On Friday, the cards just happened to fall perfectly for Layne Riggs.
The Bahama, North Carolina-native captured the victory, his first of 2025, in the MillerTech Battery 200 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Pocono Raceway, and while Riggs was a contender, he had luck on his side.
After earning his first-ever pole position, Riggs spent much of the afternoon as a contender at the front of the field, playing strategy to win Stage 1, and for the rest of the 80-lap contest, ran inside the top-five.
In the closing laps of the race, Riggs found himself in the thick of the battle with Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar — two NASCAR Cup Series-level talents — trying to figure out how to come out on top, when things got a little simpler.
As the field got the one-to-go signal, Corey Heim, who dominated Friday’s event with a race-high 48 of 80 laps out front, suffered a flat tire and dropped his No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro out of line and to the rear of the field.
Things got even simpler for Riggs when the race restarted with 20 laps remaining, as his biggest adversary, Carson Hocevar, was penalized for jumping the restart, forcing the Spire Motorsports driver to make a pass-through under green.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway
As it turns out, there was confusion about who the control vehicle was on the restart, with both Hocevar and Riggs believing that the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado was in control on what ended up being the final restart of the race.
With Heim and Hocevar out of the picture, things got much, much easier for Riggs, who got the race lead and scurried away to a 3.640-second lead at the completion of the 80-lap contest from Pocono Raceway.
“That’s just a testament to the team,” Riggs said post-race. “That thing was bad fast, especially that last run, right there. I really hate that [Corey Heim] fell out. Not sure what [Carson Hocevar] was doing on the restart, there, but I made sure to take advantage of it. I’m not sure why we slowed down to 30 miles per hour coming to the restart zone, but hey, I’m a happy man tonight.”
Tanner Gray took advantage of the late-race misfortune from Heim and Hocevar to collect a second-place finish, matching his career-best from Daytona International Speedway in 2023.
In third place, Kaden Honeycutt also matched a career-best result (from Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier this season). Brandon Jones finished in fourth place, with Daniel Hemric completing the top five.
Connor Mosack earned a season-best sixth, with Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, and Rajah Caruth rounding out the top-10 in the running order.
After making a pass-through for the speeding penalty, Carson Hocevar brought his No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST back to 13th-place. Corey Heim’s flat tire cost him a little bit more time, leaving the No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to finish in 23rd.
Heim, despite the poor finish on Friday, managed to keep his substantial points lead heading to Lime Rock Park, holding a 124-point advantage over second-place Chandler Smith.
Next up for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the first of three road course events on the schedule, at Lime Rock Park. The inaugural Liuna! 150 will take place on Saturday, June 28 at 1:00pm ET on FOX.
