Riggs wins first NASCAR Trucks race of season after Hocevar penalty

Layne Riggs picked up his first NASCAR Truck Series victory of the season but it came at the expense of Carson Hocevar who had a strong argument for why he should have been celebrating on Friday night at Pocono Raceway anyway.

Corey Heim dominated the race, leading 48 of 80 laps and could have led more if not for flipping the first stage in exchange for track position, but lost tire pressure coming to the final restart on Lap 61.

This is where the results got muddied. Heim was the control car coming to the restart, meaning he earned the right to fire off first in the restart zone. When he gave up the front row on the restart, choosing to get out of the way, that made Riggs the control car.

However, Riggs didn’t realize it and Hocevar, who inherited the outside front row, kept slowing to match Riggs’ pace. Eventually, Hocevar just went and NASCAR called a restart violation. But if Hocevar didn’t go, he risks getting run over from behind.

“It was very odd and obviously, a lot went on within a 2-30 second span,” Riggs said. “Spotter asked me did the 11 have a left side flat and I said ‘no,’ and I wasn’t sure if it was on the right side or whatever it was. I hate that for them because they had the best truck and were probably going to win the race. I was excited to battle it out with them.

“So then, there was a lot of confusion over who was the control truck — me or (Hocevar). He kept slowing down coming to the restart zone, the pace needed to be 60 and we were at least 20-25 miles per hour slower, so I don’t know. I think I was slowing down for him and he was slowing down for me at the same time. Last second, my spotter told me I was the control truck and as soon as he said it, Carson took off and I took off too.

“So there was just a lot of confusion because I really wanted to battle it out to the end. We had the better long run truck and I think it would have been more gratifying to make the pass for the win but racing is also a lot about luck.”  

Hocevar and crew chief Brian Pattie would go on to make their case to NASCAR Truck Series director Seth Kramlich inside the series hauler, the content of that conversation not yet being made public.  

Heim was left with yet another addition to his feast or famine season so far.

“It’s really frustrating, you know, have a chance to do something pretty special, you know, with this 11 team, and I feel like we just obviously haven’t gotten it done one way or another,” Heim told Jayski.com after the race. “I feel like we kind of write a new way to have it go away on us every week. So, I don’t know, just really can’t put words to it. Just unfortunate. I ran something over and somehow, coming to the green flag on the last stint there, never got another caution. Just kind of worst kind of situation you can have there.”

Riggs did not qualify for the playoffs last year but won the opening two races of the playoffs. Now, he’s going to take that experience into the championship deciding races.

And Riggs also saw just a 54-point buffer heading into this race as a reminder that they needed a victory just to be sure.

“We thought, ‘okay, it’s getting a little close here,’ if we get some new winners,” Riggs said. “I knew we had a good little buffer but it was time to win and lock in.

“This is where we start to build our Darlington truck and do the best we can to get some more playoff points until then. But is a big relief to win like it is for anyone to make it into the playoffs and be able to focus on those races.”

The most notable crash of the day took place during the Stage 3 restart when Grant Enfinger took Ben Rhodes and Tyler Ankrum three-wide. Several others piled into the melee.

The yellow is out after multiple trucks make contact. pic.twitter.com/yjw1FDcXHw

— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 20, 2025

The following restart beget yet another crash, this one involving Jake Garcia bouncing off Kaden Honeycutt and then teammate Ty Majeski.

Another yellow is out after Jake Garcia spins on the restart. pic.twitter.com/2uVBsD1Zyt

— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 20, 2025

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