Layne Riggs Takes Advantage of Mistakes to Win Truck Series Race at Pocono

Layne Riggs Takes Advantage of Mistakes to Win Truck Series Race at Pocono

The Truck Series never disappoints when they hit the track at Pocono, and that was true on Friday. With Riggs on the pole, he certainly had his work cut out for him, as Leyland Honeyman and Heim were quick to challenge him from the drop of the green flag.

Pocono always brings hard side-by-side racing, and that was the theme of this race. With that side-by-side racing comes contact, and that happened quite a bit throughout the race.

Riggs vs. Heim

Layne Riggs and Corey Heim certainly don’t care for one another, and they seemed to be the story of the race in Pocono. Heim was the defending winner of this race and looked like he was going to be fighting all day once again for another win. Heim led the first 17 laps of the race after jumping from third on the initial start. Riggs was able to recover in the final handful of laps of the opening stage and got the lead when a caution for debris ended the opening stage. It also paved the way for Layne to score the stage win.

Even though Heim didn’t win the opening stage, leading the first 17 laps helped him continue to cement his place in Truck Series History as he moved into the Top 10 in laps led all-time.

Hocevar Has Something to Say

The second stage quickly turned into a battle between Heim and Cup driver Carson Hocevar. Hocevar’s No. 7 Spire Truck has consistently shown speed all season, and he began to challenge the No. 11 at the front.

The second stage quickly turned into Heim Time as he was able to eventually pull away from all challengers. He once again put himself far and above the rest of the field with yet another Stage win.

Mistakes Open the Door

The final stage turned into quite a show, as a number of problems occurred for plenty of frontrunners. A major yellow flew when a multi-truck incident occurred on lap 48. Six trucks were involved, including Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, and Tyler Ankrum.

While that was going on, the race was coming down to Heim, Hocevar, and Riggs. It all changed dramatically at the front with 20 laps to go, as an incident on a restart saw Jake Garcia’s strong day go up in smoke. Garcia and teammate Ben Rhodes were both involved in the incident. Spinning in turn one off a restart is a pretty common thing. It’s a shame it wrecked a strong day for Jake.

The wreck, however, wasn’t the biggest part of the deal. As Heim once again had something befall him when he was in full control of the race.  A flat tire sent Heim from the lead to the end of the field.

That issue then gave control to Hocevar. He would restart with Riggs alongside. But Hocevar would also find something out of his control to wreck his chances. He was busted for a restart violation on the next restart. It all but gave Layne Riggs a massive lead. Hocevar tried to argue, but to no avail. It was certainly a questionable call at best.

That lead would hold for the final 20 laps as Riggs would score his third-career win and first of the season. The Truck Series at Pocono certainly turned into a major what-if race for Heim and Hocevar. But good on Layne to take advantage. He’s been close all season, and now he’s checked the win box. Plenty more will follow.