The examiner says the words, the L plates come off in the car park, and the newly qualified driver goes home to a family that is relieved and a group chat that wants a lift on Saturday. Nobody mentions that the most dangerous year of their driving life has just started.
The numbers are not in dispute. Drivers in their first year after passing are involved in a disproportionate share of serious collisions in Britain, and the first six months are the worst of that year. Around one in five new drivers has a collision of some kind within twelve months of passing. The test proves competence in a controlled situation on familiar roads. It does not prove experience, and experience is what prevents accidents.
What the test leaves out
A practical test lasts around forty minutes, in daylight, on roads near the test centre, with an examiner in the passenger seat. It never includes a motorway. It rarely includes a rural road at speed, a dual carriageway slip road in heavy traffic, driving at night in rain, or an unfamiliar town with a satnav giving instructions late. Those are the conditions in which new drivers come unstuck.
They are also the conditions a new driver meets in the first few weeks, usually alone, usually with passengers, and usually without anyone to tell them that the thing they just did was dangerous.
What Pass Plus is
Pass Plus is a six-module course designed by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency for drivers who have already passed their test. It covers town driving, all-weather driving, driving out of town on rural roads, night driving, dual carriageways and motorways. There is no test at the end; the instructor signs off each module when the driver has shown they can handle it. The whole course takes around six hours, usually spread over two or three sessions.
The value is in the modules that the test could not include. A new driver’s first motorway miles are safer with an instructor beside them than with a friend in the passenger seat looking at a phone. A first drive on an unlit country road in the rain is better done with someone who can explain why the speed that felt fine is too fast for the bend ahead.
Motorway lessons
Since 2018, learners in England, Scotland and Wales have been allowed on motorways with an approved instructor in a dual-control car. Many never take that opportunity because the test does not require it. The result is a generation of drivers whose first experience of a motorway is on their own, often at night, often on the M25.
A single motorway lesson, before or after the test, teaches the things that matter: joining from a slip road at the right speed, lane discipline, reading the signs on the gantries, what to do when a lane is closed, and how to handle the moment when a lorry pulls out in front of you. Two hours covers it. For a driver who will commute by motorway, it is the most useful two hours of tuition they will ever have.
The insurance angle
Insurance for a seventeen-year-old is brutal, and Pass Plus used to be the standard way to reduce it. Fewer insurers now give a direct discount for the certificate, but several still do, and a number of regional schemes and some local authorities subsidise the course. It is worth asking the insurer before booking, because on a premium of several thousand pounds even a modest reduction pays for the course several times over.
Even where there is no direct discount, the course changes the driver. Insurers price risk from claims, and a driver who does not have a collision in the first year moves into a very different bracket in the second.
When to book it
The best time is within a month of passing, while the discipline of lessons is still fresh and before bad habits have set in. Most schools will fit the modules around a new driver’s own car if they have one, or use the instructor’s car. Anyone looking for a Pass Plus course in Essex will find the same instructors who teach learners, and the best of them treat it as the last part of the job rather than an add-on.
The conversation worth having
Parents pay for most driving lessons in this country and stop paying on the day of the test. The strongest argument for Pass Plus is to the person holding the chequebook: the cost of six more hours of tuition is a small fraction of the excess on a first-year claim, and it is the only part of the whole process that is designed to deal with the year in which that claim is most likely to happen.
An electric vehicle looks like a car that simply happens to plug into the wall. That description is accurate in a narrow sense, but it hides something important about what actually happens electrically once the charger connects and the battery starts filling up.
Few appliances in a home draw power the way an EV does. It asks for a large amount of electricity, sustained for hours at a time, often overnight when the rest of the house is quiet and everything else is running in the background.
That changes how the car should be thought about. Rather than another gadget on a circuit, an EV behaves like a major household electrical load, one that deserves the same planning as any other big addition to the home.
A Car Uses Electricity on a Different Scale
Most household devices sip power by comparison. A television, a laptop, a set of lights, and even a refrigerator each draw modest amounts, and a typical home juggles dozens of them without any single item dominating the picture.
An EV flips that arrangement. Charging a car can use more electricity than nearly everything else in the house running together, which is why the numbers feel so different from anything a homeowner has dealt with before.
Comparing the two makes the scale clear, and it’s why homeowners looking for an EV charger installation company Brighton CO often start by asking how much power the car will actually pull and whether the house can supply it comfortably.
Charging Speed Changes the Electrical Conversation
Not every household needs the same charging setup. Slower charging works nicely for drivers with short daily trips and long overnight parking, while faster options suit people with longer commutes or less predictable schedules.
Daily mileage, available charging time, and the number of vehicles all shape what makes sense. A driver who covers a few miles a day has very different needs from someone who regularly refills most of a large battery before morning. Both situations are common, and neither one is wrong.
Faster charging also asks for more from the electrical system. That is why the right setup depends on real habits and real equipment, rather than simply choosing the quickest option available and hoping the house can keep up with it.
The Panel Has to Feed the Car Too
Behind every charger sits the electrical panel, and its capacity decides what is realistic. A panel already carrying air conditioning, appliances, and other heavy loads may have little room left for a large new demand without careful evaluation.
Dedicated circuits matter as well, since a charger generally shouldn’t share a line with other equipment. The available service coming into the home sets an upper limit on how much power can be delivered in total.
Evaluating all of that before installation prevents unpleasant surprises, like tripped breakers or a charger that never reaches its intended speed. The goal is a setup that works smoothly alongside everything else the house already does. Finding those limits during planning is far cheaper than discovering them after the charger is mounted on the wall.
The Garage Is Becoming Part of the Energy Plan
Where the charger goes matters more than it first appears. Location affects cable reach, convenience, and how easily a driver can plug in without stretching cords across walkways or awkward corners every single evening. A charger placed close to the parking spot also tends to get used more consistently.
Future vehicles deserve some thought too. A second EV, or a car with a different charging port, can change what the garage needs, and a little planning now can save a second round of electrical work later.
Good installation accounts for everyday use rather than just the day it’s finished. A charger that fits naturally into the routine, and can adapt to what the household might own years from now, ends up being far more useful over time.
Conclusion
Adding an EV turns the car into one of the most power hungry things connected to the house. That shift can come as a surprise to anyone used to thinking of vehicles as something separate from the home’s electrical life.
Panel capacity, charging speed, circuit planning, and placement all fit together into a single picture. Treating the charger as part of the home’s energy plan, instead of an afterthought, tends to prevent most of the problems people worry about.
The result is a car that charges quietly overnight without straining anything. Getting there simply means respecting how much electricity a vehicle really uses and giving the house what it needs to supply it. That’s a small price for the convenience of waking up to a full battery every morning.
Layne Riggs reignited his championship charge by outlasting points leader Kaden Honeycutt during an 11-lap dash to win the EcoSave 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, October 9.
The 24-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, led three times for 47 of 134 scheduled laps in a competitive event where he bolted his way from starting in 13th place to assume the lead for the first time on Lap 15. After winning the first stage period, Riggs lost four spots on pit road during the first stage’s break period and could motor his way to a runner-up result in the second stage period behind Honeycutt. With the final stage period commencing with 66 laps remaining, it took Riggs 13 laps for him to reel in and overtake Honeycutt to return atop the leaderboard.
Amid Riggs’ late overtake as a cycle of green-flag pit stops was looming for him, a caution that flew with less than 40 laps remaining featured Riggs being beaten off of pit road by Honeycutt as the latter proceeded to fend off Riggs and the competition through three restarts to steer his way to an apparent victory. Following the final restart with 11 laps remaining, Riggs reeled in and capitalized on Honeycutt getting loose amid defensive driving entering the frontstretch to reassume the lead with seven laps remaining. From there, Riggs motored away from Christian Eckes, Honeycutt and the competition to score a breakthrough victory in NASCAR’s backyard and remain within sight of Honeycutt for both the Chase lead and his championship hopes.
With on-track qualifying determining the starting lineup on Friday, Connor Mosack qualified on pole with a pole-winning lap of 180.234 mph in 29.961 seconds. Tanner Gray qualified in second place with a lap of 179.862 mph in 30.023 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names, including Giovanni Ruggiero, Regan Smith, and Stewart Friesen, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the field fanned out and stacked up through the frontstretch as pole-sitter Connor Mosack briefly pulled away from the field. Seconds later, Kaden Honeycutt challenged Mosack for the lead from the outside lane. Amid a side-by-side duel with Mosack that last half a lap, Honeycutt managed to lead the first lap from the outside lane over Mosack.
Mosack would motor ahead of Honeycutt and lead the second lap despite having Honeycutt reeling in from behind. For third place, Rajah Caruth and Tanner Gray battled for the spot in front of a hard-charging Landen Lewis as Honeycutt went beneath Mosack to duel with the latter, side-draft and reassume the lead entering Turns 3 and 4 by the third lap. As Caruth reeled in on teammate Mosack for the runner-up spot, Honeycutt retained the lead by three-tenths of a second on the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10 laps, Honeycutt was leading by six-tenths of a second over Mosack just before the latter was overtaken by a hard-charging Layne Riggs. Riggs, who started in 13th place, proceeded to reel in Honeycutt for the lead while Mosack, Caruth, Chandler Smith, Tanner Gray, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Bayley Currey and Landen Lewis occupied the top-10 spots ahead of Brent Crews, Justin Haley, Daniel Hemric, Ben Rhodes and Andres Perez De Lara, respectively. Meanwhile, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Giovanni Ruggiero were the three lowest-running Chase contenders on the track in 18th, 23rd, and 25th, respectively, as Riggs continued to pressure Honeycutt for the lead through every turn and straightaway.
On Lap 14, Riggs rocketed past Honeycutt for the lead through the first two turns. After briefly sliding up through the turns, Honeycutt managed to draw alongside Riggs through the backstretch in an effort to reassume it. Despite both nearly making contact, Riggs managed to fend off Honeycutt’s challenge and lead the next lap. Riggs stretched his early advantage as high as six-tenths of a second over Honeycutt at the Lap 20 mark while Mosack, Chandler Smith and Eckes trailed in the top five ahead of Caruth, Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Currey and Brent Crews, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Riggs captured his 12th Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Honeycutt trailed Riggs at the start/finish line by nine-tenths of a second while Chandler Smith, Eckes, Mosack, Enfinger, Caruth, Tanner Gray, Crews and Currey were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, five of 10 Chase contenders (Riggs, Honeycutt, Smith, Eckes and Enfinger) accumulated stage points from the event’s first stage period while the remaining Chasers, including Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski and Giovanni Ruggiero, were mired in 13th, 17th, 18th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Riggs peeled off of pit road to pit for a first time. Following the pit stops, Honeycutt exited pit road first while Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Mosack, Riggs, Caruth, Tanner Gray, Currey, Crews and Eckes followed suit, respectively. During the pit stops, Eckes endured a slow pit service when he had issues navigating past Majeski to exit his pit stall.
The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Honeycutt and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Honeycutt motored his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry ahead of the filed while the field fanned out through the first two turns. As the field continued to fan out from the backstretch and cycling back to the frontstetch, Honeycutt led the next lap while Chandler Smith, Enfinger, Caruth, Riggs and the rest of the field followed suit. Amid the battles around the field, Eckes utilized aggressive moves that involved executing three-wide moves to move up to fifth place by Lap 40. Behind, Riggs, who endured a slow pit service during the first stage’s break period and restarted in fifth place, dropped to seventh place while Honeycutt led by six-tenths of a second by Lap 40.
At the Lap 45 mark, Honeycutt stretched his advantage by nine-tenths of a second over Caruth while Chandler Smith and Riggs, both of whom trailed the lead by a second, reeled in Caruth for the runner-up spot. As Eckes trailed by two seconds in fifth place, Caruth fended off challenges from Smith and Riggs to retain the runner-up spot as they were all racing within two-tenths of a second from one another. Behind, Gray overtook Eckes for fifth place as Crews, Currey, Enfinger and Hemric occupied the remaining top-10 spots, respectively. With Caruth remaining in second place for the Lap 50 mark, Honeycutt retained the lead by more than a second.
Two laps later, Riggs executed a bold slide job move in front of Caruth for the runner-up spot entering the frontstretch. Riggs’ move caused Caruth to bump-draft Riggs, which nearly got the latter sideways, but Riggs started to motor away from Caruth as the latter was challenged and overtaken by Smith through another slide job move from Smith entering the frontstretch on Lap 54. With Caruth dropping to fourth place, Gray trailed in fifth place while Riggs and Smith retained second and third, respectively, on the track. Meanwhile, Honeycutt led by more than one-and-a-half seconds.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Honeycutt captured his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Riggs followed suit in second place by more than a second while Chandler Smith, Caruth, Eckes, Crews, Currey, Gray, Enfinger and Hemric were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, six of 10 Chasers (Honeycutt, Riggs, Smith, Eckes, Enfinger and Hemric) racked up the event’s second round of stage points while the remaining Chasers, including Ankrum, Ruggiero, Rhodes and Majeski, were mired in 12th, 19th, 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Honeycutt returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Honeycutt retained the lead by exiting pit road first while Chandler Smith, Caruth, Riggs, Enfinger, Mosack, Currey, Ankrum, Landen Lewis and Crews followed suit, respectively. During the pit stops, Smith was penalized and sent to the tail end of the field due to equipment interference.
With 66 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Honeycutt and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out and stacked up for a full cycle as Honeycutt retained the lead. As Honeycutt retained the lead over Caruth, Riggs navigated his way up to third place with 65 laps remaining. Amid the tight battles at the front, Enfinger, Currey, Crews and Mosack fiercely battled for fourth place before Currey prevailed with the spot. Mosack was left to battle Enfinger, Crews and Eckes (the latter of whom was rallying from a slow pit service) for fourth place while Honeycutt led by half a second over Caruth and by eight-tenths of a second over Riggs with 60 laps remaining.
Then with 57 laps remaining, Riggs overtook Caruth for the runner-up spot. By then, both were trailing the leader Honeycutt by within half a second before Riggs drove towards the rear bumper of Honeycutt’s entry a lap later. During his charge, Riggs tried to get to Honeycutt’s right-rear area with a strong move towards the outside wall entering Turns 3 and 4. After scraping the wall and having his run foiled while Honeycutt moved up the track to stall Honeycutt’s momentum, Riggs executed his exact move for the next lap. For the latest time, he managed to draw even with Honeycutt as they dueled for the lead with 54 laps remaining. With the momentum on his side from the outside lane, Riggs motored ahead and reassumed the lead by the next lap. With Caruth losing distance and trailing the two championship leaders by one-and-a-half seconds, Riggs led Honeycutt by half a second with 50 laps remaining.
Two laps later, Brent Crews, who was racing in fifth place, pitted under green after he slid up the track through the first two turns and ran into the side of Mosack amid a tight battle. The contact cause both drivers to hit the outside wall, with Crews sustaining heavier right-side damage to his No. 1 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry. With the event remaining under green flag conditions, Riggs was leading by six-tenths of a second over Honeycutt with 45 laps remaining. Caruth, Mosack, Currey, Eckes, Enfinger, Hemric, Lewis and Justin Haley trailed in the top 10 while Chandler Smith, who was trying to rally from his pit road penalty during the second stage’s break period, was up to 15th place.
Then with 41 laps remaining, Mosack pitted for fresh tires and to have the right-side damage from his entry assessed. Four laps later, teammate Caruth pitted from third place. Chandler Smith also pitted with Caruth before Enfinger, Landen Lewis and Ruggiero pitted another lap later, seconds before the caution flew due to Stewart Friesen hitting the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4, having both half of his splitter along with the right side damaged and his right-front wheel flattened. During the latest caution period, the lead lap field led by Riggs pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Honeycutt exited pit road ahead of Riggs while Currey, Eckes, Tyler Ankrum, Perez De Lara, Haley, Hemric, Daniel Dye and Ty Majeski followed suit, respectively.
The next restart with 30 laps remaining featured Honeycutt maintaining a strong start from the inside lane through the first two turns as teammate Currey overtook Riggs for the runner-up spot. Honeycutt led the next lap while Riggs battled and overtook Curry for the runner-up spot. While Riggs proceeded to reel in Honeycutt by half a second with 25 laps remaining, Currey, Eckes, Ankrum, Hemric, Daniel Dye, Perez De Lara, Majeski and Haley were mired with the top-10 mark.
Following a caution that flew with 22 laps remaining due to Kris Wright hitting the first turn’s wall, the next restart with 17 laps remaining featured Currey pushing teammate Honeycutt ahead of Riggs from the inside lane. As Honeycutt retained the lead over Riggs, Currey and a fanned-out field from the first two turns and the backstretch, the caution returned when Leland Honeyman Jr. got right-rear turned by Caruth exiting the backstretch. The contact caused Honeyman to spin up towards the outside wall. Ahead of Honeyman’s incident, more carnages ensued through Turns 3 and 4 as Caruth, who had a flat tire when he dropped off the pace and turned Honeyman, was piled into n eight-truck wreck that involved Ruggiero, Timmy Hill, Luke Baldwin and teammate Mosack, the latter of whom had fire blazing from his entry while trying to drive back to pit road.
The latest multi-truck carnage prompted NASCAR to place the event in a red flag period for 12 minutes and 58 seconds. With the red flag lifted and the field proceeding under a cautious pace, the field restarted under green with 11 laps remaining as Honeycutt and Riggs occupied the front row. At the start, Currey pushed teammate Honeycutt ahead of Riggs for a second consecutive launch, which enabled Honeycutt to motor ahead and lead for a full circuit. As the field cycled back to the frontstretch, Daniel Dye got turned and he spun through the frontstretch’s infield. Despite spinning and coming to rest towards the apron in the first turn, he managed to continue without drawing a caution.
As the laps dwindled with less than 10 laps remaining, Honeycutt maintained a steady lead over Riggs, but Riggs reeled in the latter through every turn and straightaway. Then with seven laps remaining, Honeycutt got loose and barely scrubbed the outside wall entering the frontstretch. This allowed Riggs, who had reeled in towards Honeycutt’s rear bumper through Turns 3 and 4, to execute a crossover move and reassume the lead for the following lap. Eckes would then overtake Honeycutt for the runner-up spot a lap later while Hemric and Currey trailed in the top five, respectively.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Riggs led steadily, holding a half-second lead over a hard-charging Eckes. With Eckes unable to reel him in, Riggs cycled his No. 34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford F-150 entry smoothly around Charlotte Motor Speedway for a final time before cycling back to the front stretch to win by nearly six-tenths of a second over Eckes.
With the victory, Riggs notched his seventh NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career victory in his 75th series start, his second consecutive win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the 12th of his career. Riggs also delivered the ninth victory of the 2026 season for Front Row Motorsports and the 10th for Ford.
Prior to Charlotte, Riggs trailed Kaden Honeycutt in the Chase standings by 37 points. By winning at Charlotte, the former shaved off 20 points of the latter’s lead as Riggs has four races remaining to continue to shave the deficit and be in contention of his first Craftsman Truck Series championship.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“I love that one. Let’s go, guys!” Riggs said on the frontstretch on FOX. “We really needed that [win]. Man, that was a hell of a battle there at the end with me and [Honeycutt]. That was a lot of fun. This [No. 34 Ford] was fast tonight. I think I had to pass [Honeycutt] like three or four times. We gotta still work on pit road. That was definitely our weakness still, but kept driving it to the front. I just had a good run. At Kansas, internally, I pressed myself that I needed to go win, Today, I didn’t have any pressure. I just went out and wheeled it, ran it like a C-Fixed race on iRacing. I had a badass time. It was a great race.”
Christian Eckes settled in second place while Kaden Honeycutt, who led a race-high 85 laps compared to Riggs’ 47, settled in third place. Amid the disappointment of being outdueled by Riggs, Honeycutt was left pleased with his run as he continues his late charge for his first championship.
“I thought [the battle] was awesome,” Honeycutt said. “We went down to [Turn] 1. I think [Riggs] was trying to decide to go bottom or top, and I defended it. I don’t know how the heck I saved that. That was pretty wild. Just seeing the replay, I really wish I shouldn’t have been air-blocking him as much as I did. I think I just took away what I was trying to do and just focused on him too much and just should have ran my own race. [I] Wasn’t up close enough to the wall and just got free. Me and him kept swapping back and forth. I think as far as an adjustment standpoint, I thought we were getting there. I just didn’t know what I needed to go faster. We’ll dissect it. Definitely hate that I lost second there, at least, but yeah, good stage points, good stage win today.”
Bayley Currey notched a strong fourth-place result for his second consecutive top-five result in two Truck Series start with TRICON Garage while Chandler Smith navigated his way to a fifth-place result. Daniel Hemric, Landen Lewis, Andre Perez De Lara, Tyler Ankrum and Justin Haley completed the top 10 in the final running order.
With six Chase contenders (Riggs, Eckes, Honeycutt, Smith, Hemric and Ankrum) finishing in the top 10, the remaining Chasers that include Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes and Giovanni Ruggiero ended up 11th, 12th, 21st and 26th, respectively.
The third Craftsman Truck Series Chase event of the 2026 season at Charlotte saw eight lead changes among three leaders and five cautions over 28 laps. In addition, 22 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
Layne Riggs, 47 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Christian Eckes
Kaden Honeycutt, 85 laps led, Stage 2 winner
Bayley Currey
Chandler Smith
Daniel Hemric
Landen Lewis
Andres Perez De Lara
Tyler Ankrum
Justin Haley
Ty Majeski
Grant Enfinger
Brenden Queen
Dawson Sutton
Mini Tyrrell
Corey LaJoie
Regan Smith
Cole Butcher
Tanner Gray
Brent Crews
Ben Rhodes
Luke Baldwin
Matt Mills, one lap down
Spencer Boyd, one lap down
Kris Wright, four laps down
Giovanni Ruggiero, five laps down
Josh Reaume, eight laps down
Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
Jake Garcia, 14 laps down
Leland Honeyman Jr. – OUT, Accident
Rajah Caruth – OUT, Accident
Timmy Hill – OUT, Accident
Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident, two laps led
Conner Jones – OUT, Handling
Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident
Clayton Green – OUT, Overheating
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
After the third Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Kaden Honeycutt leads the standings by 17 points over Layne Riggs. The rest of the 10-Truck Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
Kaden Honeycutt
Layne Riggs -17
Chandler Smith -77
Christian Eckes -88
Daniel Hemric -109
Giovanni Ruggiero -115
Ty Majeski -116
Ben Rhodes -136
Grant Enfinger -140
Tyler Ankrum -153
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Chase schedule is Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. The event is scheduled for next Friday, October 16, and will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM.
Ford Racing Notes and Quotes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series EcoSave 200 — Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday, October 9, 2026
LAYNE RIGGS COMPLETES CHARLOTTE SWEEP WITH ECOSAVE 200 VICTORY
Layne Riggs won his seventh race of the season and 12th of his career with tonight’s victory.
The win completes a Charlotte season sweep after he took the checkered flag in May as well.
Ford has 10 wins this season and has won eight of the last 12 events overall.
This marks the fourth time that Ford has won 10 or more races in a NCTS season.
Ford’s other NCTS wins this year have been by Chandler Smith (2) and Jake Garcia (1).
Riggs is now only four wins away from tying Greg Biffle (16) as Ford’s all-time wins leader in the series.
Overall, Ford has won 139 series races.
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Layne Riggs
5th – Chandler Smith
11th – Ty Majeski
18th – Cole Butcher
21st – Ben Rhodes
22nd – Luke Baldwin
27th – Josh Reaume
29th – Jake Garcia
36th – Clayton Green
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – “It was a great race tonight. Front Row Motorsports gave me a great truck. We’ve been working a lot at the Ford Racing simulator to get better for this race. We kind of fine tuned our setup that we had here in the Spring, and brought the same truck back. I feel like the bumps and characteristics of this track make it really, really difficult to hit it just right. Obviously, we still got to do some better work on pit road today, we lost spots every single time. But the truck was good enough, and I was confident enough behind the wheel that I was able to drive it back up to the front.”
On cutting the championship lead to 17 points – “Yeah, I mean, I could have today at Phoenix, or, you know, or we could finish fifth at Phoenix, and who knows what’s going to happen at Talladega? It’s tightened back up right here. It’s going to be a great battle to the end.”
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 Mystik Lubricants Ford F-150 – WHAT A COMEBACK. “Yeah and that doesn’t even do it justice. Then we came under that green flag cycle and got stuck a lap down and had to start at the tail end again. Our No. 38 Mystiki Lubricants Ford F-150 was really good tonight. Obviously, we ran top three the whole race until we had that problem. Man, I don’t even know what to call it back there. It’s something. I didn’t like it. I joked to the guys, ‘Please, don’t put me in this spot again. I hate it back here. I’m scared.’ I was joking because we haven’t had nothing go for us and then we dodged that wreck and I came on the radio and was like, ‘I want to praise the Lord for us dodging that wreck’ because that would have been the topping on the cake for tonight. To rebound and finish top five, I’m humbled.”
YOU ARE 77 POINTS BACK OF THE LEAD. “That’s good. Sweet. It sounds good to me. Let’s go to Phoenix.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL HAVE FOR THEM IN PHOENIX? “We had a race-winning truck today, so if we keep bringing trucks like this, we just have to execute.”
WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford F-150 – WHAT WAS IT THAT MADE YOU SO HAPPY AFTER THE RACE? “Just the situation that we’re in right now, we really needed this tonight, but I felt like at the same time I just went out and had fun tonight. I talked to many of you guys earlier and I said what I did in midsummer and spring was just go out and have a good time and enjoy racing and that’s what I did tonight. Obviously, we still had issues on pit road and had to fight back. We kept putting ourselves behind the eight ball, but thankfully the truck was fast enough that I was able to keep driving back to the front.”
IS YOUR SHOULDER GOOD AFTER THE POUNDING? “It’s great.”
OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO REBOUND THIS WAY? “I think that every day is a new day. Every race is a new race. I’ve never really been one to carry past feelings into the next race. Obviously, it was kind of a beat down after Kansas. I felt like I let my team down, but at the same time I’m like, I can’t change that. I’ve just got to focus forward. I know I can go win at Charlotte. I know I can go win the rest of the races this year and, obviously, we had a fast enough truck tonight to be able to do that. It’s just eye on the prize. I just had fun tonight. I just went out there and enjoyed what I did. I had some great battles with Kaden there at the end. The 91 gave me a really good shove out there as well to help me compete. It was really enjoyable racing on the racetrack and that was what made it fun for me and really kept me in the zone.”
WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO BE IN THIS POSITION WITH KADEN? IT SEEMS LIKE ANYTHING SHORT OF PERFECTION COULD COST ONE OF YOU THIS CHAMPIONSHIP. “Yeah, I fully agree with that. We’ve really struggled – wrecked at Kansas, had a loose wheel at Bristol, and I felt like we’ve had the fastest truck the last four or five races, or one of the fastest trucks – either first or second-fastest pretty much everywhere we go. The 15 bonus points for winning is gonna make that difference at the end of the day and not letting the other person win. That was kind of what I was thinking going into Kansas, but when you don’t think about that, you put that in the background, and you just go and focus on today and say, ‘I just want the trophy. I’m just gonna do it the right way. I’m gonna do it smart. If I don’t have the truck or I don’t have the capability to do it, I don’t need to try to make something happen that’s not possible.’ That’s just what I focused on tonight.”
GIVEN THE FACT THAT IT’S A 40-POINT SWING IN THE STANDINGS IF YOU PASS HIM OR DON’T PASS HIM. HOW DID YOU GET YOUR MIND TO THE POINT WHERE YOU DID NOT FEEL THE PRESSURE? “I wasn’t thinking about that. I think, for me, that doesn’t really matter. I’m gonna go try to win every race, no matter what, the same way and I think, if anything, points at Kansas – usually people that points race race safer, but, if anything, when I think about points it makes me want to race harder and that’s not something I need to do. I need to race like I do early in the season – go for every win – but if I don’t have the truck to win, then I’m just gonna have to do what I have to do and finish in that position. Like I said, I think all of that culmination, the wake-up call at Kansas, knowing that we just have to come and win races, run well, but at the same time if we can’t, we can’t. It wasn’t meant to be and I feel like that way I was able to relax tonight and go out there and be myself.”
HOW MANY CHANGES DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE WITH THIS TRUCK SINCE IT WAS THE SAME ONE FROM EARLIER IN THE YEAR? “The best part is I don’t know. My crew chief and engineer tell me to stick to my job and drive and get out of their noses on what the setup is because I as an engineer like to overindulge in trying to have a hand in setups, so I told them to figure it out, make what changes you think you need to make and they said, ‘We’re pretty close.’ That’s all I know. That’s the best part.”
YOU WEREN’T HAPPY WITH KADEN MIRROR DRIVING YOU. WAS THAT JUST FRUSTRATION BEING BEHIND HIM OR DID YOU THINK IF HE MIRROR DROVE THAT HE WOULD EVENTUALLY MAKE A MISTAKE? “I kind of felt that way and at the end of the day that’s kind of what happened. We’ve raced door-to-door all year long. Obviously, when you race against each other a lot, you’re gonna run into each other a lot and you’re not gonna be happy sometimes. I know I accidentally had him jacked up on the frontstretch that one time. That was unintentional. I totally forgot about that until just now, but I feel like last weekend he definitely got up into my lane and I wasn’t smart enough to lift and fenced it that way. I learned from those mistakes and applied them tonight.”
YOU ARE ONLY THE SECOND DRIVER TO WIN CONSECUTIVE TRUCK RACES HERE, ALONG WITH KYLE BUSCH. DOES IT FEEL FITTING FOR THAT TO HAPPEN WITH THE SPORT CELEBRATING HIS LIFE TONIGHT? “It sounds great. Like I said, he’s my hero. He’s the guy, at least in the Truck Series, everybody wanted to be like. That’s the pinnacle. That’s our goal and our mindset. We want to be where he’s at, which is on top. I hate we’re not racing with him tonight. I know that if he was here, he would have been running this truck race tonight and probably would have finished second to him. I definitely want to be out there right now for his celebration of life. I was gonna stay regardless, but I hope with the performance we put on tonight and what I did, I hope that he’d be proud of me.”
THERE WERE SOME 49ER CHANTS COMING FROM THE CROWD. WHAT DID YOU THINK? “That was awesome. We had a whole section out here. Six miles away. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. My alma mater. It was great to have the support from them tonight. I know that they did a discount ticket special. They have a shuttle bus going from the campus to here tonight to carry students back and forth before and after the race. Just the connection with Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Truck Series, NASCAR and myself has been a great partnership and a lot of supporters from the school as well. I love winning here in my backyard.”
DID THE EXTRA PIT CREW PRACTICE MAKE A DIFFERENCE TONIGHT? “We didn’t make any catastrophic failures on pit road, which is a gain. Before tonight, three out of the last four races we’ve had some catastrophic pit issues with either a wheel falling off or a loose lug nut or completely botching something, so we just really harped on consistency. We cannot have those big mistakes. If you just get Layne out in the top five, he’s gonna go win the race for you. That was our goal tonight. We said, ‘You don’t have to be the fastest crew,’ and they did that. They did exactly what we asked of them, just don’t make any big mistakes and they didn’t do that. I’m proud of those guys. We’re building with them. We’ve got four left and now it’s time to put the pressure on to make sure that they’re the best.”
WHEN HONEYCUTT HIT THE WALL WAS THAT WHEN YOU SAW YOUR OPENING? “Yeah, I think he was going all he could to keep me behind him and I was gonna pass him regardless, but, yeah, at that point it made it pretty easy.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOUR CREW CHIEF HAS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT RACING? “I think we’ve taught each other a lot. I mean, 2024 we were both rookies in this series. He’s a rookie crew chief with a rookie driver. You don’t see that a lot. You see the rookie drivers with the veteran crew chiefs and you put the rookie crew chiefs with the veteran drivers. You’ve got one person that knows exactly what they’re doing, so we have battled and scraped our way from the bottom all the way to where we’re at now together, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anybody else. He’s a wheelman, too. I think if you put him in the truck, he could run just as good as I can, just circumstances and opportunities didn’t quite work out for him, but we have mad respect for each other and what we’re able to do. He’s a smart cookie and I think our relationship, 100 percent helps our performance on the racetrack.”
HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT TO WIN NEXT WEEK FOR DYLAN SINCE THAT’S HIS HOME TRACK? “I’d love to win at Phoenix. I’ve run there a lot. I made one of my first starts at Phoenix as well. I always love going out there. It’s a great racetrack, always a lot of fun, very chaotic, but I would really like to win at a track like that – a short track that I feel like we’ve been so close to. Every time that we’ve gone we’ve been fast or right in the mix. I think last year I was leading the race with three to go until the caution came out or something. All of my friends and family are here tonight and all of his friends and family are gonna be there next week, so let’s go back-to-back for him.”
IN STAGE TWO YOU HAD A BIG MOMENT WITH RAJAH FIGHTING FOR SECOND. WERE YOU WORRIED IN THAT MOMENT? “Yeah. When you’re 45 degrees sideways and you’re looking at the infield, you’re thinking about your life choices at that moment. Me and Rajah, we’re great friends. The second it happened my spotter came on and said, ‘His spotter is waving at me. He said it was an accident and he was trying to push you.’ He came over to Victory Lane. He’s a great kid. We actually have the same birthday to the day and year, so we are brothers from a different mother. He’s a great friend of mine. He ran great tonight. He had a solid truck. I hate he got torn up there at the end, but it’s always fun to battle with Rajah. Me and him have always put on some epic battles.”
DO YOU ENVISION THIS POTENTIALLY GOING DOWN TO MIAMI AND ONE OF YOU HAVE TO WIN THE RACE TO WIN THE TITLE? “Yeah, the rate it’s going right now, for sure. But, at the same time, that’s not something that I’m really gonna think about. I can’t plan the future. We have Talladega on our schedule. We don’t know what the heck is gonna happen there. Nobody does, so that’s the wild card. I think after Talladega then we can talk about that.”
WHEN YOU PASSED KADEN FOR THE LEAD IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WENT HIGH KNOWING HE WOULD MIRROR DRIVE AND THEN CUT DOWN. IS THAT AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT? YOU KNEW WHAT HE WOULD DO AND IT GAVE YOU THAT ADVANTAGE? “One hundred percent. I look at Kansas two weekends ago it was kind of the same thing that happened there. He got in front of me and I made the bad decision of trying to stay in it and be a hero and that didn’t work. I knew it was gonna happen before we even got there and that’s what made it that much more special.”
HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IS IT WHEN YOU TWO KNOW EACH OTHER SO WELL? “I don’t think difficult. I think that obviously we’re competitors. We want to beat each other really bad and obviously get to the next level one day. We both have a lot of respect for the race craft and the talent that we both have. We’re down to the end. We both have really good teams. I think that each of our teams are stronger and weaker in different spots and we just have to play into that the best that we can.”
HONEYCUTT MAINTAINS POINTS LEAD, CONTINUES STRONG CHASE AT CHARLOTTE Bayley Currey adds another top-five finish in second start of the year
CONCORD, NC (October 9, 2026) – Kaden Honeycutt led 85 of 167 laps, won the second stage and was battling for the win in the closing laps before finishing third to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday evening. The Toyota Development Driver continues to lead the point standings as he maintains a 17 point advantage over Layne Riggs with four races to go.
Bayley Currey continued to impress behind the wheel of the TRICON Toyotas scoring his second top-five in as many starts this season as the Texas-native finished fourth. The normal truck chief on the No. 1 Tundra finished second in Bristol in September.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) Charlotte Motor Speedway Race 21 of 25 – 250.5 Miles, 167 Laps
Layne Riggs said the battle was fun. What was it like from your seat?
“I thought it was awesome too. When we went down to (turn) one, I was trying to decide bottom or top and I was trying to defend it. I don’t know how the heck I saved that. It was pretty wild. Seeing the replay, I really wish – I shouldn’t have been air blocking him as much as I did. Just took away what I was trying to do and focused on him too much, and should have just ran my own race. I was really good there at the bottom of (turn) three and four. I hadn’t run the top all day through three and four. I got too free. I wasn’t up close enough to the wall – and just got free. I really wasn’t expecting that, but I think that was mostly from the speedy dry. I think we had a good truck today. Me and him (Layne Riggs) were just swapping back and forth and as far as adjustment standpoint, I felt like we were getting there, just didn’t know what I needed to go faster. We will digest it, definitely hate that I lost second there, but good stage points, good stage win today, but just got to clean it up on my end. I feel like if I didn’t have that happen, I would have been alright. Thank you Safelite, TOYOTA RACING, TRICON Garage, Mobil 1, Scott Zipadelli (crew chief) – my whole 11 team. Everyone that supports it. I definitely want to win, so we move on and go to Phoenix.”
Top-five again for Bayley Currey. Did you think you would ever get another chance?
“I was thinking man, I don’t have it. Maybe I just lost it. And then you go to Bristol and do good, and then I’m like, well I know I’m good at Bristol – am I good anywhere else? Well, then we come to Charlotte and run top-five as well. I couldn’t happier. Really, really happy with it. Huge thank you to everyone at TRICON and Toyota – everyone on the 5 group, everyone on the 1 group for giving me the weekend off of being the truck chief. We will go to the shop tomorrow, tear that one apart and get ready for Phoenix. Huge thank you to everyone – Monster Truck Wars, Toyota, everyone on this deal.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
Conor Daly will be making his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start of the 2026 season behind the wheel of Kaulig Racing’s No. 25 Free Agent RAM 1500 entry next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
The news comes as Daly, a 34-year-old racer from Noblesville, Indiana, has made two previous Truck Series starts with Kaulig throughout the 2026 season. He finished 26th at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in mid-July before he competed in the series’ recent-scheduled event at Kansas Speedway, the latter of which he notched a career-best result of 16th.
“I started to feel a lot more comfortable in the truck as the race went on,” Daly, who referenced his strong run at Kansas, said. “We didn’t get to practice or qualify in Kansas, but we worked on it all race and finally got the truck dialed in for that last green-flag run, and I felt the most comfortable I have ever felt. Driving a truck is a lot of fun when you have it dialed in. I’m honored Ram and Kaulig have asked me to drive the No. 25 and appreciate the opportunity.”
“I work well with the Kaulig drivers and crew,” Daly added. “The more time together, the better our communication, and that shows on the track.”
Next weekend’s Truck Series event at Phoenix is scheduled to mark Daly’s first at the venue between NASCAR’s top-three national touring series and his ninth career start in the Truck Series division. This season will also mark a second consecutive year where he will compete in at least three Truck events in a schedule. Daly has also made a total of three O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts, three Cup Series starts and 133 NTT IndyCar Series starts, the latter of which featured him finishing 12th while driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing during this year’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. He will compete for the organization for the full IndyCar schedule in 2027.
After impressing through his first two starts, @ConorDaly22 has earned a third start in our No. 25 Ram 1500!
Kaulig Racing launched its free-agent driver program ahead of its inaugural Craftsman Truck Series campaign in November 2025. The program features various competitors from multiple racing divisions and disciplines. Each will compete in at least one Truck event in one of Kaulig’s RAM 1500 entries numbered 25. The competitors who compete in the entry would not compete for the 2026 Truck Series driver’s championship. They will, however, be evaluated by their on-track performance for a season-ending program prize.
Currently, Kaulig Racing’s No. 25 entry, which is led by crew chief Dan Stillman, is ranked in 25th place in the 2026 owner’s standings after 20 of the 25-race schedule. The entry is one of five that is fielded by Kaulig. It competes alongside the No. 10 entry piloted by Corey LaJoie, the No. 12 entry piloted by rookie Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, the No. 14 entry piloted by newcomer Timothy “Mini” Tyrrell and the No. 16 entry piloted by Justin Haley.
Tony Stewart, Ty Dillon, Colin Braun, Corey LaJoie, Carson Ferguson, Parker Kligerman, AJ Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Travis Pastrana, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Conor Daly, Elliott Sadler and Regan Smith have piloted the entry at least once. Dillon, Ferguson, Kligerman, Braun and Daly have each piloted the No. 25 entry multiple times, with Daly being the latest competitor to drive the entry at Kansas Speedway. Smith is set to join the latter list as he will make his second and final scheduled start in the entry this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, October 9.
Conor Daly’s third Craftsman Truck Series’ start of the 2026 season at Phoenix Raceway is scheduled to occur next Friday, October 16, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
Connor Mosack sped to his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career pole position for the Ecosave 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, October 9.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-truck, one-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots cycled around Charlotte once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the single fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
During the session, Mosack, who was the third-fastest competitor in practice earlier on Friday and was the 28th competitor in line to qualify, utilized his one-lap qualifying session to post a lap at 180.234 mph, in 29.961 seconds. Mosack’s lap was enough for the Charlotte, North Carolina, native to retain the top-starting spot over his competition and Chase contenders.
With the pole, Mosack, who is scheduled to make his 10th Truck start of the 2026 season with Spire Motorsports, secured his first Truck Series pole position since EchoPark Speedway in February 2025 and his first driving for Spire Motorsports. The pole position was a meaningful one for Mosack, who is one of five competitors who is sporting a throwback tribute scheme honoring the late two-time Cup Series champion, Kyle Busch. Mosack’s No. 7 PurePEX/Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry mirrors the scheme Busch piloted to Kyle Busch Motorsports’ 100th and final Truck Series victory at Pocono Raceway, a feat that was achieved in mid-July 2023.
Mosack will share the front row with Tanner Gray, the latter of whom secured his two career poles at Charlotte in 2023 and 2024. Gray’s single-lap session was at 179.862 mph in 30.023 seconds. Kaden Honeycutt, the points leader, will be the highest-starting Chase contender in third place with a lap of 179.683 mph in 30.053 seconds. Rajah Caruth and Landen Lewis will start in the top five, respectively.
Bayley Currey, Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Andres Perez De Lara and Chandler Smith will start in the top 10, respectively. Notably, Layne Riggs, who was the fastest competitor in practice, will start in 13th place. In addition, Chase contender Giovanni Ruggerio did not post a qualifying lap due to an axle seal issue from his No. 17 JBL/TRICON Garage Toyota entry that occurred during practice. He will start at the tail end of the starting grid in 36th place.
With only four of 10 Chase contenders (Honeycutt, Enfinger, Eckes and Chandler Smith) starting in the top 10 on the grid, the remaining Chase contenders that include Ben Rhodes, Riggs, Daniel Hemric, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Ruggiero will start 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 25th and 36th, respectively.
With 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots, all made the main event.
Charlotte – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
Connor Mosack, 180.234 mph, 29.961 seconds
Tanner Gray, 179.862 mph, 30.023 seconds
Kaden Honeycutt, 179.683 mph, 30.053 seconds
Rajah Caruth, 179.575 mph, 30.071 seconds
Landen Lewis, 179.235 mph, 30.128 seconds
Bayley Currey, 179.194 mph, 30.135 seconds
Grant Enfinger, 178.897 mph, 30.185 seconds
Christian Eckes, 178.654 mph, 30.226 seconds
Andres Perez De Lara, 178.406 mph, 30.268 seconds
Chandler Smith, 178.336 mph, 30.280 seconds
Conner Jones, 178.318 mph, 30.283 seconds
Ben Rhodes, 178.288 mph, 30.288 seconds
Layne Riggs, 178.265 mph, 30.292 seconds
Justin Haley, 178.230 mph, 30.298 seconds
Brent Crews, 178.077 mph, 30.324 seconds
Daniel Hemric, 178.036 mph, 30.331 seconds
Ty Majeski, 177.825 mph, 30.367 seconds
Jake Garcia, 177.637 mph, 30.399 seconds
Matt Mills, 177.550 mph, 30.414 seconds
Dawson Sutton, 177.521 mph, 30.419 seconds
Daniel Dye, 177.235 mph, 30.468 seconds
Corey LaJoie, 176.702 mph, 30.560 seconds
Cole Butcher, 176.476 mph, 30.599 seconds
Kris Wright, 176.033 mph, 30.676 seconds
Tyler Ankrum, 176.022 mph, 30.678 seconds
Stewart Friesen, 175.953 mph, 30.690 seconds
Brenden Queen, 175.707 mph, 30.733 seconds
Leland Honeyman Jr., 175.518 mph, 30.766 seconds
Mini Tyrrell, 175.285 mph, 30.807 seconds
Regan Smith, 173.919 mph, 31.049 seconds
Timmy Hill, 170.288 mph, 31.711 seconds
Luke Baldwin, 170.068 mph, 31.752 seconds
Spencer Boyd, 168.188 mph, 32.107 seconds
Josh Reaume, 167.869 mph, 32.168 seconds
Clayton Green, 166.713 mph, 32.391 seconds
Giovanni Ruggerio, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
The 2026 Ecosave 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Friday, October 9, at 5 p.m. ET on FOX, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
Cole Custer will be remaining as the driver of the No. 41 Chevrolet entry for Haas Factory Team for the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The news was made on Haas Factory Team’s social media page on Friday, October 9. It occurs as Custer, the 2023 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Ladera Ranch, California, is currently campaigning in his second consecutive Cup Series season with Haas Factory Team and fifth overall. Through 31-scheduled starts this season, Custer has recorded a single top-10 result, which was a 10th-place result at Daytona International Speedway in mid-August. He has also led three laps and an average-finishing result of 24.7. He is ranked in 32nd place in the driver’s standings with 387 points.
Custer made his first three career starts in the Cup Series division in 2019 with Rick Ware Racing, where his highest-finishing result is 25th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the spring. The following season, he competed in the Cup division on a full-time basis for the first time, where he drove for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). During his rookie campaign amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he notched his first career victory at Kentucky Speedway and earned an automatic berth to the Playoffs before settled in 15th place in the final standings. With a total of two top-five results, seven top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 19.2, Custer claimed the 2020 Cup Series’ Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Custer remained as a full-time Cup competitor for SHR for the following two seasons (2021-22), where he notched a combined five top-10 results and his first career pole at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April 2022 before he scaled back to competing in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division with SHR for the next two seasons (2023-24), the latter of which he won the O’Reilly championship in 2023 and finished in the runner-up spot in 2024.
Amid Custer’s O’Reilly campaign, the Californian made six Cup starts with Rick Ware Racing in 2023 before he returned as a full-time Cup competitor for the newly named Haas Factory Team in 2025, the latter season of which he recorded two top-five results, three top-10 results, 10 laps led and an average-finishing result of 23.6 before finishing in 32nd place in the standings.
Through 184 career starts in the Cup Series, Custer has achieved a single victory, a single pole, four top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 42 laps led and an average-finishing result of 22.1 as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ championship.
With his plans for next season set, Cole Custer’s 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season resumes this Sunday, October 11, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, for the Bank of America 400. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
The ARCA Menards Series West race caps a year of milestones, challenges, and consistent growth on and off the track for one of motorsports’ most closely watched talents.
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Dystany Spurlock will close out her groundbreaking 2026 stock car racing campaign Saturday, Oct. 17, when she heads to Phoenix Raceway for the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, the next-to-last race of the ARCA Menards Series West season.
Spurlock welcomes Charles Schwab Bank as the primary sponsor for the event, which is part of a packed NASCAR weekend at the raceway featuring all three national series over three days. The ARCA West race is scheduled for 8 p.m. MST / 11 p.m. ET Saturday, immediately following the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Timberland PRO 200.
Driving the No. 66 Toyota for MBM Motorsports and Garage 66 with support from Charles Schwab Bank, Spurlock looks to showcase the progress she’s made throughout her history-making transition from motorcycle drag racing to high-level stock car competition.
“I feel like we’ve come a long way from where we started this season,” she says. “I’ve learned so much this year, both on and off the track, and Phoenix will be an incredible opportunity to apply those lessons and carry some momentum into 2027.”
A Season of Growth
Spurlock’s 2026 season has included a number of milestones, beginning with her becoming the first Black woman to compete on ARCA’s regional and national platforms.
Backed by longtime sponsor Foxxtecca, she finished seventh in her ARCA East series debut at Hickory Motor Speedway in March. Spurlock then made a splash on ARCA’s national stage with a top-10 result at Kansas Speedway, despite getting bumped in the closing laps. While the contact sent her car sideways, she quickly recovered, earning widespread praise for her control and composure and receiving the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.
Spurlock made history again when she became the first Black woman to qualify and race in a NASCAR national touring series event, competing in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series ECOSAVE 200 at Dover Motor Speedway in May. While her day at Dover ended earlier than expected, she gained valuable experience that she carried into her second Truck series start of the season, this time with Team Reaume at Richmond Raceway in August.
“I think one of the biggest takeaways from this season is that you have to be able to learn from every experience, whether it goes the way you want it to or not,” Spurlock says. “Each race has given me something I can take into the next one, and I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a driver because of that.”
While highs and lows are part of any rookie season, some of Spurlock’s most important lessons came when she faced the greatest adversity.
“Racing is all about confronting and overcoming challenges,” she says. “You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you respond. This season has taught me to take setbacks in stride, trust myself and my team, and keep pushing forward.”
All Eyes on Phoenix
Spurlock now heads to Phoenix looking to cap an unforgettable year with another strong performance. The one-mile “D-oval” with its asymmetrical layout, signature dogleg and variable banking will challenge Spurlock and the MBM team to balance speed and handling over 100 demanding laps.
The track surface itself will also be a factor; it’s been known to evolve and open multiple grooves as the race develops and tire rubber accumulates.
Fortunately, Spurlock’s debut season has prepared her for that kind of challenge. From the ⅓-mile confines of Hickory to the tricky 2.5-mile tri-oval of Pocono Raceway and the technical road course at Watkins Glen, she’s logged laps and experience at a wide variety of circuits.
Her ability to process information and feedback quickly will be especially valuable at Phoenix, where changing track conditions can require drivers and teams to adapt throughout the race.
Spurlock will also have the support of Charles Schwab Bank, whose investing philosophy, “Ignore the Noise,” encourages investors to stay disciplined and focused on their long-term strategy. That philosophy aligns with Spurlock’s approach to racing and her ability to remain focused on her goals despite the distractions and challenges that come with competing at the highest levels.
In recognition of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Spurlock’s car will feature a special wrap for the Phoenix race. The design will honor those affected by breast cancer while helping to highlight the importance of awareness and early detection.
The Phoenix race will also allow Spurlock to connect with fans and the wider racing community before putting a stamp on this chapter of her journey. That connection has been a pivotal part of her season and is chronicled in the Foxxtecca-produced docuseries Driven by Dystany: The Road to NASCAR, which takes viewers behind the scenes of Spurlock’s groundbreaking 2026 campaign.
“Dystany’s journey is exactly why Foxxtecca exists,” says Chris Harris, co-founder of Foxxtecca. “We’re proud to support her as she continues to break down barriers and show what can happen when people have a chance to pursue something they believe in. We hope her story inspires others and helps create an easier path for those coming behind her.”
The Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 is scheduled for 8 p.m. PT Saturday, Oct. 17, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. The race will stream live on FloRacing, with radio coverage provided by MRN/SiriusXM Radio.
About Charles Schwab Bank
Charles Schwab Bank is a leading financial institution dedicated to helping individuals and businesses achieve their financial goals. Through a wide range of banking, investment, and financial planning services, Schwab has built a reputation for delivering personalized solutions and fostering community growth. Learn more at schwab.com.
About Foxxtecca
Foxxtecca is a Detroit-based experiential events and media company operating at the intersection of mobility, culture, and technology. Co-founded by Chris Harris and Kellie Crawford, Foxxtecca amplifies underrepresented voices in the mobility and technology industries through motorsports, education, and culturally driven experiences.
About Dystany Spurlock
Dystany Spurlock is a Richmond, Virginia, native and the first Black female NASCAR driver, whose historic rise through the sport has made her one of motorsports’ most closely watched talents. A record-breaking motorcycle drag racer before transitioning to stock cars in 2026, Spurlock competes with support from Foxxtecca and continues to break barriers as a trailblazer for representation in NASCAR.
101 Racing and Moonshine Legends Expected to Attend
● The seventh annual Moonshiners & Racers Reunion returns to North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 17, as part of the speedway’s Saturday Tripleheader
● The reunion will feature 101 racing pioneers, drivers, crew members, car owners and moonshine-running legends, along with vintage race cars, a meet-and-greet and autograph session
● The event will serve as the official induction ceremony for the 2026 Stock Car Racing Wall of Fame class, honoring 12 individuals representing drivers, car builders, engine builders, crew chiefs and North Carolina’s moonshine-running heritage
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (Oct. 9, 2026) – The seventh annual Moonshiners & Racers Reunion returns to North Wilkesboro Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 17, bringing more than 100 racing pioneers, drivers, crew members, car owners and moonshine-running legends together as part of the speedway’s grassroots racing Saturday Tripleheader.
Presented by Friendly Tire, the Moonshiners & Racers Reunion celebrates the intertwined history of North Carolina’s moonshine-running culture and the early days of stock car racing. The event will feature a collection of vintage race cars and moonshine vehicles, along with a meet-and-greet and autograph session offering fans the opportunity to hear stories and share memories with many of the people who helped shape the sport.
The 2026 Moonshiners & Racers Reunion will also serve as the official induction ceremony for the North Wilkesboro Speedway 2026 Stock Car Racing Wall of Fame class.
This year’s inductees represent the many facets of the sport’s history, from behind the wheel and under the hood to the garages and back roads that helped shape stock car racing.
The 2026 Stock Car Racing Wall of Fame class includes NASCAR independent driver and car owner Buddy Arrington; short-track racing veterans Gene “Stick” Elliott, Burt Myers, Sam Sommers, Billy Thurston and Junior Miller; legendary car builders R.T. “Buckshot” Morris and Edwin “Banjo” Matthews; Hall of Fame engine builder Maurice Petty; crew chiefs David Ifft and Herb Nab; and moonshine representative Frank Huthinson.
Among the expected attendees at this year’s reunion are NASCAR Hall of Fame member and Modified racing champion Jerry Cook; NASCAR legend Dave Marcis; longtime NASCAR crew chiefs Jeff Hammond and Kirk Shelmerdine; former NASCAR Modified and Late Model standout Neil Castles; former NASCAR drivers Chuck Bown, Roddy Langley and Ronnie Thomas; Bowman Gray Stadium standouts Burt Myers, Tim Brown and Chris Fleming; and renowned car builder and crew chief Will Cronkrite.
The diverse group also includes drivers, crew members, car owners, historians, racing personalities and members of families deeply connected to North Carolina’s racing and moonshine heritage.
The Moonshiners & Racers Reunion will be held from 9 to 10 a.m. outside the speedway’s main entrance. Participants will later return to the track for parade laps at approximately 2:05 p.m., giving fans another opportunity to see the reunion’s historic vehicles and honorees during the day’s on-track festivities.
The reunion is part of a full day of grassroots racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Saturday’s racing program will feature the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic feature, the Friendly Tire 99, the season finale for the SMART Modified Tour, along with the 62-lap Carolina Crate Modified Series Northwest Automotive 62 and the 30-lap Carolina Mini-Stocks Broadway Collision 30 presented by Better Homes Furniture Company.
The SMART Modified Tour championship will be decided at North Wilkesboro, with NASCAR veteran Ryan Newman among the drivers expected to compete in the Friendly Tire 99.
The Carolina Crate Modified field will feature a mix of established competitors and rising talent, while the Carolina Mini-Stocks will round out the afternoon’s tripleheader.
North Wilkesboro Speedway’s historic 5/8-mile oval has long been regarded as one of the birthplaces of stock car racing, making it a natural setting for an event dedicated to preserving the sport’s earliest history.
The Moonshiners & Racers Reunion was held in Mount Airy, North Carolina, during its first five years before relocating to North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2025. Its return to the historic speedway continues the event’s mission of bringing racing fans face-to-face with the people who helped build the sport.
The Moonshiners & Racers Reunion is held outside the main gate and does not require a ticket for entry. Tickets for the racing program start at $30 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. Trackside camping and Turn 4 premium seating are also available.
Tickets and additional event information are available at northwilkesborospeedway.com.
