TRUCKS: Layne Riggs Scores Pole for Playoff Opener at Darlington

Layne Riggs is putting his best foot forward in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, winning the pole for Saturday's Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway.

The Bahama, North Carolina-native laid down an impressive lap in Friday's qualifying session from the 1.366-mile racetrack, putting his No. 34 CLEW Nicotine Pouches Ford F-150 on the pole, beating teammate Chandler Smith, and the dominant truck of 2025, Corey Heim.

With a lap time of 29.323 seconds (167.705mph), Riggs, a two-time winner this season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, was able to take the top spot in qualifying by eight one-thousandths of a second to secure his second career pole in the Truck Series.

The 23-year-old driver is one of the top contenders in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series garage, as the entire field looks to defeat Corey Heim and TRICON Garage, who have established a significant advantage on the field heading into the Playoffs, with seven victories.

STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NCTS Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington

Securing a pole position at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit, and making it a front row lockout for Front Row Motorsports, sends a message to the No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro that they won't go down without a fight.

"I think it just shows that we're the fastest truck here this weekend. Practice, we were really fast to start, I feel like we fell off a little bit, but I think we know the exact adjustment we need to make. But, I just love this racetrack," said Riggs.

"I'm kind of trembling, right now. This place is, man, it's a rush to qualify at. I mean, in the trucks, we are wide-open through [Turns] 1 and 2. I held it wide-open through [Turns] 3 and 4 coming to the green, and you're only out of the gas a second. In practice, you're like out of the gas for five seconds."

The last time Riggs scored a pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series? Pocono, where Riggs and Front Row Motorsports went on to secure their first of two victories together this season.

As previously mentioned, Chandler Smith and Corey Heim will roll from second and third-place. Grant Enfinger and Kaden Honeycutt, two more drivers in the 10-driver fight for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, rounded out the top-five in qualifying.

Gio Ruggiero, a rookie driver for TRICON Garage, was the best non-playoff qualifier in sixth-place. Daniel Hemric ended up seventh, with Ty Majeski eighth, Corey LaJoie ninth, and Tyler Ankrum rounding out the top-10 after struggling in practice.

Other playoff-eligible drivers to qualify outside the top-10 at Darlington included Rajah Caruth in 11th, Jake Garcia in 13th, and Corey Day -- driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, which is in the Owner's Playoffs -- in 15th.

Timmy Hill, driver of the No. 56 Hill Motorsports Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, was the quickest in practice, courtesy of going out in the first group, but qualified 23rd -- tying to the thousandth of a second with Stefan Parsons, the second-place driver in practice.

Stephen Mallozzi, driving the No. 2 Ford F-150 for Reaume Brothers Racing, was the only driver to not post a qualifying lap. The New Jersey-native also failed to make a lap in practice, meaning he will take the green flag without a single on-track lap at Darlington Raceway.

The Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 30 at Noon ET on FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.