riggs, though, managed to draw even with Caruth from the outside lane through the first two turns until he motored his No. 34 Love’s Ford F-150 entry ahead entering the backstretch. With both Caruth and Smith battling for the runner-up spot, Riggs used the clean air to drive away and claim the checkered flag first by four-tenths of a second over both Caruth and Smith.
With the victory, Riggs notched his eighth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career victory in his 65th start, his third of the 2026 season and his second in a row in recent weeks after he won historic past Sunday’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This marks the second time in Riggs’ career where he notched back-to-back Truck victories as he is coming off last Sunday’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Riggs previously won back-to-back races at the Milwaukee Mile and Bristol Motor Speedway between August and September 2024. Riggs’ Nashville victory was his first at the track and he joins his father, Scott, as a Truck winner at Nashville. It was also the fourth Truck victory of the 2026 season for both Ford and Front Row Motorsports.
“[I didn’t know I had Caruth] Until I passed him and cleared him,” Riggs said on the frontstretch on FS1. “That’s how you win a NASTruck race right there, boys and girls. I hope I put on a show for you, guys. I didn’t want to fall back, but I don’t know what happened with that set of tires. [The truck] was literally undriveable. [Crew chief] Dylan [Cappello] made the right adjustments there, got me the tires. He got me the motivation. [I] Drove it to the front. Thank you to everybody, Ford Performance, Ford Racing, Love’s Travel Stops, Front Row Motorsports. All these guys on this [No. 34] team. This pit crew, right here, did a great job all night. Awesome finish there with [Chandler Smith]. He gave me the push for the win. Great racing there with Chandler. Awesome night of racing.”
Rajah Caruth, who led 44 laps and was attempting to win the Truck event at Nashville for a second consecutive year, fended off Chandler Smith to settle in the runner-up spot. Caruth, who drove the No. 7 Chevrolet entry for Spire Motorsports in place of the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, was disappointed over the outcome, but still pleased with the late strategic call that nearly netted him another victory to his Truck resume.
“I was trying to make this [No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet] as wide as possible, obviously, on the tire disadvantage,” Caruth said. “That was a great call by [crew chief] Brian [Pattie]. I think we were strong. Just starting at the back with no qualifying impacted our night. We got the truck really, really strong there. There’s probably some things I should’ve done better there, but huge congrats to Layne. He’s done a great job and they’re the championship threat. Glad to give these HendrickCars.com and Spire guys a good result. [I] Really wanted to get that [win] for everybody that was at [Kyle Busch Motorsports], [Kyle Busch]’s family and whatnot…I just didn’t close it out.”
Chandler Smith finished in third place ahead of Ross Chastain and Tyler Ankrum. Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Giovanni Ruggiero and Daniel Dye completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were five lead changes for three different leaders. The event featured eight cautions for 48 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 11th event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs leads the standings by 37 points over Kaden Honeycutt, 93 over Christian Eckes, 96 over Chandler Smith and 106 over Giovanni Ruggiero.
Results:
- Layne Riggs, 99 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Rajah Caruth, 44 laps led
- Chandler Smith
- Ross Chastain, seven laps led
- Tyler Ankrum
- Stewart Friesen
- Grant Enfinger
- Christian Eckes
- Giovanni Ruggeiro
- Daniel Dye
- Parker Retzlaff
- Ty Majeski
- Brandon Jones
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Daniel Hemric
- Cole Butcher
- Dawson Sutton
- Stefan Parsons
- Brenden Queen
- Mini Tyrrell
- Derek Lemke
- Corey LaJoie, one lap down
- Kris Wright, one lap down
- Frankie Muniz, one lap down
- Caleb Costner, two laps down
- Spencer Boyd, two laps down
- Kaden Honeycutt, three laps down
- Ben Rhodes, five laps down
- Clayton Green, nine laps down
- William Sawalich, 30 laps down
- Justin Haley – OUT, Suspension
- Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident
- Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident
- Jesse Love – OUT, Accident
- Carson Ferguson – OUT, Accident
- Tyler Reif – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, for the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 6, and air at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
