Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Slim Jim 200
Friday, October 24, 2025
MAJESKI ADVANCES TO CHAMPIONSHIP 4; RIGGS KNOCKED OUT ON TIEBREAKER
- Ty Majeski will get a chance to defend his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after advancing to the Championship 4 with tonight’s seventh place finish.
- Despite finishing third, Layne Riggs was eliminated on a tiebreaker with Kaden Honeycutt.
Ford Unofficial Finishing Results:
3rd – Layne Riggs
6th – Chandler Smith
7th – Ty Majeski
14th – Ben Rhodes
18th – Jake Garcia
23rd – Frankie Muniz
24th – Casey Mears
29th – Matt Crafton
32nd – AJ Waller
35th – Clayton Green
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 38 Bare Knuckles Boxing Ford F-150 – “I was dejected even when I thought we were in at first. I just don’t like racing that way. I’m hearing, ‘Gotta get one. Gotta get one.’ And everybody knows how it is. If I’ve got the opportunity to get in for my team, I’m gonna do it even if I don’t want to do it the way I do. I mean, I got there at the end. I hate I roughed up the 1 and I’m glad he still finished pretty good. It all kind of started with that missed shift on that restart. I’m not really sure what happened. I’ve never missed a shift in a truck in my whole career. We do have some new transmissions and I guess I’m just not quite used to them yet, so I’m pretty upset about that. I think things could have been a lot different, but it all started at the ROVAL and getting turned around on lap one. We go to Talladega and having all the issues we had. I’m definitely dejected. I would have been dejected if we were even in fourth. I just don’t like it.”
YOU ENDED UP LOSING OUT ON A TIEBREAKER. “Even that last lap I thought that we were in and it’s still just upsetting. I just don’t like racing like that. I want to race straight up and how it’s supposed to be, but I’m hearing, ‘Gotta get a spot. You’ve got to 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. 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. It’s never been my favorite race of the year, but this 34 team did a great job all year. I would have been on the disappointed side even if we were in. It’s just really odd how it all plays out with these playoff formats, but I’m excited for the future with this race team – coming back with them and fighting for it again next year. We’ve been strong all year. I’m not gonna hang my head about today. We’ve had such a great year all year long and battled up front. I learned a lot and excited to see what our future holds.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford F-150 – “Obviously, I have mixed emotions. We come to a short track and we expect to be a little bit more competitive than that, but we qualified good, got good stage points and that was the difference tonight. I knew once we got back in traffic we were in pretty big trouble. I kind of knew from when we unloaded this thing today that it wasn’t quite right, but we persevered and got good stage points. The crew guys had a hell of a pit stop and kept our track position and I was just kind of playing defense at the end. It was just good enough.”
WHAT WERE THOSE LAST 10 LAPS LIKE? “I was just trying to get every spot. I knew it was gonna come down to a handful of points, if not one or two and it did. Obviously, it wasn’t the fashion we wanted to do it in, but I’m proud of everybody for not giving up. We got a good restart at the end and was able to grab one or two spots I think and that was the difference.”
WHAT WAS THE BRAKE SITUATION LIKE AT THE END? “I’ve been in that position before. You lose brakes not often but enough to have some experience, just trying to get everything cooled down and trying to get the brake pedal back. Honestly, the stacked cautions at the end really helped us. I was able to get everything cooled down and get the brake pedal back.”
HOW HELPLESS IS THAT FEELING? “You’re just trying to do what you can to get every spot that you can. It looked like, for the most part, everybody raced pretty clean. Obviously, there was some bumping and banging to try and advance to Phoenix, which is to be expected, but it certainly didn’t turn into a mess like we’ve seen in the past with some of the other series.”
IT’S SO HARD TO GET TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4 AND NOW YOU GET TO DEFEND YOUR TITLE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? “It’s special. That’s three of the last four years now with this 98 group that we’re advancing to have a shot at a title in Phoenix and that’s something to be proud of. We probably would have been able to advance in 2023 if it wasn’t for a penalty that kind of derailed our playoff run, but I’m proud of the effort and so happy to be going into Phoenix with a shot.”
