TRUCKS: Riggs Takes Pocono Win After Misfortune for Heim, Hocevar

"That's just a testament to this team. That thing was bad fast, especially that last run, right there," Riggs stated. "I really hate [Heim] fell out. Not sure what [Hocevar] was doing on the restart, there, but I made sure to take advantage of it. I'm not sure why we slowed down to 30 miles per hour coming to the restart zone. But, hey, I'm a happy man tonight."

The reason Hocevar slowed down along with Riggs heading into the restart zone on the final restart of the race is that Riggs was actually the leader, who was in control of the restart following a cut tire by Corey Heim just before the race went back to green.

Judging by Riggs' post-race interview on FS1, it seems he thought Hocevar was the control truck on the final restart, a restart where Hocevar was ultimately black flagged by NASCAR for an improper restart as he accelerated before Riggs, the race leader, did.

Regardless of the weird misunderstanding on the final restart of the race, Riggs was able to notch the win at the 2.5-mile triangular Pocono Raceway, a track that he had a frustrating outing at a season ago. It certainly caught Riggs off guard to see his fortunes flip so wildly from one year to the next.

"Man, I am on cloud nine. This is not one I had circled. Like I said, last year, we wrecked in practice, didn't qualify, and rode around dead last all day. And today, we were the best. So, it's -- man, it's amazing," Riggs explained.

With the win, Riggs has officially locked up his berth in the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff field. Riggs, the seventh different winner of the season, joins Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Hemric, Stewart Friesen, and Rajah Caruth as full-time NASCAR Truck Series competitors, who have reached victory lane this season.

For the runner-up and third place finishers, Gray and Kaden Honeycutt, their runs matched their career-best finishes in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition. Gray finished second in the 2023 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, while Honeycutt finished third earlier this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Brandon Jones finished fourth in the No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota, and Daniel Hemric, who won at Martinsville earlier this year, finished fifth.

Connor Mosack, Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, and Rajah Caruth rounded out the top-10 finishers in the MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway.

Heim, who was the race's dominant driver, as he led a race-high 48 laps and won Stage 2, came home with a disappointing 23rd-place finish after he suffered a cut right-rear tire on the final caution lap before the last restart of the race.

Despite the rough-luck finish, Heim still holds a massive 124-point lead over Chandler Smith in the race for the regular season championship. Heim has four wins this season, but had luck and circumstances fallen his way, he would likely have eight or more wins. But that is why we run all of the laps.

With four races left until the start of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, Grant Enfinger (+50 points), Kaden Honeycutt (+45), and Ty Majeski (+10) are the final three drivers inside of the Playoff cutline.

Jake Garcia (-10), Gio Ruggiero (-58), Ben Rhodes (-60), and Tanner Gray (-83) will hope to gain enough points on one of the three drivers over the next four races, or to win a race outright, which would also move them into the Playoffs.

Next up for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is LiUNA! 150, which will serve as the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series event at Lime Rock Park, a road course in Lakeville, CT. That race will take place on Saturday, June 28, and will be televised on FS1. The Television broadcast coverage will kick off at 1:00 PM ET.

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