August 12, 2023
Something about Layne Riggs and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series just clicks.
One year ago, Riggs made his Truck Series debut at Lucas Oil IRP, finishing an impressive seventh with in a second Halmar Friesen Racing truck. On Friday, Aug. 11, Riggs returned to Lucas Oil IRP and bettered last year’s result with a third-place finish.
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“Both times I had really good trucks,” Riggs told Frontstretch. “This is also a short track. It takes a lot of throttle control, it takes a lot of discipline. It’s something a lot of these guys really don’t have racing on mile-and-a-halfs. They’re barely cracking the throttle and holding it wide open all the time.”
On a night where the playoff drivers were the story, as Lucas Oil IRP is the opening race of the Truck Series playoffs, Riggs showed up almost all of them on the short track of Lucas Oil IRP. Riggs is a short-track racer at heart, competing regularly in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. The experience has paid off on the Truck Series side.
“These guys were in my wheelhouse tonight,” Riggs said. “Even though I was driving their trucks, they were in my house, my kind of racetrack.”
Riggs started the night in 12th but methodically worked his way up through the field. On the final restart he was fifth, but was able to work his way up to third by the time the checkered flag flew, passing playoff driver Carson Hocevar to do so.
The race saw a long green-flag run to end the race, but if a late yellow had flown, it might have been just what Riggs needed to steal a win from the dominant Ty Majeski.
Riggs has made sporadic starts throughout the Truck Series the last two seasons, competing in six races for four different teams. Even still, Riggs seems to come up every time he races a truck due to his speed on the track.
Before the season started, Stewart Friesen, driver and co-owner of Halmar Friesen Racing, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that Riggs would return for a part-time schedule in a second HFR truck, the No. 62, and that if sponsorship could be found, Riggs would run full-time.
So far, Riggs has run zero races for HFR this season, and that (as well as running just six races thus far) is mostly due to that sponsorship factor.
“These are deals I have to work out months and months in advance. With the budgeting I have, it’s one race at a time. I just make sure every race I go to I’ve got to make a splash, and show everyone that I’m here, and I feel like I do that every time.”
Even still, Riggs says he feels like he has enough talent to race in the Truck Series full-time. Despite short tracks being his specialty, Riggs has proven time and time again that he can run with the big dawgs in the Truck Series.
“I think that I have a lot of experience on the short tracks,” Riggs said. “I’m learning on the mile-and-a-halfs. I think I have a lot of potential and I’ve proven every time in the Truck Series that I deserve to be here.
“With some more experience, the right people working week in and week out to build a program, I think we can win a championship, easy.”
Originally posted on frontstretch.com