Layne Riggs's team drew its own line. "We set as a goal that if I was 45 or worse back, we're not going to have a shot," Riggs said in Front Row Motorsports' race report. He left Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway 43 points behind Kaden Honeycutt in the Chase, the series playoff, according to NASCAR's standings. Two points inside the line, with two races left. Sammy Smith, who isn't racing for the Truck title, won the race in overtime, and Honeycutt finished fifth and stretched his lead.
After Phoenix I said Riggs and the No. 34 group were good, but not good enough, and that this time of year good isn't good enough. I also said a mile-and-a-half track leans toward the 34 group, and the finale at Homestead is a mile and a half. "If they can be close, I think they'll be fine, but without that I'm not sure." Martinsville, a half-mile short track, comes first.
Riggs and overtime
Riggs was second in the second stage, one of the segments that pay points before the finish, and led three times. The race went to overtime, the extra laps NASCAR adds so a race ends under green, and Riggs restarted on the front row. Sammy Smith and Ty Majeski cleared him by the backstretch. Riggs finished eighth.
"I felt like me and the 88 were going to get side-by-side for the win," Riggs said, meaning Majeski. "It looked like he pushed me out and shoved me to the third lane, so I'm not exactly sure if that's what happened." His answer to the deficit: "We're going to have to go dominate the next two races." He has seven wins this year. Honeycutt has four.
The 11 group took the hit and still scored
After Phoenix I gave the No. 11 group kudos for stomping out the competition. Honeycutt's TRICON Garage Toyota needed a long stop after the first stage to fix damage to the right front splitter, the flat panel under the nose. He had already finished second in that stage. He came back to lead eight laps in the middle of the race, was fourth in the second stage, and on the last lap he pushed Majeski and then dove under him off Turn 4. He finished fifth and scored 48 points, the most of any Chase driver. His lead went from 39 to 43.
Talladega also cut the Chase to five. Majeski is 141 back, Chandler Smith 142 and Christian Eckes 144. Giovanni Ruggiero, Daniel Hemric, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger left more than 153 points behind and were eliminated. Enfinger came in as the only Chase driver who had won at all three remaining tracks. His right rear tire went flat while he was leading on lap 38, and on lap 79 he hit Thomas Annunziata's truck after it was turned into the outside wall.
Spire's day
Smith won by 0.091 seconds in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, his first Truck Series win in his 11th start. He races for the championship in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, so the win didn't touch the Truck title. He led six times for 21 laps, more than anyone, after riding out the second stage on fuel only. "Once we got four tires on it really, it kind of came to life again," he said. On the last lap, nine trucks crashed entering Turn 1 and the race stayed green. Smith jumped to the outside in the tri-oval and beat Tyler Ankrum to the line.
Austin Green ran third for Spire in his first career Truck Series start, and he led three times for 14 laps. When it was over I posted that Green was "again showing that if you give him a shot he can produce." Smith said Green kept him in it at the end. "If it wasn't for Austin being behind me, I probably would have been split multiple different times," Smith said.
There were 32 lead changes among 15 drivers. NASCAR noted that the 30th, on lap 78, broke the Talladega Truck record of 29, set in 2013.
My pick ran out of tires
I picked Justin Haley, a good superspeedway guy, in the No. 16 Ram for Kaulig Racing, and Friday morning I posted that I thought the group's long season was "going to end in a high with a dub" at Talladega. A dub is a win. Haley had the truck for it. He took the lead on lap 9, then had a tire go down four laps later and made it to pit road. On lap 71 he pushed Smith to the front, and on the next lap he pulled alongside him for it in Turn 1. Two laps after that, his right rear went flat. He finished 20th, two laps down.
Kaulig's best finish came from Brenden Queen in the No. 12, seventh and the highest-finishing rookie. On the show I said I wasn't picking Tony Stewart, but Tony Stewart was in the race. His No. 25 was collected in the crash on lap 17 that brought out the red flag. He finished 34th.
Picks
On the Truck Series show, Chris Wilner took Honeycutt, who finished fifth. Davey Segal took Rhodes, who was caught in the last-lap crash, finished 17th and was eliminated. I had Haley, 20th. Nobody had Smith.
The Chase goes to Martinsville Speedway on Friday, Oct. 30, at 6 p.m. ET on FS1, and ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday, Nov. 6.
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