Layne Riggs wins final-lap NASCAR Truck Series thriller at Nashville
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
LEBANON, Tenn.—Layne Riggs set the pace early in Friday night’s rain-delayed NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, then rallied to a dramatic final-lap pass when it mattered most to claim the track’s iconic “Victory Guitar” trophy in the Allegiance 200.
Riggs, who started sixth on the race’s eighth and final restart with 16 laps to go, passed the defending race winner Rajah Caruth coming off Turn 2 on the last lap after getting a strong push forward from his Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith to hold the front position and take his second consecutive — and third — win of the 2026 season in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford.
After leading all of the opening 90 laps and claiming victories in both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the race, Riggs restarted the final stage from the fifth row, losing positions after the competition’s varying pit strategies. His move forward afterward, however, was an exhilarating ending to a long night.
Ultimately, the 23-year-old North Carolina native and second-generation NASCAR driver took the checkered flag by a slight 0.468 seconds over Caruth, who drove the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet originally intended to be raced by Kyle Busch, who passed away at the age of 41 from sepsis last Thursday.
It was an emotional win for Riggs, who dedicated the victory to Busch and an equally emotional outing for Caruth, who honored Busch with his own outstanding run toward the trophy, too.
“Not till I passed him and cleared him,” Riggs said of feeling confident in his dramatic comeback and energized by his triumph at a track where his father Scott Riggs won the series’ inaugural Truck race back in 2001 and two other O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races (2002-03).
“That’s how you win a NASCAR Truck race there, boys and girls. I hope I put on a show for you. I didn’t want to fall back, but I don’t know what happened with that set of tires. It was literally undrivable.
“[Crew chief] Dylan [Capello] made the right adjustments there, got me the tires, got me the motivation and drove to the front,” he said of a late race pit stop gamble for an adjustment and new tires with 32 laps remaining.
“So proud of the awesome finish there with the 38 truck (Smith), he gave me the push for the win and good racing there with Chandler tonight,” he added of his teammate, who finished third.
Caruth, who led 44 laps, was second only to Riggs’ effort, looked to become only the second driver in history to earn back-to-back wins on the 1.33-mile Nashville concrete oval, and certainly the talented and well-liked young driver had the emotional support of millions of NASCAR fans who would have loved to see Busch’s truck return to Victory Lane.
“I was trying to make this thing as wide as possible,” Caruth said of trying to hold off Riggs, whose car was on fresher tires. “But that was a great call by Brian. We were strong, but starting at the back because of qualifying [being rained out] kind of impacted our night. We got the car really strong there and probably some things I could have done better.
“Glad to give these guys a good result. … really wanted to get that one obviously for everybody that was at KBM [Kyle Busch Motorsports], especially KB’s family. Close. I just didn’t close it out.”
“Wanted to get a trophy tonight. So close. But proud of the effort and the team.”
MORE: Caruth reacts to runner-up finish
Cup Series regular Ross Chastain finished fourth in the Niece Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by Tyler Ankrum in the No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevy.
Stewart Friesen, Grant Enfinger, 2024 Nashville winner Christian Eckes, Gio Ruggiero and Daniel Dye rounded out the top 10.
With his victory and a rare laps-down finish for Tricon Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt, Riggs took over the championship lead by 37 points over Honeycutt.
The Craftsman Truck Series returns to action next Saturday at the Michigan International Speedway 2-mile oval with the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 at 1:30 p.m. ET (FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Stewart Friesen is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Riggs as the race winner.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 11
Race Results for the Allegiance 200 - Friday, May 29, 2026
Nashville Superspeedway - Nashville, TN - 1.33 - Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 150 Laps - 199.5 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/30/2026 @ 01:27 AM Eastern
Stage 1 Stage 2
Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Pts Pos Pos Status Tms Laps
1 1 34 Layne Riggs Love's Travel Stops/Fleetguard Ford 150 1 1 76 Running 2 99
2 25 7 Rajah Caruth(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 150 0 Running 2 44
3 22 38 Chandler Smith Matheus Lumber Ford 150 6 3 47 Running
4 21 45 Ross Chastain(i) Tennessee Highway Safety Office Chevrolet 150 10 0 Running 2 7
5 17 18 Tyler Ankrum Ullico Chevrolet 150 32 Running
6 24 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 150 31 Running
7 16 9 Grant Enfinger Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 150 5 36 Running
8 5 91 Christian Eckes Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet 150 4 4 43 Running
9 4 17 Giovanni Ruggiero First Auto Group Toyota 150 5 34 Running
10 36 20 Daniel Dye Champion Container Chevrolet 150 7 31 Running
11 18 62 Parker Retzlaff(i) Sports Illustrated Resorts Toyota 150 0 Running
12 27 88 Ty Majeski REPEL/Menards Ford 150 8 28 Running
13 7 1 Brandon Jones(i) Sprecher Toyota 150 0 Running
14 19 44 Andres Perez De Lara Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet 150 23 Running
15 10 19 Daniel Hemric NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet 150 10 9 25 Running
16 29 13 Cole Butcher # Atlantic Tilt Load Ford 150 21 Running
17 23 26 Dawson Sutton Tennessee VOLS Chevrolet 150 20 Running
18 13 4 Stefan Parsons TCBUS.com Chevrolet 150 19 Running
19 30 12 Brenden Queen # Cummins RAM 150 18 Running
20 33 14 Mini Tyrrell # Ram's Race for the Seat RAM 150 17 Running
21 31 22 Derek Lemke Merkts Ford 150 16 Running
22 12 10 Corey LaJoie Mopar RAM 149 15 Running
23 32 81 Kris Wright iHeartRadio Chevrolet 149 14 Running
24 26 33 Frankie Muniz Lakeside Construction Ford 149 13 Running
25 35 93 Caleb Costner Lickety Lew's/Michael Waltrip Brewing Chevrolet 148 12 Running
26 28 76 Spencer Boyd Tohatsu Chevrolet 148 11 Running
27 2 11 Kaden Honeycutt Safelite/Foster Love Toyota 147 2 2 28 Running
28 6 99 Ben Rhodes Nashville Stampede Ford 145 7 6 18 Running
29 34 2 Clayton Green The Turner Company Ford 141 8 Running
30 8 5 William Sawalich(i) Starkey Toyota 120 0 Running
31 15 16 Justin Haley RAM RAM 108 6 Suspension
32 11 98 Jake Garcia Curb Records Ford 75 9 7 Accident
33 9 15 Tanner Gray Place of Hope Toyota 72 8 7 Accident
34 3 77 Jesse Love(i) Delaware Life Chevrolet 70 3 0 Accident
35 20 25 Carson Ferguson Nothing Stops Nashville RAM 59 2 Accident
36 14 42 Tyler Reif Comprehensive Logistics Chevrolet 55 1 Accident
,Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 59 Mins, 45 Secs. Average Speed: 99.958 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.468 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 34, 11, 77, 91, 17, 38, 99, 15, 98, 19
Stage 2 Top 10: 34, 11, 38, 91, 9, 99, 20, 88, 19, 45
Race Comments: Layne Riggs won the Allegiance 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, his eighth NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory. Prior to the start the following car(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 14 (unapproved adjustments), No. 44 (inspection penalty)
Failed to Qualify: (2) 27 Toni Breidinger, 69 Jonathan Shafer.
Caution Flags: 8 for 48 laps; Laps: 47-54 (Stage 1 Conclusion [10]); 56-60 (No. 42 Incident Turn 4 [26]); 62-67 (No. 25 Incident Turn 2 [16]); 70-75 (Nos. 15, 77, 98 Incident Turn 2 [12]); 79-84 (Debris [44]); 97-103 (Stage 2 Conclusion [14]); 120-124 (No. 11 Stopped Turn 4 [13]); 130-134 (Tire on Grass [22]).
Lead Changes: 5 among 3 drivers; L. Riggs 1-98; R. Chastain(i) 99-104; R. Caruth(i) 105-133; R. Chastain(i) 134; R. Caruth(i) 135-149; L. Riggs 150.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: June 6, 2026 - Michigan International Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
CURRENT NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES STANDINGS
UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
1. Layne Riggs 34 11 1 458 0 0 3 4
2. Kaden Honeycutt 11 11 -1 421 -37 37 1 1
3. Christian Eckes 91 11 0 365 -93 56 0 3
4. Chandler Smith 38 11 1 362 -96 3 1 1
5. Giovanni Ruggiero 17 11 -1 352 -106 10 0 0
6. Ty Majeski 88 11 1 309 -149 43 0 0
7. Ben Rhodes 99 11 -1 300 -158 9 0 3
8. Tyler Ankrum 18 11 2 256 -202 44 0 0
9. Stewart Friesen 52 11 2 254 -204 2 0 1
10. Daniel Hemric 19 11 -1 254 -204 0 0 1
11. Jake Garcia 98 11 -3 248 -210 6 0 0
12. Grant Enfinger 9 11 4 228 -230 20 0 0
13. Justin Haley 16 11 -1 221 -237 7 0 0
14. Brenden Queen # 12 11 0 219 -239 2 0 0
15. Andres Perez De Lara 44 11 2 207 -251 12 0 0
16. Corey Heim 4 -3 204 -254 3 2 3
17. Tanner Gray 15 11 -2 202 -256 2 0 0
18. Dawson Sutton 26 11 0 185 -273 17 0 0
19. Mini Tyrrell # 14 11 0 158 -300 27 0 0
20. Cole Butcher # 13 11 1 151 -307 7 0 0
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