Riggs Makes One Last Regular Statement, Earns Sixth Win at New Hampshire!

Layne Riggs on his way to Victory Lane at New Hampshire! (Tim Moore | Motorsports Today)

LOUDON, N.H. - The Craftsman Truck Series closed out its regular season, Saturday, August 22, as for the second consecutive year the series returned to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Unlike last year, where the race was in The Chase, this year the race served as the regular season finale. After 189 laps, including two overtime restarts, Layne Riggs secured his 6th win of 2026.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Riggs started on pole, but was not fully the best truck early on. That label instead went to Connor Zilisch, who took control of the race lead on lap 36. Zilisch, who just announced earlier in the week that he will be joining Hendrick Motorsports for the 2028 season, proceeded to run arguably his best Craftsman Truck Series race with Spire Motorsports.

Zilisch swept both stages, and led a total of 55 laps in the opening 114, but bad luck and a variety of cautions, ultimately cost the young star a chance at earning the win.

On the lap 115 restart, Zilisch had contact with 16- year old teammate Tristan McKee causing damage that altered the handling of his truck. Despite numerous cautions and advancing multiple times on the restart, Zilisch never got back into the mix for the win earning a 5th place result.

As for the Riggs, his domination came in the final stage. Riggs didn't re-assume the lead until lap 119 and found himself leading the final 71 laps in route to the victory.

For Riggs, it didn't come easy though, as late race drama presented itself in terms of a late race yellow.

On lap 170, Gavan Boschele of TRICON Garage crashed from 9th bringing out the first yellow to set up overtime. On lap 180, the race went back green, but TRICON's day gone bad was not over.

Heading into turn two, Gio Ruggiero got sideways going into a spin while battling for the lead, collecting Connor Mosack. The incident ended the day for Mosack, while Ruggiero continued with damage finishing the race in 26th.

The story of the final restart though was between three drivers. Stewart Friesen, who just two cautions before found himself above The Chase cutline, entered the final restart -10 points to Tyler Ankrum. Despite Friesen running 4th, Ankrum gained points due to multiple trucks pitting for the first green, white checkered in a hail mary attempt.

For Ankrum the day was riddled with issues again for back-to-back weeks as the #18 Liuna Chevorlet, suffered rear brake issues early on the race. Ankrum did not earn any stage points, and found himself outside the top 20 majority of the day watching his hopes dwindle away.

Also in the mix was Jake Garcia, who found himself above the cutline at one point, but also sat -10 with Friesen entering the final restart. Garcia needed trouble for both of his competitors to make the hopes come true. Unfortunately, they did not.

On the last restart, Friesen tried his mightiest to gain spots, but the difference came down to Ankrum managing his losses. Ankrum only bled three spots away to trucks on fresh tires advancing by 7 points over Friesen. A 16th place effort is all that was needed for Ankrum to sneak his way in.

As for Friesen, he finished 4th, with the difference maker being his crash last weekend at Richmond where he finished the race in last. As for Garcia, he crossed the line in 14th, missing The Chase by 11 points.

OTHER NOTABLES:

Kaulig and Ram had a tough weekend speed wise but found themselves rallying late. Justin Haley finished the race in 9th earning his 4th top ten of the season. This marked the 11th top ten overall for RAM on the season, and the first the manufacture has earned since Colin Braun's efforts at Limerock Park back on July 11th.

For NIECE Motorsports, Parker Eatmon had himself a solid rae that resulted in a 10th place finish. For Eatmon it marks his first career top ten in the Craftsman Truck Series, besting a previous best finish of 12th at IRP.

For Halmar Friesen Racing, outside of Stewart Friesen's situation ending not the way the team wanted, the organization as a whole had a very strong day.

Despite starting 17th, Christopher Bell found himself earning 5th and 4th in the opening two stages, putting him on the cusp of being in the mix for the win. Similar to Zilisch, things spiraled due to strategy and incidents, but Bell rebounded to a 7th place effort.

As for Michael Christopher Jr, similar to Friesen, he played strategy in the third stage to get himself track position. Despite losing some spots on the lap 118 restart, Christopher was a mainstay in the top ten until falling out late on the last green-white-checkered. Christopher earned a 12th place effort, making his average finish over three starts a solid 15.0.

UP NEXT:

The Craftsman Truck Series will have one more break prior to its final seven race stretch to decide a champion. The first race of The Chase will be at Bristol Motor Speedway, Thursday, September 17, something the Truck Series has not done yet this season. Earlier this season Christopher Bell won in the first trip to the banked short track, but will not be able to attempt a sweep, due to NASCAR Cup Series drivers not being able to partake in lower series races during The Chase. Coverage of the race can be found on FS1 starting at 8:00 P.M. ET, with the race totaling 250 laps.

As for the main event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series takes on Loudon tomorrow, August 23, at 2:00 P.M. ET. Due to incoming weather NASCAR decided to move the green flag up an hour from the intial slate of 3:00 P.M. 23Xi's Tyler Reddick will start the race on pole, as he aims to earn his first New Hampshire lobster.

Motorsports Today will have coverage of the race so stick with us on our social medias on X, Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok, and here on MotorsportsToday.net