Layne Riggs recovered from a first-lap spin at Bristol Motor Speedway and rallied to win Thursday night’s UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics, the second race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs.
Grabbing the lead after a restart on Lap 142 of 250, Riggs held off a determined charge by two-time series champion Ben Rhodes to win this third race of the season, second at Bristol and fifth of his career.
“You don’t get two mulligans in the Playoffs, and I got two,” said Riggs, who salvaged a 17th-place finish after slamming the outside wall in the first Playoff race Aug. 30 at Darlington. “The first lap of the race to spin out, it’s a blow to your confidence, for sure, but I’ve got faith in this team, and I’ve got faith in everybody here…”
With the victory, Riggs earned a berth in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs and won’t have to worry about the Sept. 20 Round of 10 elimination race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I think this shows that we’re right there, we’re in contention, we can do it,” said Riggs, who ran the final 109 green-flag laps with scuffed qualifying tires on his No. 34 Ford, having used a set of stickers after the spin on Lap 1. “That’s three in a row at Bristol for Front Row Motorsports. It’s a big testament to all these guys. We’ve got a really good package here.
“Man, I’m excited for New Hampshire. I’ve never even been there, and I already love that race track.”
Riggs’ victory ended a three-race winning streak for series leader Corey Heim and kept the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota from equaling Greg Biffle’s series record of nine wins in a single season.
Heim won Stage 2 but lost three spots on pit road under caution during the break and lined up third for the Lap 142 restart behind Cole Butcher, who stayed out on old tires. Butcher backed up the bottom lane on the restart and Heim fell to seventh in the running order.
All the winner of the first Playoff race could do was claw his way back to a distant third at the finish.
“It was a debatable choose on that last restart, lining up behind the truck that stayed out—I think it was the 62 (Butcher),” said Heim, who led a race-high 122 laps to Riggs’ 110. “He spun the tires really bad, and we fell back to seventh or eighth, and it was just a super track-position-dependent race.
“I thought our truck was good. I think the best team won for sure. Those guys were lights-out.”
Playoff drivers Ty Majeski and Daniel Hemric ran fourth and fifth, respectively, and take comfortable points positions into the elimination race at New Hampshire.
Riggs’ teammate, Chandler Smith, winner of the spring race at Bristol, wasn’t as fortunate. Smith fell off the pace with what he described as a power steering issue on Lap 32 and lost 12 laps on pit road during repairs.
Smith finished the night 10th in the standings, 24 points below the current elimination line for the next round.
Similarly, pole winner Jake Garcia, who captured the first stage win of his career in Stage 1, lost power on Lap 84, took his No.13 Ford to the garage for repairs and finished 33rd—three spots behind Smith and 31 laps down.
Garcia is 14 points below the cut line entering the Round of 10 elimination race.
Non-Playoff drivers Tanner Gray, Connor Mosack, Andres Perez de Lara, Corey LaJoie and Matt Crafton completed the top 10.
In the ARCA Menards Series Bush's Beans 200 earlier in the evening, rising star Brent Crews raced to the victory at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Crews earned the pole and led every lap in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry. It was the third-straight ARCA win for the No. 18 Gibbs machine at Bristol. William Sawalich won here in the car in 2023 and 2024.
"First off thank the good lord above for keeping me safe with this amazing race team," Crews said. "I've had this race circled on my list for many years after watching Kyle Busch smoke everybody here and I'm glad I can finally do it myself. I had a super fast car. This team has had a lot of success here and I came here with that in my head. I got the pole and then was able to lead every lap and win. Just grateful to be able to win here at Bristol."
It was Crews fourth ARCA win of the season, and his first ever at Bristol. He also competed in the Craftsman Truck Race tonight where he started 15th and finished 24th in the TRICON Garage No. 1 entry. It was the Gibbs' team's fifth career ARCA win at Bristol.
While Crews celebrated a victory and an owner’s championship, West Virginia native Isaac Kitzmiller locked up the ARCA East Series driver’s championship by tallying an eighth-place finish.
“It feels awesome,” Kitzmiller said. “All the training I do, it’s paid off. Obviously, I’ve got more championships to win and hopefully there is many more to come. It’s awesome to win such a championship like Kyle Larson has won, along with many other people who are racing for wins on Sundays. It’s awesome.”
Tristan McKee finished second ARCA Menards Series national points leader Brenden Queen coming home in third. Rounding out the top five were Leland Honeyman and Thomas Annunziata.
Tyler Reif, Jake Finch, Isaac Kitzmiller, Jason Kitzmiller and Patrick Staropoli were the rest of the top-10 finishers.
- Story by NASCAR Newswire
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race - UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Thursday, September 11, 2025
- (7) Layne Riggs (P), Ford, 250.
- (19) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 250.
- (2) Corey Heim (P), Toyota, 250.
- (6) Ty Majeski (P), Ford, 250.
- (11) Daniel Hemric (P), Chevrolet, 250.
- (17) Tanner Gray, Toyota, 250.
- (23) Connor Mosack #, Chevrolet, 250.
- (16) Andres Perez De Lara #, Chevrolet, 250.
- (18) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 250.
- (20) Matt Crafton, Ford, 250.
- (5) Corey Day(i) (P), Chevrolet, 250.
- (4) Kaden Honeycutt (P), Toyota, 250.
- (14) Giovanni Ruggiero #, Toyota, 250.
- (25) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 249.
- (10) Rajah Caruth (P), Chevrolet, 249.
- (24) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 249.
- (12) Dawson Sutton #, Chevrolet, 249.
- (27) Conner Jones, Chevrolet, 249.
- (13) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 249.
- (3) Tyler Ankrum (P), Chevrolet, 249.
- (9) Grant Enfinger (P), Chevrolet, 249.
- (22) Jack Wood, Chevrolet, 249.
- (21) Cole Butcher, Toyota, 248.
- (15) Brent Crews, Toyota, 247.
- (26) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 245.
- (31) Toni Breidinger #, Toyota, 243.
- (33) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 242.
- (32) Josh Reaume, Ford, 241.
- (30) Greg Van Alst, Toyota, 239.
- (8) Chandler Smith (P), Ford, 236.
- (29) Mason Maggio(i), Ford, 232.
- (28) Treyten Lapcevich, Chevrolet, Power Steering, 227.
- (1) Jake Garcia (P), Ford, 219.
- (34) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 21.
- (36) Caleb Costner, Toyota, Too Slow, 19.
- (35) Clayton Green, Ford, Transmission, 9.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 91.163 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 27 Mins, 42 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.759 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 31 laps.
Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Heim (P) 1-56;J. Garcia (P) 57-70;C. Heim (P) 71-136;C. Butcher 137-140;L. Riggs (P) 141-250.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Corey Heim (P) 2 times for 122 laps; Layne Riggs (P) 1 time for 110 laps; Jake Garcia (P) 1 time for 14 laps; Cole Butcher 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 13,11,52,18,98,71,7,17,34,45
Bush's Beans 200 Final Finish Order
ARCA Menards Series
1 Brent Crews
2 Tristan McKee
3 Brenden Queen
4 Leland Honeyman
5 Thomas Annunziata
6 Tyler Reif
7 Jake Finch
8 Isaac Kitzmiller
9 Jason Kitzmiller
10 Patrick Staropoli
11 Lavar Scott
12 Lanie Buice
13 Andrew Patterson
14 Andy Jankowiak
15 Carson Ware
16 Tim Richmond
17 Garrett Mitchell
18 Tony Cosentino
19 Timmy Hill
20 Michael Maples
21 Alex Clubb
22 Brad Smith
23 Austin Vaughn
24 Con Nicolopoulos
25 Logan Misuraca
26 Jackson McLerran
27 Isabella Robusto
28 Corey Aiken
29 Brayton Laster
30 Bobby Dale Earnhardt
31 Zachary Tinkle
32 Josh White
33 Takuma Koga
34 Mike Basham
