Layne Riggs knocked out the competition under the lights at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) and defended his victory in the Craftsman Truck Series’ TSport 200 on Friday, July 24.
The 24-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, led all but two of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on pole position for a third consecutive event, swept both stage periods and ran away from the competition through nearly all of the event’s restarts. The only time in which he did not lead was during a Lap 71 restart when teammate Chandler Smith briefly led a pair of laps before Riggs reassumed it. Having led the final 127 laps, Riggs maintained a reasonable advantage over Connor Mosack as the laps dwindled to cruise to his fifth victory of the 2026 campaign and accumulate more momentum with the Chase looming.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Layne Riggs notched his third consecutive Truck pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 108.292 mph in 22.805 seconds. Teammate Chandler Smith started on the front row with Riggs with a lap of 108.055 mph in 22.855 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Layne Riggs, who elected to start on the outside lane, fended off teammate Chandler Smith through the first two turns to motor his No. 34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford F-150 entry ahead with the lead. As Christian Eckes challenged Smith for the runner-up spot, Riggs led the first lap. While the field of 36 competitors fanned out and jostled early for spots over the next four laps, Riggs maintained a steady advantage of nine-tenths of a second over Eckes while Smith retained third place in front of Kaden Honeycutt and Nick Sanchez.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Riggs was leading by one-and-a-half seconds over Eckes while Smith, Honeycutt and Sanchez all trailed in the top-five mark by three seconds. Behind, Connor Mosack, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger and Andres Perez De Lara were racing in the top 10 ahead of Brenden Queen, Parker Eatmon, Giovanni Ruggiero, Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric while Michael Christopher Jr., Gavan Boschele, Tanner Gray, Jake Garcia and Landen Lewis occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Ben Rhodes, Justin Haley, Timmy Hill, Dawson Sutton and Cole Butcher, respectively. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton, Corey LaJoie, Conor Daly, Mini Tyrrell and Kris Wright were mired in the top 30 ahead of Toni Breidinger, Jackson Macenko, Spencer Boyd, Monty Tipton, Cassten Everidge and Frankie Muniz, respectively.
At the Lap 20 mark, Riggs stabilized his lead to more than a second over Eckes while Honeycutt, who overtook Smith for third place nine laps earlier, retained the spot while trailing the lead by nearly five seconds. Smith retained fourth place ahead of Sanchez, Mosack and Majeski while Friesen, Grant Enfinger and Perez De Lara were in the top-10 mark. With Muniz, Spencer Boyd, Breidinger, Kris Wright, Mini Tyrrell and LaJoie all being lapped over the next 10 laps, Riggs stretched his lead over Eckes to more than two seconds by Lap 30.
By Lap 40, Riggs maintained his lead to more than two seconds over Eckes while both Smith and Mosack moved up to third and fourth in the running order. Behind, Honeycutt was locked in a battle with Majeski until the latter used lapped traffic and the inside lane through the turns to motor the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entry into the top-five mark. With Honeycutt falling back to sixth place, Sanchez had also dropped to seventh place in front of Enfinger, Friesen and Perez De Lara while Eatmon, Ruggiero, Ankrum, Christopher Jr and Queen were in the top-15 mark. As more names that included Cole Butcher, Conor Daly, Dawson Sutton, Timmy Hill, Harrison Burton and Justin Haley dropped out of the lead lap category for the following 10 laps, Riggs, who lapped them all, kept leading by more than two seconds over Eckes on Lap 50.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Riggs cruised to his eighth Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Eckes trailed Riggs by more than four seconds in the runner-up spot while Chandler Smith, Mosack, Majeski, Enfinger, Sanchez, Honeycutt, Friesen and Parker Eatmon were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 18 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap as both Brenden Queen and Daniel Hemric, both of whom rounded out the top-20 spots, were lapped by Riggs.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Riggs pitted for the first time. Following the pit stops, Riggs retained the lead by exiting pit road first and he was followed by Eckes, Smith, Mosack, Enfinger, Majeski, Sanchez, Honeycutt, Friesen and Ruggiero, respectively. Prior to the start of the second stage period, Eckes, whose team was opting to have a battery changed, pitted due to reports of engine oil leakage from his No. 91 Coyes/Rotomaster Chevrolet Silverado RST entry. The issue was enough to plummet Eckes below the leaderboard and knock him out of contention amid a strong start.
The second stage period started on Lap 71 as teammates Riggs and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Smith used the inside lane to overtake Riggs and lead for a full cycle. As the field fanned out, Smith led the next lap while Riggs reeled in Smith to reclaim the top spot. Amid his near-side-by-side challenge through the turns and straightaways, Riggs then used the inside lane to motor ahead through the first two turns despite nearly sliding up the track and reassume the lead on Lap 73. As Jackson Macenko dropped off the pace before he steered his No. 2 entry behind the wall through the backstretch, the event remained under green flag conditions as Riggs continued to lead Smith just past the Lap 75 mark.
By Lap 85, Riggs stretched his lead to more than a second over Smith while Mosack trailed in third place by more than two seconds. Behind, Enfinger occupied fourth place as both he and fifth-place Majeski trailed by four seconds while sixth-place Sanchez also trailed the lead by four seconds. Meanwhile, Eckes had his No. 91 entry pushed behind the wall due to his mechanical issues. With only 14 of 36 starters scored on the lead lap, Riggs’ advantage stood at nearly three seconds over Smith when the event reached its halfway mark on Lap 100.
On Lap 110, Riggs led by nearly four seconds over Smith while Mosack, Enfinger and Majeski were racing in the top five, with the latter trailing by nearly seven seconds. Meanwhile, Sanchez, Friesen, Christopher Jr., Honeycutt and Ankrum were in the top 10 ahead of Perez De Lara, Gavan Goschele, Parker Etamon and Giovanni Ruggiero, all of whom were scored on the lead lap, as Riggs grew his lead to more than four seconds at the Lap 115 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Riggs captured his second consecutive stage victory of tonight’s event and the ninth of the 2026 Truck campaign. Mosack trailed in the runner-up spot by more than five seconds ahead of Smith, Enfinger and Majeski while Sanchez, Friesen, Michael Christopher Jr., Honeycutt and Ankrum were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 13 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Riggs returned to pit road for a second round of service. Following the pit stops, Riggs maintained the lead by beating Mosack off of pit road first while Smith, Enfinger, Sanchez, Majeski, Friesen, Perez De Lara, Christopher Jr., Ankrum, Honeycutt, Boschele and Eaton followed suit, respectively.
With 70 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Riggs and Mosack occupied the front row. At the start, Riggs used the outside lane to retain the lead while Smith, who started behind Riggs on the otuside lane, followed suit by overtaking Mosack. Riggs led the next lap and Smith maintained the runner-up spot ahead of Mosack, Sanchez, Majeski, Friesen and Enfinger while the field behind jostled for late spots.
Then with 64 laps remaining, the caution flew when Hemric, who was racing in the top-20 mark, made contact with Cole Butcher entering Turn 3 and spun sideways. As Hemric slid up the track, he was hit by Landen Lewis and both competitors were left with damaged race tracks, with Lewis’ No. 45 J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet Silverado RST entry engulfed in flames towards the outside wall. The event was enough to place the event in a red flag period for seven minutes and 41 seconds.
When the red flag lifted and the event resumed with 56 laps remaining, Riggs maintained the lead from the outside lane over Smith, Mosack and the field for a full lap. Amid the late on-track action, Riggs was scored the leader by more than a second over Mosack with 50 laps remaining while Smith, Majeski, Sanchez, Friesen, Perez De Lara, Gavan Boschele and Honeycutt, the latter of whom pitted during the recent caution for fresh tires along with teammate Ruggiero.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Riggs continued to lead by two seconds over Mosack while Smith, Majeski, Sanchez, Friesen, Honeycutt, Perez De Lara, Boschele and Enfinger were scored in the top 10 ahead of Ankrum, Christopher Jr., Eatmon and Ruggiero, all of whom were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Ben Rhodes was the first competitor a lap down in 15th place ahead of Dawson Sutton and Harrison Burton while Justin Haley was the first competitor scored two laps down in 18th place.
With 30 laps remaining, Riggs retained the lead by more than two seconds over Mosack while Smith and Majeski battled for third place. Majeski proceeded to overtake Smith for third place as Riggs maintained the lead by more than two seconds over Mosack with 20 laps remaining. With Riggs maintaining the top spot by more than two seconds over Mosack down to the final 10 laps, third-place Majeski trailed in third place while Smith and Sanchez trailed by seven and eight seconds, respectively, in the top-five mark. While Friesen, Honeycutt, Boschele, Perez De Lara and Enfinger trailed in the top 10, respectively, Riggs continued to stabilize his lead to more than two seconds over Mosack.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Riggs remained in the lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Mosack. As Enfinger struggled to keep pace with smoke billowing out of his entry, Riggs maintained his advantage for a final cycle around Lucas Oil IRP before he returned to the frontstretch victorious by more than a second over Mosack.
With the victory, Layne Riggs notched his 10th career win in his 70th Craftsman Truck Series career start and his fifth of the 2026 season. The Bahama, North Carolina, native also became the fifth competitor overall to achieve multiple Truck victories at Lucas Oil IRP and joined Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ty Majeski as back-to-back winners in Brownsburg, Indiana. Overall, Riggs and teammate Chandler Smith have notched seven combined victories for both Ford and Front Row Motorsports through 16-scheduled events, with the former labeling his race victories throughout this season as “statement” ones as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ championship.
“I think [my victories]’re just statement wins,” Riggs said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Man, what a truck. I was on cruise control there for so much of the race. [Mosack] kept me honest at the end. Those last 15-ish laps in traffic, I was running as hard as I could, but couldn’t get away from him. I knew I had a pretty good gap. Great job to my spotter, Josh [Williams]. He did a great job today navigating me through traffic.
“These [No. 38] guys make my job easy and I think we’re just gonna keep carrying that momentum,” Riggs added. “Statement win, I think we’re the ones to beat, for sure.”
Connor Mosack finished a career-best runner-up result in his 43rd career start while Ty Majeski, who won at Lucas Oil IRP from 2023 and 2024, finished in third place for his fifth top-five result of the 2026 season. Chandler Smith, who led two laps and officially clinched his spot to this year’s Chase, finished in fourth place and Nick Sanchez rounded out the top five in fifth place in his one-race Truck cameo with Spire Motorsports.
Stewart Friesen, Kaden Honeycutt, Gavan Boschele, Tyler Ankrum and Michael Christopher Jr. completed the top 10 in the final running order. With his sixth-place result, Friesen, who entered Lucas Oil IRP tied with Tyler Ankrum for the 10th and final spot above the points cutline to the Chase, holds an eight-point advantage over Ankrum, who finished ninth, with two regular-season events remaining on this year’s schedule. Despite finishing 13th and 33rd, Giovanni Ruggiero and Christian Eckes also join Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt as Truck Series competitors to clinch Chase berths for the 2026 season.
This event featured two lead changes for two different leaders, and three cautions for 25 laps. In addition, 13 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 16th event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs increased his lead in the standings by 99 points over Kaden Honeycutt, 152 over Chandler Smith, 218 over Christian Eckes and 224 over Giovanni Ruggiero.
Results:
- Layne Riggs, 198 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Connor Mosack
- Ty Majeski
- Chandler Smith, two laps led
- Nick Sanchez
- Stewart Friesen
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Gavan Boschele
- Tyler Ankrum
- Michael Christopher Jr.
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Parker Eatmon
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Grant Enfinger, one lap down
- Ben Rhodes, one lap down
- Harrison Burton, one lap down
- Dawson Sutton, two laps down
- Justin Haley, three laps down
- Timmy Hill, three laps down
- Brenden Queen, three laps down
- Jake Garcia, three laps down
- Tanner Gray, three laps down
- Cole Butcher, three laps down
- Corey LaJoie, three laps down
- Toni Breidinger, three laps down
- Conor Daly, three laps down
- Mini Tyrrell, three laps down
- Spencer Boyd, three laps down
- Frankie Muniz, four laps down
- Monty Tipton, four laps down
- Kris Wright, four laps down
- Cassten Everidge, seven laps down
- Christian Eckes, 36 laps down
- Daniel Hemric – OUT, Accident
- Landen Lewis – OUT, Accident
- Jackson Macenko – OUT, Rear Gear
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur on August 14 and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
