Emotional Layne Riggs Wins Chaotic Conditions Shortened Truck Race at Charlotte

RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Steven Brien / RPW – CONCORD, NC – Layne Riggs held off Christian Eckes on a late restart before NASCAR controversially called Sunday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series NC Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway short under caution.

NASCAR officials ended the NC Education Lottery 200 after 110 laps, citing a noon Eastern time limit despite clear weather conditions and a dry racetrack. The decision was made because FOX did not want the race to interfere with their broadcast of the Indy 500. The decision drew frustration from several drivers following a caution on Lap 73 when Chandler Smith spun while battling Connor Zilisch for third place exiting Turn 2.

Riggs, who surged to the lead after a strong restart against Eckes, earned his second victory of the season after leading 52 laps, the most on the day, in an emotional weekend for the NASCAR community following the death of Kyle Busch.

“He would be proud of that performance,” Riggs said about the late great Kyle Busch after climbing out of his No. 34 Ford. “The hearts are really heavy this weekend.”

Riggs also credited teammate Smith for helping him maintain the lead on the decisive restart.

“We had a little teammate restart there, and he stuck with me and pushed me,” he said. “Super proud of him and the strong performance we had today.”

Kaden Honeycutt finished second after spending most of the race inside the top five, though he sharply criticized NASCAR’s decision to end the race early.

“I had to race against a freaking time clock,” Honeycutt said on pit road after climbing out of his No. 11 Toyota. “This is a bad race for all of us, just really egregious.”

Honeycutt also said he planned to honor Busch had he reached Victory Lane.

“I was gonna give Brexton and them the flag,” he said. “He [Busch] probably would have laid another but whooping into us today if he was here.”

Zilisch finished third, followed by Ben Rhodes in fourth and Gio Ruggiero in fifth. Eckes finished sixth after winning Stage 1 and leading 33 laps, while Brandon Jones, Tanner Gray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and William Sawalich completed the top 10.

The race featured eleven cautions and multiple big crashes.

One of the biggest incidents came on Lap 47 when Corey Day attempted to block Ruggiero entering the backstretch. Contact sent Day’s Chevrolet airborne before it slammed hard into the inside wall on the driver’s side. Day climbed from the truck under his own power but finished 35th.

Riggs later passed Eckes on a restart to win Stage 2, his second stage victory of the season. Eckes finished second in the stage, followed by Ross Chastain, Daniel Hemric and Jones. Honeycutt was sixth, followed by Stewart Friesen, Rhodes, Jake Garcia, and Tyler Ankrum to round out the top ten.

Eckes captured Stage 1 after passing Grant Enfinger during a frantic two lap shootout. Jones finished second in the stage, with Riggs, Enfinger and Honeycutt rounding out the top five. Sawalich was sixth, Day seventh, Stenhouse Jr. in eighth, Garica was ninth, and Dawson Sutton held on with old tires to complete the top ten.

The opening caution came on Lap 7 when Shane van Gisbergen spun underneath Frankie Muniz in Turn 2.

Mechanical issues also shuffled the field throughout the event. Ty Majeski slowed on Lap 21 after his throttle failed to respond, while teammate Cole Butcher later pitted with a fuel-pressure issue that dropped him deep in the running order.

Another caution flew on Lap 39 when Luke Baldwin lost an engine and caught fire on the frontstretch.

Late-race incidents continued to pile up as Kris Wright crashed exiting Turn 4 on Lap 87 after contact with the wall, collecting Brenden Queen and ending both drivers’ days.

Spencer Boyd, Leland Honeyman Jr., Stewart Friesen and Andres Perez de Lara also spun during the final stage to bring out cautions in the chaotic race.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – NC Education Lottery 200

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Concord, N.C.

Sunday May 24, 2026