Riggs Left Searching After Missed Opportunity At Phoenix

Layne Riggs at Phoenix Raceway. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

By Justin Glenn, SWN Staff Writer

AVONDALE, Ariz. (Oct. 17, 2026) – A week ago, Layne Riggs was both visually and figuratively in Kaden Honeycutt’s mirror for the Craftsman Truck Series championship points lead. 

But Friday night at Phoenix Raceway, the applied pressure simmered down as Riggs lost 22 points to Honeycutt and now sits 39 behind with three races to go. 

That dip can be credited to his third-place finish in the Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150, despite starting from pole position with early winning pace. Honeycutt, however, went on to win outright for a high-points effort.

“I’m not quite sure, I felt like the first stage we fired off really good and got a big lead. The No. 88 [Ty Majeski] got around us, and we got too loose,” said Riggs, speaking on his truck fall off. “Night time came and the track gained grip, everyone gained a little bit more than I did. I felt like I got my balance better throughout the night, but the speed didn’t come with it.”

Third place isn’t bad by any means. But, a high intensity championship battle demands perfection, which are wins. Honeycutt has won twice in the last four races. Riggs’ team has had more missed opportunities than his rival opponent despite his Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway win — with a dominant Bristol race ruined by a loose wheel and Kansas wall contact turned cut tire late. 

“Dumbfounded on that one,” Riggs said, speaking of his Phoenix speed late. “I felt like we executed a nice race, which is great for us. The pit crew stepped it up and did a nice job, we were even on pit road all night, I was very proud of that. Congrats to the No. 11 guys [Honeycutt], they had a really good truck.

“Obviously they won the championship here with [2025 champion] Corey Heim, so they have a really good package for Phoenix. It just wasn’t our night. Happy we executed.”

The 24-year-old dominated the first stage. He led every lap but the final two in the first segment as Ty Majeski, who finished fourth, got around him. Riggs still earned nine stage points, outscoring Honeycutt by two, but the pit stop during the first stage break flipped the race. 

Riggs pulled into his stall slowly, saying he couldn’t see around Majeski while filing in, which affected his routine markers to pull into his box.

Riggs took fault, but he didn’t suffer greatly on the leaderboard, still restarting stage two in third. The difference was Honeycutt leap frogged him, as on the restart the two battled it out.

Honeycutt managed to stay in front, on lap 57 he ran Riggs high by taking his top lane away. Once the pass was completed, the two rivals wouldn’t cross paths again. 

Honeycutt later took the lead and Riggs was stuck behind second-place Christian Eckes near the end. Eckes lost time in lap traffic, but Riggs didn’t have the truck to push forward.

Seven days ago, it was Riggs who passed Honeycutt late to win Charlotte, leaving him head scratching. A week later it was the opposite. Riggs did pick up his third Phoenix top 10 after finishing fourth in 2025. He also led 43 laps. However, that doesn’t cut it in this year’s heavyweight title fight.

The Bahama, N.C., native will now look to stretch his luck at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway. He finished fifth in October 2025 on the 2.66-mile high banks.

“We got Talladega next week, you never know what’s going to happen there,” said Riggs. “We’re running up front every single race, it’s a back and forth battle right now, tonight wasn’t our night but I’m not going to hang my head on it.”

Coverage of the Love’s RV Stop 225 from Talladega is slated for Friday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.