Layne Riggs wanted to go against Martinsville grain on final restarts; not doing so lost him the race

Conventional Martinsville Speedway wisdom is to always choose the bottom lane on restarts, but that wasn't the case for Layne Riggs in the closing laps of Friday's Black's Tire 200.

As Friday's race progressed, the outside lane became stronger on restarts, as evidenced by Riggs getting passed for the lead by Tristan McKee in the final stage. Riggs, who could've taken the points lead going into the season finale with a win, thought about taking the outside on the final two restarts.

Not doing so cost him the win. Riggs' teammate, Chandler Smith, used the outside to take the lead and the win, while Riggs finished third and enters the Nov. 6 finale at Homestead 20 points behind Kaden Honeycutt.

What Layne Riggs could've done differently

"I really wanted to take the top on those last couple restarts," Riggs told Fox Sports. "Especially knowing I had a teammate on the inside. But we just kind of felt like that was too risky and was gonna take that out of our hands. If I would've got wrecked on the outside by somebody, that would've looked pretty bad on me.

"Too free to fire off on restarts when the rubber got picked up. Just really free up under Chandler, free under the 99, just could not get going on that last restart. Felt like I prepped my tires, did the best I could. I just didn't have the clean air like those other runs. Clean air, believe it or not, means more than some other trucks."

Riggs was happy to have gained 23 points on Honeycutt, which was largely due to Honeycutt making the mistake Riggs' team deemed too risky. Honeycutt took the outside lane on the final restart, and after his No. 11 Toyota was briefly used as a pinball, faded to 14th. He had a post-race chat with Tristan McKee, who made contact with him during the final run, on pit road.

Losing those points and Riggs' stellar 55-point day means Honeycutt won't be able to take things easy next week.

"Looks like a winner take all like usual," Riggs said. "But it's only two of us. Bring it on."