For much of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs had given Front Row Motorsports reason to believe its championship drought could finally end. Seven victories had established the No. 34 team as a formidable contender, but the season’s biggest test was still ahead. At Homestead-Miami Speedway, the challenge was straightforward in theory: overcome Kaden Honeycutt’s points advantage and deliver when the stakes were highest.
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What followed was a difficult 134-lap finale in which Riggs barely got the opportunity to show what his Ford was capable of. An early encounter with Nick Sanchez triggered a chain of problems that progressively took him out of contention. By the time the checkered flag fell, his championship hopes were gone, but his assessment of the season extended well beyond one disastrous evening.
“I have made solid progression every single year I’ve been in the Truck Series, and I feel like I’m still progressing and maturing every single race as a driver, and I’m just super thankful to even be on the racetrack and have top-notch equipment,” Riggs told Amanda Busick for NASCAR on FOX. “Obviously, today it was a disappointment, but I’m not going to put a bad look on the entire year as a season just from this one race when we knew it was going to be a Hail Mary to get it done anyways, so congrats to the 11. They did a great job. They had a very consistent season. Hopefully we can do it again next year.”
The mathematics entering Homestead explained why Riggs needed almost everything to go right. Honeycutt carried a 20-point advantage into the championship race, leaving the Front Row Motorsports driver needing to outscore the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota by at least 21 points. A victory would have given Riggs his strongest opportunity, but Honeycutt’s result also needed to work in his favor.
There was little separating the two contenders in qualifying. Riggs secured fourth on the starting grid, with Honeycutt directly behind in fifth. Nick Sanchez started from pole, while defending champion Corey Heim lined up third. With both title contenders inside the top five, the stage was set for a direct contest.
It barely developed before trouble arrived. On Lap 2, Riggs made contact with Sanchez while battling for position. The No. 34 Ford got loose, and the two trucks came together, with the incident leaving Riggs dealing with damage. Fourteen laps later, his right-rear tire failed, forcing him to pit under green and surrender valuable track position.
The team attempted to limit the damage by staying out at the end of Stage 1 to collect a wave-around. However, another right-rear tire problem on Lap 46 brought Riggs back to pit road. A penalty for having too many crew members over the wall then forced the No. 34 to serve a pass-through, leaving him seven laps behind the leaders.
His championship challenge had effectively ended before the halfway mark. Riggs eventually finished 32nd, six laps down, and had little opportunity to establish whether the truck possessed the speed to challenge for the win.
The uncertainty surrounding the original contact made the setback even harder to process. Riggs explained that he had barely begun understanding the truck’s handling when the incident and subsequent tire failure changed the course of his race.
“I really didn’t even know what my truck was going to be because, after that initial contact, I don’t know what happened to 77,” Riggs said. “I thought I was good. Next thing I know, we were really close together, and I got super free up under them. And next thing I knew, we got a tire down. So. The pressures weren’t even up yet, and we already didn’t know what the balance is going to be at the end of the race.”
While Riggs was fighting to stay competitive, Honeycutt was steadily working his way through the field. Heim controlled the opening stages, winning both Stage 1 and Stage 2, but the No. 11 Toyota remained inside the top five. Honeycutt had little reason to gamble early, particularly with the championship advantage firmly on his side.
That approach changed during the closing stages. With 27 laps remaining, a caution presented Honeycutt and crew chief Scott Zipadelli with an important strategic decision. They opted to take fresh tires rather than simply protect their position. The gamble gave Honeycutt the opportunity to attack when the race resumed.
He capitalized on it. After the restart on Lap 120, Honeycutt moved past Christian Eckes and established control of the closing laps. He crossed the finish line 1.038 seconds ahead of Eckes, securing his fifth victory of the season and his first Truck Series championship. Daniel Hemric completed the podium, while Heim finished sixth after dominating the opening stages.
The victory also completed a remarkable season for TRICON Garage, which secured consecutive drivers’ championships after Heim’s triumph the previous year. Honeycutt finished with five victories, 16 top-five results, and 19 top-10 finishes across 25 races. Riggs, despite having seven wins, ended the championship battle 83 points behind him.
For Riggs, the distinction between winning races and putting together a championship campaign was an important lesson from the season. His seven victories were a career best in his third full-time Truck Series campaign, but the No. 34 team had not maintained the same consistency as Honeycutt’s outfit through the seven-race Chase.
That did not make the season a failure. Riggs had established himself as one of the division’s leading drivers, and his ability to remain in the championship conversation until the finale was evidence of the progress made by both driver and team. He also recognized that the next step would require improving the areas where his competition had been stronger.
“Obviously, we weren’t able to put the consistency together to be champions tonight, and we knew we were gonna have to come out here,” Riggs said. “We’re gonna have to run an almost perfect race, and that’s hard to do anytime in any series, in any level, in any division. But I’m just proud of the entire team that we were even in the talk, we were in the mix. We even had a chance to become champions.”
The result at Homestead will sting, particularly after seven trips to Victory Lane, but Riggs has little reason to approach the offseason without confidence. He and Honeycutt are both expected to return for full-time campaigns in 2027, setting up another potential championship contest.
For now, the No. 34 has a clear objective: turn its race-winning speed into the consistency required to go one step further. Riggs may have lost the title at Homestead, but he has no intention of treating the entire season as a disappointment.