Layne Riggs started Thursday night’s Truck Series Playoffs race at Bristol Motor Speedway in seventh, but soon had to restart from the back of the field.
Riggs got loose on the first lap to bring out a yellow flag and ended up in 36th for the restart after visiting the pits for new tires.
Pole-sitter Jake Garcia went on to win Stage One, by which time Riggs had already recovered to ninth, but had to head to the garage on Lap 84 o the 250-lap race when he lost power steering.
That opened the door for last week’s winner Corey Heim to win Stage Two after battling for several laps with a fully recovered Riggs, who finished second.
Read Also: NASCAR IS ‘GETTING CLOSE’ TO A NEW PLAYOFFS FORMAT
Riggs won the race with Heim off pit lane, however, and was second on the restart behind Cole Butcher, but quickly passed him and dominated the rest of the stage to take the checkered flag and book a spot in the Round of 8.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE AMERICAN CARS AND RACING NEWSLETTER FOR MORE RACING NEWS
“The first lap of the race to spin out, it’s a blow to your confidence, for sure, but I’ve got faith in this team,” Riggs said during his front stretch interview on FS1 after the race. “I think this shows that we’re right there, we’re in contention, we can do it,” said Riggs, who won the same race last year.
Next up is the first round cut-of race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sep. 20. Daniel Hemric is on top of the points standings mong drivers without a win ahead of Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Tyler Ankrum, Kaden Honeycutt and Rajah Caruth, with Jake Garcia and Chandler Smith below the cut-line.
Full Results:
