Layne Riggs earns statement NASCAR Trucks win at IRP

There was no alternative strategy that was going to derail Layne Riggs and the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 team in the NASCAR Truck Series race on Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

There were six trucks that stayed out on older tires ahead of Riggs before the final restart but it mattered not. Season dominant Corey Heim briefly passed Riggs on equal tires but that did not matter either.

Riggs was relentless.

“Oh man, my team — this truck was badass,” said Riggs. “It was so great. I was just out front saving my tires at the end, and I was just waiting for a late-race caution. Trying to run the bottom and trying to run the least amount of distance for my tires … Thanks to everybody at Front Row. I’m out of breath. That was a pretty cool celebration. The guys in the fab shop, body shop — I did it for you guys. This thing was really fast and made my job easy today.”

Riggs has now won twice this regular season and now four times overall over the past two seasons in which the 2022 NASCAR Weekly Series National Champion joined the division and Front Row Motorsports.

Riggs led 160 of the 200 laps to deny Heim, who still went on to finish third and claim the regular season championship and the 15 additional playoff points that come with it.

“It is a good feeling,” Heim said. “It is a testament to how good we’ve been throughout the year. I feel like this is the first race that we’ve really not had a shot at winning, and that certainly says something. I’m super proud of everyone at TRICON Garage, Safelite and Toyota. Still really good points day – it locked us into the regular season deal, but I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little disappointed. I wanted to come here and run better than we did in the past, but we have some good tracks coming up, so I’m looking forward to it.”

As for what more he needed on Friday night?

“I don’t know. This place has always just not been my greatest,” Heim said. “I felt really good about practice, and I feel like I always do. I come here and I’m really optimistic after practice. I feel like our speed is really, really good on the long runs, which we struggled on during the race. I don’t know. I tried to change around my driving style a little bit, and play with some stuff, but just struggled with front turn and it seemed like the 34 (Layne Riggs) was able to have more grip it seemed like. It seemed like our organization as a whole struggled tonight. I feel like this has not been my best race track, so happy to come here and finish top-five, but I wanted a little more. However, nevertheless, I’m thankful for TRICON Garage, Toyota and Safelite for all of their efforts.”

The race also featured a career best day for Corey Heim, who ultimately was scored second. Day is the Sprint Car prodigy turned NASCAR prospect for Hendrick Motorsports making one of his sporadic Truck Series appearances this season for Spire Motorsports.

“It was good to back up Nashville,” said the 19-year-old Day. “I was telling everyone it clicked, and it felt like it clicked, but unless I come here and back it up, it means nothing. I’m really glad to finally be delivering results. I’ve been working really, really hard at this to be delivering results, and I really want to be doing the burnout up there.”

Stewart-Friesen was originally scored second but was disqualified in post-race technical inspection for failing ride height regulations.

With two races remaining in the regular season, the Truck Series heads to Watkins Glen International on Friday, August 8.

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