NASCAR and auto racing in general is a truly humbling sport. Where in most sports it’s disappointing if your favorite team finishes the season with a winning percentage under 0.500, in NASCAR even with the most dominant seasons drivers have had over the years, a 50% winning percentage is unheard of.
But heading into his rookie NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs had no idea how humbling the year would be, early on. The driver had high hopes that he would be able to compete well enough to work his way into a Playoff berth, and potentially win a race or two.
Through the opening nine races of the season, the 22-year-old son of former NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race winner Scott Riggs suffered through a miserable stretch, where he only had one top-10 finish, and he found himself mired back in 21st in the championship standings. However, over their last eight starts Riggs and his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team have come to life, as they have registered five top-five finishes, a run that culminated in Riggs’ first-career win at The Milwaukee Mile at the end of August.
Unfortunately, the win came one race after the Playoffs cutline, so Riggs is not competing for a championship. However, he heads into Thursday’s UNO 200 at Bristol on a three-race top-five finishing streak, and he feels that shows just how improved he and his team are as the season is drawing to a close.
“A long season we’ve had. A lot of ups and downs, and to come in with a lot of tenacity that we’re going to run good right off the bat, and kind of got crushed early on in the season, you know with how tough it was,” Riggs admitted in an interview with TobyChristie.com. “Just to be able to come back and be consistently a strong running up front team. Fifth, fifth, and then get a win, I think that just shows the progression that we’ve had and how much better we’ve gotten race-to-race and we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with every race from here on, I think.”
While his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team has banded together and started to crank out faster and faster Ford F-150s with each passing race, Riggs says he has enjoyed a lot of personal growth from behind the wheel this season. In a season that started out feeling like he was drinking from a firehose, Riggs says things have started to slow down behind the wheel, and he’s learning the keys to success in the NASCAR Truck Series.
“I think it’s still just understanding the air, the tires, and also finally learning who you’re racing around,” Riggs detailed when asked where he’s seen improvement in himself this year. “How to race certain people. What guys you can run harder, what guys you need to kind of get a break, because you might not want to run side-by-side with them. That just takes time learning your competitors. You can watch them on TV all you want, but when you’re out there with them door-to-door, you learn what they’re all about.”
All of that experience lined up perfectly for Riggs, who qualified 16th at Milwaukee, and knew following practice that he had a much better truck than 16th. As the race played out, he continued to inch his way forward throughout the day, and on the final restart of the race with 56 laps remaining, he found himself on the front row with Ty Majeski.
Determined to not let the opportunity slip from his grasp, Riggs rose to the occasion and took the fight to Majeski. He’d gain the lead with 53 laps remaining, and he’d never look back.
In the midst of his victory celebration, Riggs experienced discomfort in the form of a dislocated shoulder. With some help from a rush of adrenaline, and his pit crew members, the shoulder was placed back into its socket and Riggs and the team were back to their celebrating ways.
Riggs says he’s had trouble with his shoulder for several years, stemming from a broken collarbone, which he suffered in a dirt bike accident. But even with his shoulder injury history, Riggs was surprised that he suffered the dislocation in the middle of the most joyous occasion of his racing career to date.
In his win celebration at Milwaukee, @LayneRiggs99 suffered a shoulder dislocation. He says he's had shoulder issues since an old collarbone injury. Says he'd never dislocated it in a car or at a track, but is thankful in a way because his win received more coverage due to it. pic.twitter.com/mdHfPhyVer
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) September 19, 2024
“I’ve kind of had issues over in there before, but it hasn’t really arisen in two or three years that I’ve had a problem with it. Yeah, I guess I just got a little too excited and did the victory celebration a little too hard,” Riggs quipped.
While it was unideal, the silver lining for Riggs is that his injury, which was being filmed live by the FS1 broadcasting team, led to big-time outlets, which don’t typically cover the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on a weekly basis, taking notice of his big day.
“I kind of look at it as a blessing,” Riggs said of the shoulder dislocation. “I think the win actually got a lot more coverage because of it. I think we were on TMZ, ESPN, USA Today. A lot of people who wouldn’t have covered my first win in the Truck Series unless some headliner like that happens. So, I think a lot more eyes were on me than there would have been if that didn’t happen, but definitely don’t want to make it a reoccurrence.”
Riggs is working closely with NASCAR Medical, which the driver says has been doing a great job helping him pinpoint the best steps to cure his shoulder issues long-term. Currently, he’s weighing out a more stringent physical therapy routine, or potentially having surgery in the offseason.
Not only was Riggs’ win the culmination of a driver finding his way after a rough opening portion to his rookie campaign in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but it was also the big pay-off for a lot of hard work on the regional racing level with his father. Riggs recalls staying up in the race shop pulling all-nighters with his dad in an effort to get his Late Model ready for a NASCAR Weekly Series National Championship push.
They pulled off the National Championship in 2022, and two years later, the younger Riggs reached the same hollowed ground that his father found five times in his racing career — NASCAR Truck Series Victory Lane.
In Victory Lane Riggs was greeted by his father who told him, “‘You did it. I can’t critique you on anything,'” Riggs said.
“It’s been great. I was so glad he was there. He was 50/50 on even showing up to Milwaukee. So, really glad he was there to share the moment with him,” Riggs continued. “He comes to the majority of my races. I’m glad he’s going to be here at Bristol.”
Moving forward to Thursday’s UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where Riggs will once again look to play a spoiler to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff contenders, and the Bahama, NC native is confident that he and his team will be much better prepared than they were in the spring, when they captured a 10th-place finish at Bristol.
In the spring, @LayneRiggs99 finished 10th in the #NASCAR Truck race at Bristol. He heads back there as the latest NCTS race winner. While he is realistic and doesn't expect he'll win every race from here on out, he feels he and his @Team_FRM group will be even better this time. pic.twitter.com/pSYFQzgTFF
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) September 19, 2024
“Obviously, if we run inside the top 10, top-five I’d be really happy. Just to keep it going. I’m not expecting to go back-to-back win. It would be great to, and we’re always pushing to do that, but it’s not like oh, if I don’t win, I’m going to be disappointed,” Riggs explained. “You know, we’re going to have more bad days down the road too. It’s not like it’s going to fix everything or guarantee anything. [I want] just another good run today, I feel like we were pretty decent here in the spring.
“This was our first top-10 finish here at Bristol, and I know that we’re going to be a lot better than we were in the spring. A lot better with our setup, we learned a lot of things that I liked that we’re going to apply to it that makes more sense. I’m excited to see, this is the first time we’re going back to a track that we’ve raced at before. So, yeah, I’m ready to see how much we’ll improve.”
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway is set for Thursday, September 19. The race will be televised on FS1, and TV coverage of the event will begin at 8:00 PM ET.
