Layne Riggs wins inaugural Truck race at St. Petersburg

Layne Riggs erased his difficult start to the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season by winning the inaugural OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg on Saturday, February 28.

The 23-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 41 of the 80-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 28th place and steadily worked his way up the leaderboard. After outdueling teammate Chandler Smith to lead for the first time on Lap 38, Riggs captured the second stage victory.

Through two cautions and restarts throughout the final stage period, Riggs retained the lead for nearly the entire portion of the period. In the closing laps, Riggs was mired with a trio of challenges: not having enough fuel to finish the event, navigating his way through lapped traffic, and fending off late challenges from Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes. Amid all challenges, Riggs withstood them all by navigating his way through the 14-turn circuit and even fending off a final-lap dive bomb attempt from Majeski to etch his name as the winner of the Truck Series’ first-ever race at the Streets of St. Petersburg.

The event’s starting lineup was determined using a qualifying metric formula after rain canceled the event’s qualifying and practice sessions that were scheduled to occur on Friday, February 27. As a result, Connor Mosack was awarded the pole position, and he shared the front row with Giovanni Ruggiero.

Prior to the event, rookie Cole Butcher dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck after he wrecked his primary truck during Friday’s rain-shortened practice session. Rookie Mini Tyrrell also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his entry. During the event’s pace laps, Tyler Reif ended up dropping to the rear of the field due to stalling on the track.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Connor Mosack rocketed ahead of the field entering the first turn, while Ben Rhodes, who started in fourth place, made a bold move beneath Giovanni Ruggiero in an attempt to assume the runner-up spot. Ruggiero managed to fend off Rhodes as Mosack drove away through the first three turns. As the field of 36 competitors smoothly navigated through the 14-turn circuit at the Streets of St. Petersburg for the first time ever, Mosack also retained the top spot for a full lap as he led the first lap.

On the second lap, the event’s first caution flew when Justin Haley, who was racing just outside the top-10 mark, was bumped by Stewart Friesen and sent for a spin as he stalled backwards in the first turn. Haley would drop out of the lead lap category as he was unable to re-fire his entry before the field led by Mosack cycled back through the first turn and lapped Haley.

When the event restarted under green on the sixth lap, Mosack and Rhodes dueled entering the first turn before Rhodes muscled ahead and assumed the lead through the first three turns. As the field jostled for early spots through Turns 3 and 4, Rhodes muscled ahead with the lead while Mosack was fending off Ruggiero and Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles throughout the 14-turn circuit, Rhodes, who built his gap to more than a second, led the next lap.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Rhodes was leading by a second over Mosack as Ruggiero, Chandler Smith, and Landen Lewis trailed in the top five, with the latter trailing by five seconds. Behind, Dario Franchitti, who made contact with James Hinchcliffe on the seventh lap in the first turn, was racing in sixth place ahead of Tyler Ankrum and Hinchcliffe while Kaden Honeycutt and Andres Perez De Lara occupied the top-10 spots, respectively. Meanwhile, Adam Andretti, Layne Riggs, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen, Kris Wright, Christian Eckes, Jake Garcia, Grant Enfinger, Colin Braun and Ben Maier were racing in the top 20, respectively, while Tyler Reif, Daniel Hemric, Daniel Dye, Brenden Queen and Cole Butcher were mired in the top 25, respectively, ahead of Mini Tyrrell, Dawson Sutton, Tanner Gray, Carter Fartuch and Jackson Lee.

Five laps later, Mosack, who had been reeling in on Rhodes over the previous laps, trailed Rhodes by within three- and four-tenths of a second through every turn and straightaway. Despite being pressured by Mosack, Rhodes retained the lead by four-tenths of a second during the next lap. Rhodes then briefly locked up his tires as he entered the first turn, but he managed to keep his entry straight and at the front. As Tanner Gray wrecked on Lap 17, he managed to keep going without drawing a caution.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Rhodes, who rebuilt his advantage to more than four seconds, cruised to his first Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Mosack settled in second place while Landen Lewis, Chandler Smith, Ruggiero, Franchitti, Riggs, Ankrum, Honeycutt, and Perez De Lara were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 30 of 36 competitors were scored on the lead lap.

Under the event’s first stage break period, the event was paused for three minutes as the entire field, except for Mosack, parked on pit road, with each competitor parked in their respective pit boxes for service. For the competitors who pitted, all retained their respective spots as they entered pit road before the start of the second-stage period.

The second stage period started on Lap 23 as Mosack and Rhodes occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out entering the first turn as both Rhodes and Mosack occupied the front row. Through the first turn, Rhodes, who was racing on fresh tires than Mosack, quickly reassumed the lead. As Rhodes retained the lead from Mosack and Smith through the first three turns, Honeycutt, who was racing in the top 10, overshot Turn 4 and plummeted below the leaderboard as he navigated his truck back on the course. With the rest of the field navigating through the remaining turns smoothly, Rhodes extended his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds as he returned to the start/finish line and led the next lap.

On Lap 25, the caution returned when Adam Andretti, who was racing within the top-20 mark, got bumped by Christian Eckes in Turn 7. The contact sent Andretti spinning and rear-ended the wall, as Eckes also collided with Andretti. As most of the field scattered to avoid the carnage, Daniel Hemric was also involved after he hit Andretti’s damaged entry. At the time of caution, Rhodes was still leading ahead of Smith, Lewis, Riggs, and Ruggiero, while Mosack had dropped to eighth place on his worn tires.

The event’s next restart on Lap 30 featured Rhodes, Smith, and Riggs dueling against one another in a three-wide formation in a battle for the lead. As the trio entered the first turn, Smith, who was pinned in the needle of the three-wide racing, executed a bold crossover move beneath teammate Riggs to overtake him and Rhodes with the lead in the first turn. As the field behind jostled for spots, Smith proceeded to lead the next lap while Riggs, Rhodes, Lewis, and Ruggiero trailed behind.

At the Lap 35 mark, Smith continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over his hard-charging teammate Riggs while Rhodes trailed in third place by one-and-a-half seconds. Meanwhile, Majeski was up into fifth place behind Lewis, and Ruggiero occupied sixth place while Ankrum, Franchitti, Enfinger, and Perez De Lara trailed in the top 10 ahead of Kris Wright, Colin Braun, Ben Maier, Stewart Friesen, and Dawson Sutton.

Two laps later, Riggs, who pressured teammate Smith for the lead, seized an opportunity to get beneath Smith in the first turn. Smith, however, fought off Riggs’ challenge and retained the lead through the first three turns before Riggs tried again to go beneath Smith through a brief straightaway from Turns 3 and 4. Despite racing alongside Smith, Riggs was unable to execute his pass before he then succeeded in overtaking and muscling ahead of Smith from Turns 5 to 8. Riggs proceeded to stretch his advantage to more than a second over the next handful of laps over Smith, while Lewis, Majeski, and Rhodes trailed in the top five, respectively.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 40, Riggs captured his first Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Teammate Smith settled in second ahead of Lewis, Majeski and Rhodes while Ruggiero, Ankrum, Franchitti, Enfinger and Perez De Lara were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 28 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Following the event’s second stage break period and after the field non-competitively pitted for service, the event’s third and final stage period commenced with 37 laps remaining. At the start, Riggs jumped ahead of teammate Smith entering the first turn, while Majeski overtook Smith through the first turn to assume the runner-up spot. As the front-runners fanned out and jostled through Turns 3 and 4, Ankrum collided into the rear of Lewis, which resulted in Ankrum sustaining significant front-end damage as the latter still continued racing straight and without drawing a caution. Amid the scrambles within the field, Riggs led the next lap over a hard-charging Majeski and Smith while Rhodes, Lewis, and Ruggiero occupied the top-six spots. Behind, Franchitti was up into seventh place while Enfinger, Ankrum, and Perez De Lara trailed in the top 10, respectively.

With 35 laps remaining, Riggs stretched his advantage to a second over Majeski while Smith, Rhodes, and Lewis continued to trail in the top five. Riggs proceeded to add another second to his lead over the next five laps while Majeski, Smith, Rhodes, and Lewis retained top-five spots ahead of Ruggiero, Franchitti, Enfinger, Perez De Lara, and Honeycutt. During this stretch, there were two on-track incidents that occurred, both of which occurred in Turn 1. The first was when Cole Butcher wheel-hopped and spun in the first turn while battling for a top-20 spot with 33 laps remaining. Then, with 30 laps remaining, Wright, who was also battling within the top 20, locked up the brakes on his entry and slid sideways while barely dodging Sutton. During both incidents, the event remained under green flag conditions.

Following a caution that flew with 29 laps remaining due to Derek White stalling his entry, the event restarted with 25 laps remaining. At the front, Riggs and Majeski dueled for the lead until Riggs fended off Majeski through the first turn to retain the lead. As Riggs proceeded to lead through the next three turns, Majeski, who was racing with a damaged left-front fender, fended off teammate Rhodes to retain the runner-up spot while Smith, Lewis, Ruggiero, Franchitti, Enfinger, Honeycutt and Perez De Lara trailed in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Nathan Nicholson and Mini Tyrrell, both of whom were racing within the mid-pack region, made hard contact against the right-side wall through the first two turns, but both continued to nurse their damaged entries without drawing a caution.

With 24 laps remaining, a pair of on-track incidents occurred. The first was when Ruggiero, who was having a strong run in the top-10 mark, wrecked against the wall in Turn 4. Shortly after, Hinchcliffe, who was racing within the mid-pack region and overshot Turn 10 during the second stage period, made contact with Wright and spun through Turns 5 and 6. During both incidents, the race remained under green-flag conditions, but the caution returned on the next lap after Derek White stalled on the track for a second time, this latest time in Turn 9.

As the event restarted with 19 laps remaining, Majeski used the outside lane and took advantage of Riggs briefly hopping the curb through the first turn to assume the lead. As Majeski led through the next three turns, Riggs fended off doff Rhodes and Smith to retain the runner-up spot while Honeycutt carved his way into the top five in fifth place. Then, as Majeski led through Turn 13, he briefly got loose and overdrove Turn 14. Despite making slight contact with the tire barriers on the left side, he managed to blend back on the circuit in sixth place without drawing a caution while Riggs reassumed the lead and led the next lap.

Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Riggs was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Rhodes while Smith, Honeycutt, Majeski, Lewis, Enfinger, Perez De Lara, Braun and Hemric were racing in the top 10 ahead of Ben Maier, Haley, Jake Garcia, Mosack, Hinchcliffe, Tyler Reif, Daniel Dye, Butcher, Kris Wright and Brenden Queen, respectively. Meanwhile, Franchitti, who was racing in the top-10 mark, dropped to 28th place and lost a lap to the leaders after he pitted under green due to a steering issue, while Eckes was down in 25th place after he was bumped and sent for a spin by Reif in Turn 4 a few laps earlier.

With 10 laps remaining, Riggs extended his lead to more than two seconds over Rhodes while Chandler Smith and Majeski, both of whom battled for third place, trailed by more than four seconds. Honeycutt continued to occupy fifth place while Lewis, Perez De Lara, Braun, Hemric, and Maier were up in the top 10 ahead of Hinchcliffe, Haley, Mosack, Reif, and Garcia. As the laps dwindled, Riggs had his lead shrink to a full second over Rhodes with five laps remaining, but the former continued to lead through every turn and straightaway of the 14-turn circuit.

When the white flag waved, and the final lap started, Riggs remained in the lead by nearly a second ahead of a side-by-side battle between Rhodes and Majeski. Seconds later, Majeski overtook teammate Rhodes, the latter of whom had been reeling in Riggs for the lead in the late stages, for the runner-up spot through the first turn while Riggs, who began to express concerns about fuel shortage, rebuilt a steady gap. Despite weaving his truck back and forth a handful of times through the turns, Riggs led through Turn 13 as Majeski tried to reel in. 

Then, entering Turn 14, Majeski tried to fully reel in his entry to the rear bumper of Riggs’ entry, but he missed his mark and overdrove the turn. With Majeski having to regather his momentum and fend off Rhodes for second place, Riggs was able to cruise through the final turn and final straightaway, and he claimed the checkered flag to win by eight-tenths of a second over Majeski. 

With the victory, Riggs collected his sixth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career win in his 57th series start, his first on a road course event and his first since he won at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2025. Riggs’ St. Petersburg victory was also the second of the 2026 season for the Ford manufacturer and the second for Front Row Motorsports, with the organization having both of its trucks (Nos. 34 and 38) winning at least once this year.

Riggs’ St. Petersburg victory was a huge momentous boost for the driver and team of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 entry, as they were ranked in 23rd place in the driver’s standings after finishing 31st and 27th through the first two races (Daytona International Speedway & Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway). Currently, the St. Petersburg victory has boosted them to fifth place in the standings as they continue their yearlong pursuit of making the Chase and winning the championship.