Layne Riggs narrowly missed out on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs a season ago, but once the Playoffs came, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 went on a tear as he won back-to-back races to kick off the Playoffs, and he also scored a runner-up finish at Kansas and top-10s at Martinsville and Phoenix.
Fortunately for the competition, Riggs was not a Playoff contender a season ago. This year, they won’t have that luxury. Riggs, who captured two victories in the regular season, is very much in the championship hunt, and he’ll kick off the Playoffs from the pole position in Saturday’s Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway.
Starting Lineup: Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway
“Just running nice, smooth Playoff races,” Riggs said, is his goal for the remainder of the season. “It’s great that we have speed to go along with it; we were going to try to manage anyway. Now, it just puts you in a position to have some track position. Be up front, hopefully, win a Stage, get some more Playoff Points, and just try to control the day. Being up front and on the pole makes it a little bit easier for us.”
Not only will he be in the catbird seat to accrue additional Playoff Points through the Stages on Saturday afternoon, but the pole gives Riggs a distinct mental advantage heading into Saturday’s race.
“I think it just shows that we’re the fastest truck here this weekend,” Riggs explained of the pole in an interview with FS2 following qualifying. “Practice, we were really fast to start. I feel like we fell off a little bit, but I think we know the exact adjustment we need to make. But I just love this racetrack.”
Riggs, 23, rocketed around the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway as he recorded a pole-winning lap time of 29.323 seconds (167.705 mph). The lap was good enough by 0.008 seconds for the racer to nab the pole over Chandler Smith, his Front Row Motorsports teammate.
The blistering-fast lap times in qualifying are nerve-racking for the drivers, as Riggs says, in order to secure the pole at Darlington Raceway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, you have to be brave enough to hold your foot to the floor for nearly the entire lap.
“I’m kind of trembling right now,” Riggs admitted. “This place is, man, it’s a rush to qualify at. I mean, in the trucks, we are wide-open through [Turns] 1 and 2. I held it wide-open through [Turns] 3 and 4 coming to the green, and you’re only out of the gas like a second. In practice, you’re like out of the gas for five seconds.”
Behind the front row, which will be comprised solely by Front Row Motorsports trucks, Corey Heim, the favorite for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, will start third behind the wheel of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota TRD PRO.
Grant Enfinger secured the fourth starting spot for Saturday’s race, while Kaden Honeycutt will fire off from the fifth position in the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota.
The first non-Playoff driver in the field at the start of Saturday’s race will be Rookie of the Year point leader Gio Ruggiero, who will start from the sixth position.
Daniel Hemric (Playoff driver), Ty Majeski (Playoff driver), Corey LaJoie, and Tyler Ankrum (Playoff driver) rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday’s race.
Here is a breakdown of where the other Playoff drivers in the field will start from: Rajah Caruth (11th), Jake Garcia (13th), and Corey Day (owner championship Playoffs) will start from 15th.
Jack Wood, who is competing in his first race back following an injury sustained at Watkins Glen International, will start from the 25th position, and Mason Maggio, who is filling in for Frankie Muniz, who suffered a distal radius fracture in a fall from a ladder at his home this week, will start Saturday’s race from the 27th position in the No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford F-150.
