Pit Stops : Bristol Motor Speedway

• Thursday, September 19th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

After lengthy break, NASCAR Truck drivers resume Playoffs

Little was decided in the Aug. 25 first race of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs at the Milwaukee Mile, but the race for the title should take on more definition after Thursday night’s UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Non-Playoff driver Layne Riggs won at Milwaukee, denying all 10 title contenders the prospect of advancing to the Round of 8 with a victory.

In addition, the two drivers who enter Friday’s race below the current cut line—defending series champion Ben Rhodes and Rajah Caruth—are well within sight of the positive side of the Playoff bubble.

With the field set to be cut from 10 to eight drivers on Sept. 27 at Kansas, Rhodes and Caruth trail eighth-place Grant Enfinger by two points and four points, respectively.

In three Truck Series starts at Bristol, Caruth has two top 10s to his credit.

“The key to success at Bristol is precision,” Caruth said. “You have to be plugged in and remain aware of everything going on around you. It’s a super-fun race track, but you are going fast, there’s a lot of banking, it is tough to see, and things happen very quickly.

“I’ve raced pretty much everything there, from ARCA to Trucks to Xfinity. Hopefully, we can build off our past runs and punch our ticket to the next round of the Playoffs.”

Series leader Christian Eckes (60 points above the current cutoff) won the spring race at Bristol. Fellow Playoff driver Corey Heim is the defending winner of the UNOH 200.

Note: Connor Zilisch, who won his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut from the pole last Saturday at Watkins Glen, will make his third Truck start of the season in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

• UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics
• Pole Winner: Connor Zilisch
• Age: 18
• Team : No 7 - Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet
• Owner: Jeff Dickerson
• Crew Chief: Brian Pattie
• Connor Zilisch won the Pole Award for the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics with a lap of 15325 seconds, 125207 mph
• This is his second pole in three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his second pole and second top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in one races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Corey Heim (second) posted his 11th top-10 start of 2024 and his second in four races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Rajah Caruth (third) posted his third top-10 start at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his 10th in 18 races this season
• Layne Riggs (18th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Thursday, September 19th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Spoiler Layne Riggs wins second straight NASCAR Truck Playoff race

Layne Riggs relished his role as spoiler so much that he returned for an encore Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Riggs isn’t competing for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship, but that didn’t prevent him from winning the Playoff opener Aug. 25 at the Milwaukee Mile.

On Thursday, Riggs passed runner-up Corey Heim for the lead on Lap 121 of 200 in the UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics and held it the rest of the way to score his second career victory and his fourth straight top five.

“Oh, my gosh, we’ve just learned so much with the trucks,” said the driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford. “My team, Dylan (Cappello), he’s bad-ass…

“To be running fifth, 10th and all of a sudden to go back-to-back in the Playoffs—man, I wish I was in the Playoffs so bad. I think we’d be a real threat to win the championship.”

Heim had to settle for second place, but there was a silver lining for the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota. Heim scored enough points on Thursday to advance to Round of 8, as did fourth-place finisher Christian Eckes and fifth-place Nick Sanchez.

“Every time we got a heat cycle on the tires, it seemed like we got tighter and tighter,” said Heim, who fell one spot short in his defense of last year’s victory at Thunder Valley. “Just didn’t quite have it, but solid points day in the Playoffs—that’s what you need, so I will keep moving forward…

“I’m looking forward to my favorite place (Kansas Speedway) next week.”

Heim won a drag race for the runner-up spot over Rajah Caruth, who elevated his standing in the Playoffs with a win in the first stage and a solid run the rest of the way.

Caruth vaulted from 10th to fifth in the standings with the third-place run and now stands 35 points above the current cut line with next Friday’s elimination race at Kansas left to determine which eight drivers advance to the next round.

“We executed the race—just two spots short,” said Caruth, who glanced toward Riggs’ truck doing celebratory burnouts on the frontstretch. “Man, I wish that was us,” Caruth added wistfully.

Reigning series champion Ben Rhodes fought an ill-handling truck and finished 27th, two laps down, and fell to 10th in the standings, 12 points behind Grant Enfinger in eighth.

Daniel Dye tangled with Kaden Honeycutt on the frontstretch on Lap 157 and finished 37th, six laps down. Dye heads for Kansas seven points behind Enfinger.

Eighteen-year-old Sprint Car star Corey Day finished 18th in his Truck Series debut. After winning his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut last Saturday at Watkins Glen, polesitter Connor Zilisch spun in Turn 4 on Lap 109 and came home 19th.

Matt Crafton ran sixth, followed by Chase Purdy and Playoff driver Ty Majeski, who started from the rear after his team made unapproved adjustments to the No. 98 Ford. Stewart Friesen and Playoff driver Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10.

• Drivers Entered: 38 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 200
• Margin of Victory: 01.096 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 20 Minutes 24 Seconds
• Average Speed: 79.552
• Cautions: 4 for 39 laps
• Lead Changes: 8
• Green Flag Passes: 1,209 (7.5 passes per green flag lap)

• UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics
• Race Winner: Layne Riggs
• Age: 22
• Team : No 38 - Love's Travel Stops Ford
• Owner: Bob Jenkins
• Crew Chief: Dylan Cappello
• Layne Riggs won the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics, his second victory in 24 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his second victory and seventh top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Corey Heim (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his 14th top-10 finish in 2024
• Rajah Caruth (third) posted his third top-10 finish in four races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Christian Eckes leads the point standings by 15 points over Corey Heim