Layne Riggs has qualified on pole for Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, and while he’ll still be credited with the triumph, he won’t be starting at the front of the pack.
The Bahama, North Carolina-native was already slapped with a penalty before Friday’s single-vehicle qualifying session, after NASCAR found that the No. 34 Ford F-150 had an extra panel in between the oil pan and the floorboard.
Riggs and Front Row Motorsports, as part of a reprimand from NASCAR, will lose their starting position, be required to serve a pass-through penalty after taking the green, and lose their crew chief, Dylan Cappello.
To further pile on, NASCAR confirmed moments after qualifying that Riggs and the No. 34 Ford F-150 had failed pre-race inspection for Friday’s Championship Race at Phoenix multiple times, which will result in the loss of the team’s truck chief.
STARTING LINEUP: NASCAR Truck Series Championship Race at Phoenix
“I actually wasn’t expecting that. I feel like I kind of messed up that lap a little bit,” Riggs said. “I gave it my all there. I knew we were going to start in the back, but still just wanted to see the potential we had. Make sure that the adjustments we made from our mock qualifying run was better, and it was.”
Despite the penalties assessed, NASCAR made the judgment call to require the No. 34 Love’s RV Stops Ford F-150 to post a qualifying lap (to avoid giving the team the advantage of starting on sticker tires), and well, with a lap time of 26.707 seconds (134.796mph), Riggs collected his fourth career pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The 23-year-old driver isn’t in the running for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Driver’s Championship, after losing out to Kaden Honeycutt in a tie last weekend at Martinsville, but is still eligible for the Owner’s Playoffs.
Chandler Smith, a teammate of Riggs at Front Row Motorsports, will start on the outside of the front row for Friday’s event. It’s the second time this season that Riggs and Smith have shared the front row for a NASCAR Truck Series event, the first time being Darlington on Labor Day Weekend.
Brent Crews and Tanner Gray, teammates out of the TRICON Garage stable, will start from third and fourth. Rounding out the top five, and the highest qualifying of the Championship 4 drivers, is Kaden Honeycutt for Halmar Friesen Racing.
Corey Heim will roll from sixth, with Rajah Caruth, Ty Majeski, Gio Ruggiero, and Ben Rhodes rounding out the top-10. Tyler Ankrum was the only Championship 4 driver to qualify outside the top-10, and will start 21st in the No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST.
Tyler Reif, making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut behind the wheel of the No. 41 McLaren Transport Chevrolet Silverado RST for Niece Motorsports, scored a solid qualifying run and will roll from the 13th position.
Coverage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race will take place on Friday, October 31 at 7:30 PM ET on FOX Sports 1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
