Layne Riggs relished his function as spoiler a lot that he returned for an encore Thursday night time at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Riggs is not competing for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence championship, however that did not forestall him from successful the playoff opener Aug. 25 on the Milwaukee Mile.
On Thursday, Riggs handed runner-up Corey Heim for the lead on Lap 121 of 200 within the UNOH 200 Introduced by Ohio Logistics and held it the remainder of the way in which to attain his second profession victory and his fourth straight prime 5.
“Oh, my gosh, we have simply discovered a lot with the vehicles,” stated the driving force of the No. 38 Entrance Row Motorsports Ford. “My group, (crew chief) Dylan (Cappello), he is bad-ass …
“To be working fifth, tenth and rapidly to go back-to-back within the playoffs-man, I want I used to be within the playoffs so dangerous. I believe we might be an actual risk to win the championship.”
Heim needed to accept second place, however there was a silver lining for the driving force of the No. 11 Tricon Storage Toyota. Heim scored sufficient factors on Thursday to clinch a spot within the Spherical of 8, as did fourth-place finisher Christian Eckes and fifth-place Nick Sanchez.
“Each time we obtained a warmth cycle on the tires, it appeared like we obtained tighter and tighter,” stated Heim, who fell one spot quick in his protection of final 12 months’s victory at Thunder Valley. “Simply did not fairly have it, however strong factors day within the playoffs-that’s what you want, so I’ll hold transferring ahead.
“I am wanting ahead to my favourite place (Kansas Speedway) subsequent week.”
Heim gained a drag race for the runner-up spot over Rajah Caruth, who elevated his standing within the playoffs with a win within the first stage and a strong run the remainder of the way in which.
Caruth vaulted from tenth to fifth within the standings with the third-place run and now stands 35 factors above the present minimize line with subsequent Friday’s elimination race at Kansas left to find out which eight drivers advance to the subsequent spherical.
“We executed the race-just two spots quick,” stated Caruth, who glanced towards Riggs’ truck doing celebratory burnouts on the frontstretch. “Man, I want that was us,” Caruth added wistfully.
Reigning sequence champion Ben Rhodes fought an ill-handling truck and completed twenty seventh, two laps down, and fell to tenth within the standings, 12 factors behind Grant Enfinger in eighth.
Daniel Dye tangled with Kaden Honeycutt on the frontstretch on Lap 157 and completed thirty second, six laps down. Dye heads for Kansas seven factors behind Enfinger.
Eighteen-year-old Dash Automobile star Corey Day completed 18th in his Truck Sequence debut. After successful his NASCAR Xfinity Sequence debut final Saturday at Watkins Glen, polesitter Connor Zilisch spun in Flip 4 on Lap 109 and got here house nineteenth.
Matt Crafton ran sixth, adopted by Chase Purdy and playoff driver Ty Majeski, who began from the rear after his group made unapproved changes to the No. 98 Ford. Stewart Friesen and playoff driver Tyler Ankrum accomplished the highest 10.
NOTE: Put up-race inspection was accomplished with out problem within the Craftsman Truck Sequence storage, confirming Layne Riggs because the winner.
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Particular to Subject Stage Media.