Layne Riggs made it plenty clear that he feels the Craftsman Truck Series Chase presented by Mobil 1 is his to lose.
But just as clear now? His future with Front Row Motorsports.
Riggs shared with reporters during the series’ media day on Tuesday that he’ll return to the organization full time next season, driving the No. 34 Ford.
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“I can confirm with all of the media, I am returning to Front Row next year to race in the Truck Series,” Riggs said. “They have picked up my option, and looking forward to it.
“They’ve been a great team for me. I’m under contract with them. They’ve done a great job at giving me trucks. They gave me my first opportunity racing in the Truck Series and got me to where I’m at today and got me to the name that I’m at and the success I’ve had. I love racing trucks. I think it’s a lot of fun. I’m having the absolute time of my life and wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
Riggs, who has expressed hope of making his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2027, explained his desire to sprinkle in starts at the premier-series level next season. He referenced Corey Heim, who’s made sporadic Cup Series starts with 23XI Racing since 2024, back when he still competed full time in the Truck Series for Tricon Garage. But that’s not set in stone.
“I would love to sprinkle some Cup starts in there,” Riggs said. “My goal is to make a Cup Series start by the end of 2027, and I stay pretty firm on that, no matter how that turns out or how that happens.”
Speaking of Heim, there are plenty of parallels between Riggs’ career-best Truck Series season so far and what the defending champion accomplished a year ago. Through 18 races, Riggs has won six times, including five of the last nine leading into The Chase. His 598 laps led the series, and Riggs owns the second-best average finish (9.72) and second-most top fives (10).
At this point last year, Heim had just one more victory than Riggs and two more top fives.
A Bahama, North Carolina, native, Riggs led the standings after each of the final eight regular-season races. He solidified the elusive No. 1 Chase seed with a dominant, 106-lap-led New Hampshire triumph last month.
Riggs will have another opportunity at a championship next season. But with the No. 1 seed now in hand, his focus remains squarely on winning this year’s title.
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“We’re firing on all eight cylinders right now as a team,” Riggs said. “Any race that we had, like, a really bad result was because something happened. If we had a clean race, we finished inside the top five all year long, and I don’t see that changing in these seven races.
“Everybody wants to be me. Who doesn’t want to be the No. 1 guy with a target on your back? Somebody else said, ‘How do you like being hunted?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not. I’m still the hunter.’ I’m still hunting for a bigger points lead. I’m not on defense. I’m on just as much offense as I have been all year long, and that’s not going to change.”
And Riggs isn’t taking his 25-point advantage to start The Chase for granted. Top-seeded Denny Hamlin surrendered 16 points to second over the first two Cup Series Chase races, notably finishing 18th at Darlington after severe wall contact. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Justin Allgaier led after every race since mid-March, but two sub-par Chase results dropped him to second in points following Gateway, completely erasing his head start.
“It shows that 25 points is nothing, even though it sounds like it’s a decent lead,” Riggs said. “Being passive and running just top five the whole time isn’t going to win you a championship. I think that just staying on the same path we’ve been on, the same way we’ve been points racing all year, just have to stay on that exact same path and mindset, and don’t psych ourselves out about it.”
But if Riggs slips, Kaden Honeycutt and Chandler Smith will be there to capitalize. Honeycutt, the No. 2 seed, earned his first career victory at Watkins Glen Intetrnational in May and followed it up with a 225-lap-led win at Richmond Raceway last month. He leads the series in both top fives (11) and top 10s (13).
Smith, Riggs’ Front Row teammate who’s departing for the O’Reilly Series next season, has also won twice in the No. 38 Ford, highlighted by a four-wide triumph in the opener at Daytona International Speedway. He earned the No. 3 seed off 12 top 10s and wiped the field for a 73-point victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
“Layne is a mature race car driver that he also understands that one of us needs to get (owner) Bob Jenkins a championship,” Smith said. “Selfishly, I want it to be me, and selfishly, he wants it to be him. But we both have the common understanding that one of us needs to win this championship for Bob Jenkins.”
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Honeycutt will look to play spoiler for both. But he’s only worried about the No. 11 Tricon team.
“I don’t really compare myself to anybody,” Honeycutt said. “We’re racing 35 other trucks on the race track to win every week, and that’s kind of the mindset that this team sets on, is we go out to win. No matter who’s in front of us, a Chase guy or a non-Chase guy, it doesn’t matter.
“We go out and try to win the race, and the points take care of themselves after that.”
The Chase starts Thursday at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).