The post-race celebration said it all.
Layne Riggs planted the nose of his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford firmly against the outside of the pit row wall and lit up his tires as members of his team stood on the barrier and pumped their fists repeatedly.
The elation was well-deserved after Riggs scored his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Friday night‘s TSport 200.
With his second victory of the season and a sweep of the first two stages, Riggs cut into the dominating lead of Corey Heim with two races left in the regular season.
Nevertheless, Heim, who ran third in a balky No. 11 Toyota, clinched the regular-season title.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy
“I‘ll tell you, this truck was badass, man,” Riggs said after climbing from the F-150 on pit road. “It was so great. I was just out front saving my tires at the end. Then I was just waiting for a late-race caution (which never came), trying to run the bottom and trying to keep the least amount of distance to keep the distance off my tires.
“It‘s so great to get (sponsor) Clew Nicotine Pouches in Victory Lane. That‘s only their second race with us, and we‘re super excited to have them. That was a pretty cool celebration.”
Riggs led 160 of the 200 laps at the 0.686-mile short track and beat Corey Day to the finish line by 1.864 seconds. The runner-up result was a career-best for Day, who had run fifth at Nashville Superspeedway in his most recent Truck Series outing.
“It was good to back up Nashville,” said Day, 19, who is running part-time schedules with Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series and Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. “I was telling everyone it clicked, and it felt like it clicked, but unless I come here and back it up, it means nothing.
“I‘m really glad to finally be delivering results. I‘ve been working really, really hard at this to be delivering results, and I really want to be doing the burnout up there.”
Stewart Friesen parlayed an early pit stop in the second stage into an ostensible third-place finish but was disqualified after failing height requirements in post-race inspection. The disqualification ruined an astute strategic call by the No. 52 team.
Grant Enfinger ran fourth. Reigning series champion Ty Majeski, currently the last driver above the elimination line for the 10-driver playoffs, came home fifth after Friesen‘s disqualification and extended his advantage over ThorSport racing teammate Jake Garcia (15th Friday) from 38 to 61 points.
Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, Ross Chastain and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10.
Though he scored no playoff points on Friday, Heim, who set the fastest lap on his second circuit, already has banked 39 this season. With the seven he added in the TSport 200, Riggs now has 16, second most among Truck Series drivers, with the playoffs set to begin Aug. 30 at Darlington Raceway.
With two races remaining in the regular season, the Truck Series heads to Watkins Glen International Friday, Aug. 8 (5 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Inspection was completed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series garage, and the No. 52 truck was disqualified for failing front-end height requirements (too low). There were no other issues.
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