Layne Riggs won today’s rain-delayed North Carolina Education Lottery 200, marking his seventh career victory. Riggs, who won Stage 2, led a race-high 52 laps. This marks Ford Racing’s third win of the season and second for Riggs, who captured the inaugural street race in St. Petersburg. Chandler Smith won the season-opener in Daytona. Ford Racing has now won 132 all-time NCTS races while this represents the 18th series win for Front Row Motorsports.
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Layne Riggs
4th – Ben Rhodes
13th – Jake Garcia
24th – Frankie Muniz
27th – Cole Butcher
28th – Josh Reaume
30th – Chandler Smith
33rd – Ty Majeski
36th – Luke Baldwin
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 University of North Carolina at Charlotte Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW:
WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEATING THE COMPETITION AND THE CLOCK?
“It felt good when they said it ran out. I really wanted a run to the end there. I know a lot of fans were disappointed about the race last night, including myself. I wanted to see some more racing, but I’m glad we ran the majority of it out. I feel like the racing that we had at the front of the pack made up for that, so thank you so much to my teammate, Chandler Smith. I didn’t know he got in a wreck there at the end, but he gave me an amazing push on that restart to get me clear. Dylan, my crew chief, two-tire call. I was a little skeptical, but it ended up working out. They’ve got the data. I’m just behind the wheel, but we really tried to focus on this racetrack because I feel like we’ve always struggled here as a team. We’ve never really run better than fifth before and me, my engineer Jonathan Coates and my crew chief Dylan Cappello, we spent a lot of time at the Ford Racing simulator to try and get better for this racetrack right in our backyard. I’ve seen Kyle win so many races here. Our hearts are so heavy right now for him and a lot of emotion going through my head. I hope he’s looking down on us and he’s really proud of the performance that I put on for them.” YOUR WHOLE CREW DID THE BOW ON THE PIT WALL AND YOU DID AS WELL. WHY SO EMOTIONAL? “I’ve watched him growing up. He’s the guy that you want to be. You look at his stat line and everybody wants to be like him statistically and you know you’re never, ever gonna have a chance to do that. He’s just the standard that you try to put yourself to and it was just so unexpected for everyone in the racing community. I wasn’t even alive yet, but everybody says it reminds people of 2001 at Daytona. I’m feeling that same kind of pain right now, but, like I said, I’m just so thankful that I could do it for them and that I could honor him.”
LAYNE RIGGS WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN THIS RACE?
“I could tell I’m here on Sunday and we’re at home because there are a lot more people in here than there normally are for Truck races, so thank you guys for showing up today. It’s been a dreary weekend. Our hearts are heavy, mine included. I was really emotional all Thursday and Friday just trying to process everything and how to go about myself. We were here Friday and I’m like, ‘It just doesn’t feel right to race tonight,’ so, if anything, it was kind of good for me. I got a little bit of a reset for a couple of days and got my head together. I felt like we were able to watch the O’Reilly race and take notes for the first time. We’re usually always the first race on the weekends, so we’re always the ones helping the other teams out and to figure out how they need to be better, so it was good to use those notes, apply them, and be better. Our hearts are out to the whole Busch family. I was really emotional on the radio as I came across the checkered flag. I wanted to do that one for Kyle. I’ve watched him dominate here so many years. The rain delay last night, I was sitting on the couch in my pajamas saying, ‘Man, I hope we don’t have to race tonight because I’m not ready to go back to the racetrack and watch him put it on Cindric.’ I was taking notes, so it was really cool. I pulled a couple of slide jobs he was making. I was able to apply those today. What a guy. It’s such a shame for the whole NASCAR community. I’m just glad I could win and dedicate it to him.”
DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO YOU IF THE RACE ENDS ON A SET NUMBER OF LAPS VERSUS THE TIME CLOCK?
“I think that if we’re given the ample information before the race it’s OK. I mean, we’re not really in a great situation here. I think it was Atlanta, they didn’t say it until the pace laps, so we didn’t get time to talk about it. I’m not sure if that’s right or not. I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear it until the pace laps. It’s been a few weeks, but it’s good that we knew before we started the race, what we’ve got to do, how our strategy adjusts. Every caution before we go green it was like, ‘As of now, this is what we’re gonna do.’ And then the caution would come out and it was like, ‘OK, obviously this changes the time. We’re gonna do this now.’ My crew chief, Dylan, did a really good job of staying on top of that and keeping me updated – some things I feel like we’ve been trying to work on with our communication and just getting to know each other a little bit better. I felt like we were on the wrong end of the stick a lot of times. I mean, even back racing in the CARS Tour and a lot I know that it’s bitten me a lot. I feel like I never come out on the good end of it, so today I feel like we did, but, at the same time, we were running under caution there at the very end. I hate that we didn’t finish under green. I know all fans want to watch a race finish under the green flag, but I was confident that even if we went back racing I was gonna have a good enough truck to hold those guys off with just the track position and we finally got the balance where I needed it to be. With no practice and no qualifying, I was confident either way. A shoutout to Chander Smith. He gave me a great push on that last restart to get me out front. He kind of defended for me. I hate that he got tore up at the end, but we had good trucks for both of us with a lot of speed. Nobody wants to be a timed race. Everybody wants to run the full distance, and I feel like I was on the good end of the stick for once today, so it was very nice and pleasantly surprising for me.”
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN WITH UNCC ON YOUR F-150?
“Go Niners! Pick Ax Nation! It was great to get a win for them. They were on Wilkesboro as an associate, so this was our third race together as a team and I was able to do it right here in their backyard, so thank you to everybody from UNC-Charlotte. It’s crazy that I went to school there and I ended up talking to the Chancellor and worked out a deal for the sponsorship. I was trying to sell myself and now we’re here and we’re in Victory Lane with UNC-Charlotte on the truck. It’s really, really awesome. It’s a small world kind of feel, full circle, and for everybody that’s going to school there and wants to be an engineer, I feel like my knowledge and schooling has really excelled me ahead of my competition and just made me a lot better person and smarter race car driver and being able to work on my own stuff. A lot of things come from that. That motorsports program at UNC-Charlotte is great. Just stick with it. School is hard and I was able to race and do it at the same time with a lot of good support behind me. Stick with your dreams. When I was in college I was kind of getting to my junior year and I told myself, I didn’t really tell anybody else, I didn’t tell my family, that if I graduate college and I don’t have a national series ride, I’m gonna hang the helmet up and get a real big boy job. That year is when I got the opportunity in 2024 to race for Front Row Motorsports and here I am today, so just stick with it. If you put yourself in the right spots, you’ll make it. Good luck to everybody that goes to school and thank you so much for all the support from UNC-Charlotte.”
YOU WERE A SHORT TRACK ACE WHEN YOU CAME IN, BUT SINCE THEN YOU HAVE WON AT A FLAT ONE-MILE TRACK, A TWO-MILE TRACK AND A STREET COURSE. YOUR TALENT HAS GONE BEYOND THAT SINCE THEN. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT JOURNEY?
“Thank you for recognizing that. I feel like I’ve put in a lot of work on other forms of racing that I haven’t had so much experience at. I feel like right now my superspeedway craft is still not as great. I just haven’t done it as much. At year three, I feel really confident going to every racetrack we go to now and knowing what I need to go fast with the trucks, I feel like I’ve got just as good of a shot at winning any race now. That’s really good for me, my confidence, my team’s confidence. I was always labeled a short track guy. Even when I won Pocono I was in the media room and somebody said, ‘Since you won here at Pocono, it must drive like a short track, right?’ I’m like, ‘Come on, guys. Give me some credit.’ I don’t feel like I’m labeled as the short track guy anymore and that feels really good to get that off my back. I think I can do it at all places, so thank you for recognizing that.”
YOU DID A BURNOUT THAT GOES ON FOREVER WHILE YOUR TEAM IS WAITING. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT AND THE BOW IN VICTORY LANE?
|“That was a lot of fun. I was trying not to blow the engine up, but it was just great. I wanted to give the fans here, I know they didn’t quite get the celebration they wanted last night, just for sticking it through today, so I wanted to give them a big, smokey burnout. They deserve it. I just got out, a lot of emotions. I was borderline sobbing there at the end. Our hearts are just so heavy for everybody in the Busch family and everybody in the community. I just wanted to do it for him. I said it over the radio, ‘I want to win for Kyle.’ I hope he’s proud of that performance right there. He’s taught me a lot of things over the couple years we’ve raced together and it’s been a privilege to race with him, and I feel like I applied some of that stuff today. It was great to do the bow. We talked about doing it and I was like, ‘I feel like that’s his thing. I don’t want people to take it the wrong way, like I’m stealing his thing.’ But Ross did it last night. I just wanted to dedicate the entire win to him and that family. They’re hurting deeply right now like all of us. It’s great to win here and to dedicate it to him. Thank you so much.”
IT’S ABOUT CELEBRATING EVERY WIN, RIGHT?
“For sure. Like I said, it was time shortened too, so I’m like, ‘Man, I didn’t get to race the whole race, I might as well burn these tires off of it.’ But, no, it was a big track. I had some room. It was turf, so I wasn’t worried about ripping the splitter off of it. I’m like, ‘These fans are all lined up at the fence. I’m gonna do a big, smokey one for them,’ so it was really cool.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE BEING ON THE FRONT ROW WITH KYLE’S TRUCK NEXT TO YOU ON THE PACE LAPS?
“It was emotional, actually. On the initial pace lap, I don’t think anybody saw it, but I let Corey get out front and have the front row to himself. I don’t know if anybody picked up on that or not, but I almost shed a tear in the car. I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve got to race here in a minute.’ They said one to go, and I’m like, ‘OK. I’ve got to get back ready.’ So it was almost a little bit of a relief that it started raining a little bit. I don’t know if I was quite ready, so I had couple days to reflect on it a little more and have a better head on my shoulders and just kind of know where my thought process needed to be better. But, at the same time, I knew if we took the green flag and we’re racing to turn one, it would have been hell bent to get there and take the lead and win the race either way. So, yes, there were a lot of people here Friday night. I hate that a lot of those people weren’t able to come back this morning for that race, but a lot of emotions for sure.”
WHAT DID KYLE BUSCH MEAN TO THE TRUCK SERIES SPECIFICALLY?
“He’s the man. Like I said in my post and in other interviews, he’s the default stat. He’s the guy on top that you look at and you’re like, ‘I want to be like him.’ Everybody wants to aspire for the wins that he had, the runs, I mean win percentages. When he shows up, a lot of us – we didn’t want to say it – but we were racing for second probably if he was good enough. So, he’s always one you looked at for notes, replays, SMT. You want to try to copy him, knowing that you probably couldn’t do it any better, you just wanted to be as good as him. If you had a better truck, you might could squeak out a win, so, no, it was great racing with him over the years. He meant so much to all of us and was the standard of what excellence was, and we don’t have that anymore. We have the stats. We have the replays. We have everything he’s done, but I’m just very fortunate that I had a couple years to race against him. Like I said, our battle last year at Charlotte. We raced here at Charlotte last year and we finished third and fourth and we raced each other so hard. I got out and I was all excited like, ‘Man, I got to race against Kyle.’ I went over there and shook his hand and said, ‘Good race,’ and he was like, ‘Whatever.’ He was pissed he didn’t win. I was like, ‘Man, that kind of took the wind out of my sails there,’ but he’s taught us a lot and his mentality and goals and everything about him, we all want to do what he did.”
WHAT WERE THE NOTES YOU WERE TAKING LAST NIGHT?
“Just positioning. There resin was a little stronger back then. I think it was six years ago, so it was a little bit different, but just the way he set the run up, get a position, side draft at the right time. I could see that he would side draft him, but not as soon as he’d get to him. He’d almost like lag for a second and then try to pull him back to the get the momentum on entry. I know a lot of Cup guys do that, but it’s hard for us Truck guys that don’t get to do that a lot to learn how to do that. Getting position on them on entry and just kind of taking away their line. I feel like I did that. I think I did that on the 91 and the 11 once in turns one and two, and I was like, ‘I think I learned that last night.’ Positioning, air blocking, just all the things that he was so good at doing, I feel like I’ve got the experience and comfort level now that I can apply those things.”
I KNOW DAVID RAGAN AND TROY RAKER WORKS AT THE TECH CENTER. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW THEY HELP YOU ON A WEEKLY BASIS?
“Troy and David. Troy is at every one of our sim sessions. David comes to about 70 percent of them. He’s just a good guy to have in the back of your ear. I have dad, obviously, which is always there, but David did it for a little bit longer. He’s run this Next Gen car as well. He still does the tire tests for Ford Racing. He’s got a lot of experience, so it’s good to hear two perspectives on everything. The more the merrier for help, but he spends a lot of time sitting in our sim sessions probably bored to death, but it’s always good when he chimes in. He gives us a little bit of advice. It’s like, ‘Hey, I know in the sim it feels like this. Don’t think about that. Think about this,’ and we apply a lot of that stuff, so from what I heard we’re going to his condo after this in turn one and gonna party it up. That’s exciting, so thank you to David.”
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Campers Inn Ford F-150 –
“I’m actually kind of thankful that there was a lot of cautions. Our truck certainly had good short run speed for something like three laps, but after that we got extremely tight – like five out of five tight – and was really pushing, so the race actually played out to probably our favor today. You’ve got to take that when you can get it. We have plenty of races that don’t, but, overall, a top five and a solid finish for our Campers Inn Ford F-150. I’m just excited now to go to Nashville. I think we learned a lot today. I’ve been in this series now for 10 years and you never stop learning. I feel like this was one of my more educational races.” IT’S YOUR FIFTH TOP FIVE AT THE TRACK. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE? “I don’t know. I think this place is just really difficult on tires and then, for whatever reason, it was extremely aero sensitive today. I don’t know what was going on back in the pack with people wrecking, but if I had to guess, I’m gonna say aero sensitivity and then pushing really hard to get position on people probably led to a lot of the incidents. I don’t know why it was like that. It might have been something in the air like all this rain, but either way it was a really fun race for us.” WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING IN A TIMED RACE? “That’s a little bit unnerving. I knew on that last restart I had to get position, but once the caution came out it’s like, ‘Man, is it actually over? I don’t really know.’ So then you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Did I use too much tire up on the last restart?’”
LUKE BALDWIN, No. 2 Gap Year at Lodestar Ford F-150 –
“We lost the engine off of four and I just tried to get out as quickly as possible. It was gonna be kind of a blue collar day all day because on lap two or three I think we had a tire start to go down and I just had to chase it into the fence. We were working on it. The guys were working their tails off to try to get me an opportunity to finish the race finally and I hate it for them. They’ve worked way too hard these past few weeks and have given me really good race tracks. It’s just a lot of bad luck or me letting them down or whatever it is, but it’s been a really hard year for our whole group and myself, whether it’s Truck racing or not. I’ll say the same thing as we have the last few weeks and that’s just keep our heads up and move forward and work harder at it and be better in the future.” A LOT OF SMOKE. WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND? “That was a first for me. I’ve never been on fire and never had a huge grenade like that, so I just tried not to breathe it in and unhook everything that’s hooked up in the truck. I tried getting out with the wheel on. I just tried to calm down and slow things down and get out of the truck as fast as possible, but, obviously it’s the first time I’ve ever been in that situation, but I felt like I did OK and got out. I’ve got just a little cough, but we’ll be alright in the next couple of hours.”
