For the first two stages of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it looked like Connor Zilisch had the truck to beat.
Zilisch won the first two stages, but it was Layne Riggs who dominated the final stage and appeared to be running away with his sixth victory of the season as he also clinched the No. 1 seed in the Chase. He held on to win in double overtime without a serious challenge from runner-up Chandler Smith.
“Statement win,” Riggs told Fox Sports. “I’m ready for some lobster. Thank you to everybody at Front Row Motorsports, Ford Racing. I thought I was off a little bit. I thought I was in trouble. Thank you to my teammate Chandler for racing me clean there for the win. Let’s bring on the Chase. We only got seven (races) left. No mercy.”
The win is the 11th of Riggs’ Truck Series career and his first at New Hampshire.
However, it was the battle for the 10th and final Chase spot that held the attention of race fans in the closing laps. Over the race’s final run, Stewart Friesen, Tyler Ankrum and Jake Garcia were in a heated battle for the final spot in the postseason.
Ankrum entered Saturday’s race 10th in the standings, 20 points up on Friesen, while Garcia was 21 points back of Ankrum. But strategy moves from Garcia and Friesen got them each stage points in Stages 1 and 2, respectively, while brake issues on Ankrum’s truck put him behind the eight ball.
At the start of Stage 3, however, it was Friesen who had the advantage, as Ankrum continued to struggle and Garcia had incurred a pit road penalty. In the closing laps, Friesen ran inside the top five, while Garcia was just outside the top 10 and Ankrum ran outside of the top 20.
Friesen and Ankrum were tied for 10th when the caution came out on Lap 170. After staying out and gaining positions under caution, Ankrum barely snuck through the Lap 180 restart crash that sent the race into double overtime.