UPDATE: Within seconds of posting this story, NASCAR announced that Layne Riggs, driver of the No. 34 Love’s RV Stops Ford F-150, had been disqualified from Saturday’s Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway. Riggs will be demoted to a 31st-place finish.
Layne Riggs, in his second year of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition, has stepped it up.
The mile-and-a-half racetracks, which at one point during his rookie campaign last year, proved to be an immense struggle for the Bahama, North Carolina-native, have turned into one of his biggest strengths, as the Front Row Motorsports driver once again proved on Saturday.
Although Riggs didn’t walk away with the checkered flag at Kansas Speedway, finishing second to Carson Hocevar in a last-lap scrimmage that involved both drivers making contact with the outside wall, the Front Row Motorsports leaves Kansas City with a renewed sense of confidence.
“It’s all good. It’s great racing the Cup guys, and I think that just proves that I’m going to be there one day,” Riggs said.
This isn’t the first time this year that Riggs has engaged in a late-race battle with a NASCAR Cup Series regular only to finish in the runner-up spot. At Homestead, the 22-year-old driver did battle with NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, only to get passed with two laps to go and come up one spot short of his first victory on an intermediate track.
On Saturday, Riggs not only had to deal with Hocevar, who competes for Spire Motorsports at NASCAR’s top level, but also 14-time Cup Series race-winner William Byron, who was driving the No.07 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado for the multi-truck powerhouse.
Riggs was part of the group that made their final pit stop under green and was trapped a lap off the pace when Frankie Muniz brought out the second-to-last caution of the event at Lap 98. The No. 34 Ford F-150 was awarded the free pass and would restart outside the top 15 with just over 30 laps remaining.
There was absolutely no quit in the camp of the two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race-winner, as Riggs drove his Love’s RV Stops-sponsored machine up into the top-10, and then into the top five, before eventually challenging both Byron and Hocevar for positions inside the top three.
With less than five laps to go, Riggs arrived at the rear bumper of the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado and began applying pressure, before dropping to the inside lane in Turn 1 on the final lap and sliding up the track slightly. The two drivers made contact and drifted towards the outside wall, both out of control.
“I gave it my all,” Riggs said post-race. “We were really down bad with track position there, and we went through the third stage, and we were about to take the lead, and we did the green-flag pit stop, which really hurt us. Had to come from 16th in that green flag run to get all the way back to him.”
Somehow, neither driver sustained any kind of damage and scurried away from the scene of the near-day-ender. But, as the field rounded Turn 4 and approached the start-finish line, Hocevar showed his displeasure with Riggs, extending his middle finger out the window as he came to claim his victory.
“Last lap, I got to him, got into him a little bit, we both hit the wall, he won the race, and I think he was mad at me,” Riggs added. “I think he flipped me off all the way down the frontstretch coming to the checkered, but how can you be mad when you win the race, right?”
Hocevar, in his post-race press conference with the media, says that he wasn’t really angry with Layne Riggs over the last lap move, and that the middle finger out the window was just a friendly way to remind the driver of the No. 34 that he won the race.
“It was somewhat friendly, right. It was just kinda… I don’t remember what I really did, to be honest,” Hocevar said. “But if anything, I just wanted to remind him of just like, hey, I still won, I guess, I don’t know. […] It’s all harm no foul, and I’m sure my bird is real small compared to hit and contact, so it’s all friendly, and when I see him, I’m sure we’ll laugh about it.”
