Layne Riggs will pilot a familiar looking truck, which is special to the Riggs family, in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway. The 21-year-old racer, and his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team, will throw it back to the year 2000 when Riggs’ father, Scott Riggs, received a call to drive the No. 86 RC Cola machine in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Thanks to primary sponsor Infinity Communications being flexible in shifting the look of their branding for the paint scheme, Riggs will carry nearly an identical look to the one that his father ran back in 2000. The only real difference being the No. 38 on the sides of the truck.
“Really cool to have this paint scheme on to be dad’s first opportunity as a full-time Truck Series driver, and this truly to be my first time as a full-time Truck Series driver. It’s really cool to come full circle,” Riggs said following the unveil of the truck. “Super thankful to Infinity Communications for letting us do this cool scheme. I know they’re pretty happy with it, they think it looks pretty cool. It’s awesome to throw it back to a legend and what he’s done.”
While the younger Riggs wasn’t born until 2002, he has always held the RC Cola truck that his father drove in high regard.
“I know I’ve seen it in pictures for a long time and seen him driving it back when I was little and looking in old pictures. So, it’s really cool to be driving it,” Riggs explained.
For Scott Riggs, who racked up five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins, and four NASCAR Xfinity Series victories over the course of his career, he just can’t believe that his son is now climbing the ranks in NASCAR.
“It’s really just crazy,” Riggs said with a grin. “Just thinking about the small town we come from, and for me, I think there’s a lot of people out there that are striving to get an opportunity. They put a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, into their careers in racing, and for me to have that opportunity and to capitalize on it and make the career that I had. I feel like lightning sort of struck twice in the same place because he’s done such a good job in his racing career so far.”
The paint scheme that his son will run for Front Row Motorsports in this weekend’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway brings back the memories for Riggs, who recalls what the stint behind the wheel of the No. 86 truck did for his racing career.
“To think about what I went through when I had this opportunity. I was in late model racing for so long, and when I thought, ‘Man, I don’t know if I’ll get this opportunity, I may note ever get this opportunity to move up,’ and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, the No. 86 RC Cola truck came available,” Riggs stated.
After notching a top-five, and seven top-10s in 15 starts in the RC Cola truck, Riggs was hired by Jim Smith to run the No. 2 Team ASE Racing truck for the full 2001 season. Riggs would go on to win five races, and would finish fifth in the championship standings that season.
His star was officially rising, and he would climb all the way up to the NASCAR Cup Series, where he would record a career-best finish of Michigan International Speedway in 2005.
While his own personal racing accolades are special memories for Riggs, the proud father says he is more excited to watch his son achieve his goals in the sport.
“Man, it has to be Layne,” Riggs said when asked whether he’d be more excited about his son’s first win than his own. “I think that, because I’ve been so involved in his racing to this point, just like my dad was involved in my racing through my entire career. He was spotting for me when I moved to the Cup Series at time. So, to be a part of this and to see him progressing, and I see the potential that the entire team has, and to have a paint scheme that is so old — I mean, the paint scheme is literally older than he is. So, it’s going to be pretty cool to be able to watch it run around.”
While Layne Riggs has proven to be a rising talent in stock car racing, the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season hasn’t gone completely according to plan so far. The driver has just one top-10 finish through the opening eight races of the season, and he admits in the races where they have had speed, mistakes have foiled their days.
Riggs is hoping that he and his Front Row Motorsports team have learned enough of what not to do in the opening stretch of the season that it propels them to an optimal day at Darlington, and perhaps their first win of the season if all goes according to plan for once.
