Chandler Smith took the lead from teammate Layne Riggs on a restart with 11 laps left in the Black’s Tire 200, securing his third win of the year and the 10th of his Craftsman Truck Series career. The victory at Martinsville Speedway came at the expense of Riggs, who needed a win to take the series lead heading into the finale.
A Riggs win would have placed him atop the standings with one race remaining. Instead, he now trails Kaden Honeycutt by 20 points as the series moves to Homestead. Riggs entered Martinsville knowing he had to win both Stages and the race to stay in championship contention. He accomplished that, recording the fastest lap and holding a 1.580-second lead with 20 laps to go.
Caution Changes the Race
The race’s outcome shifted after Tyler Reif spun Carson Ferguson, prompting the ninth caution. NASCAR penalized Reif with a two-lap penalty. The caution gave Riggs a new decision for the restart. He chose the inside lane, with Smith on the outside. Tristan McKee lined up behind Riggs, and Ben Rhodes chose the lane behind Smith.
When the green flag waved, Smith got the better restart and moved into the lead. Rhodes passed Riggs for second, dropping Riggs to third. Smith went on to win by 0.574 seconds over Rhodes and finished 1.102 seconds ahead of Riggs.
Reactions from the Drivers
“I’m really surprised he did that,” Honeycutt said of Smith’s victory. “Twenty points, but definitely not comfortable in Homestead next week.”
Read Also: Ford Fathom EV targets low price point
Riggs explained his restart strategy. “I felt better on the top on restarts all night long,” he said. “My team kind of differed against that. They didn’t want me to take the top because then you put the control of your race in the guy’s hands on the inside of you. He can use you up.”
Smith, who is third in the standings but out of the championship fight, was emotional. “We’ve been through a very rough patch since the Chase started,” he said.
Riggs congratulated Smith on the win but expressed his disappointment. “Those bonus points really would have been nice, and even more than that I wanted a grandfather clock really, really bad,” Riggs said. “We led so many laps. I’m just disappointed.” Riggs led a total of 156 laps in the race.
On the final restart, McKee made contact with Honeycutt, sending him high in turn one and allowing other drivers to pass. Honeycutt later spoke with McKee about the incident. “I had nothing against him. I just wanted to ask him if the 88 (Ty Majeski) hit him or not,” Honeycutt said. After reviewing the replay, Honeycutt added, “He (McKee) was just trying to give Majeski room, and I didn’t get the call that we were three wide until too late.”
The race was stopped twice for a total of 9:42 due to multi-truck crashes. There were seven lead changes among four drivers throughout the event.
