![\"Layne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2230347325-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEach week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Front Row Motorsports driver Layne Riggs, who is currently advanced to Round 2 of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs. This interview has been edited and condensed, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.<\/p>\n
1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment? Did you even get autographs, since your dad (Scott Riggs) was a driver?<\/p>\n
Not really (because) of having Dad in the sport. I remember sitting with him at driver intros as a kid. I specifically remember him, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., all sitting there chatting. Back then, I didn\u2019t think it was anything. I was like, \u201cThese guys are racing against my dad, I don\u2019t like these guys.\u201d You look back later on and you\u2019re like, \u201cWow, that was actually pretty cool.\u201d People would kill to be in that seat, but I could not have cared less when I was younger.<\/p>\n
2. What is the most miserable you\u2019ve ever been inside of a race car?<\/p>\n
Texas 2023 in the Kaulig Xfinity car. I almost didn\u2019t finish \u2014 at about 20 laps to go, I almost pulled in. It was like 110 degrees in Texas that day. We had an AC box and a cool shirt, but the air conditioning to the helmet broke \u2014 and not only broke, it reversed and turned to heat. I couldn\u2019t reach the top to get it off, and it malfunctioned where I couldn\u2019t turn it off. It was literally a hot hair dryer blowing to my head. The cool shirt worked, but it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
They had the right-side window in, it was 110 outside and during a caution with 20 to go, I was thinking, \u201cWhen is this deal over?\u201d I don\u2019t remember a lot from the end of the race. I don\u2019t even remember driving the car.<\/p>\n
After the race, they measured 145 degrees coming out of the vent onto my head. I can\u2019t believe I finished it \u2026 I actually didn\u2019t do terrible. (Riggs finished 19th.)<\/p>\n
3. Outside of racing, what\u2019s your most recent memory of getting way too competitive?<\/p>\n
My golf game. I just started playing regularly about six months ago \u2014 you know, big-time NASCAR driver, you\u2019ve gotta play golf on the weekdays, right? (Laughs.) I\u2019m so bad. I get aggravated with myself because I suck so bad. The ball is sitting still; it shouldn\u2019t be that hard. Then I remind myself I\u2019m out here to have fun. I\u2019ll bring a whole bucket of balls \u2014 if I lose them, I lose them.<\/p>\n
Have you broken 100 yet?<\/p>\n
No. I\u2019m bad enough I can\u2019t actually keep score. I want to get good enough to where I can play a hole without losing a ball \u2014 hit fairways, not shank it into the woods. Sometimes I\u2019ll shank the tee shot, do another one, then that one is gone too. I\u2019m like, \u201cAm I counting this as a six, or do I take a mulligan? I\u2019m not even going to keep score anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. What do people get wrong about you?<\/p>\n
Everybody calls me \u201cthe short-track ace.\u201d I\u2019m always labeled as, \u201cLayne Riggs, the short-track racer.\u201d I don\u2019t feel that way anymore. I\u2019m just as confident going to any racetrack now. After my first win of the year at Pocono \u2014 furthest thing from a short track \u2014 someone asked if the short-track braking similarities helped me. I said, \u201cNo, that has nothing to do with short tracks. I\u2019ve actually gotten good at the bigger tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, I feel pretty good at short tracks \u2014 I\u2019ve done them long enough \u2014 but I\u2019m just as confident at mile-and-a-halfs or anything else. Even road courses, I think I\u2019m decent at. I don\u2019t like being labeled as the short-track guy anymore. I feel like I\u2019ve done it all now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI get aggravated with myself because I suck so bad,\u201d Layne Riggs said of his newfound golf hobby. \u201cThe ball is sitting still; it shouldn\u2019t be that hard.\u201d (Samuel Corum \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve only Ubered like two or three times by myself, and I could care less about the rating. Usually, I ride with other people who book it for me; I just sit there quietly. I prefer my own rental car.<\/p>\n
6. I\u2019m asking each person a wild-card question. The Truck Series field can be over-aggressive and sometimes lacks racecraft. You\u2019re trying to move up and learn while navigating others who might be impatient. How do you balance that?<\/p>\n
Knowing who you\u2019re racing around. If it\u2019s a guy\u2019s first mile-and-a-half race and he\u2019s on the inside, I\u2019m giving him a lot of room \u2014 I can\u2019t get on his door and pull him around. With (veterans), I can run them differently and more aggressively, pinch them more, knowing they can handle it.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I\u2019m probably one of the impatient drivers who gets himself in trouble more than not; I\u2019m working on that myself. It\u2019s a good series to learn with that mix of veterans and rookies.<\/p>\n
7. This is my 16th year doing these 12 Questions interviews, so I\u2019m going back to an old question and re-asking it. Let\u2019s say NASCAR requires every driver to have a passenger for a race, but you get to pick. Who\u2019s riding with you?<\/p>\n
My girlfriend. She\u2019d actually enjoy it. She\u2019s a pretty good passenger on the road \u2014 she spots for me when we pull up to a stop sign: \u201cClear right, clear one inside.\u201d She could be like a rally co-driver navigating me: \u201cRight-front\u2019s falling off of it!\u201d I think she\u2019d be helpful and wouldn\u2019t be scared.<\/p>\n
8. Other than your teammate Chandler Smith, name a driver you\u2019d be one of the first to congratulate in victory lane if they won a race.<\/p>\n
Rajah (Caruth). We\u2019re always pretty close. We actually share the same birthday \u2014 same day, year and everything \u2014 so I call him my brother from a different mother. He won Nashville this year; we had a good battle for the lead, and I was one of the first to congratulate him. He does the same for me.<\/p>\n
9. How much do you use AI technology, whether in your job or daily life? Are you a ChatGPT guy?<\/p>\n
Not really. If we\u2019re debating something, I might ask it instead of Google, but I use it more for entertainment purposes. I was an engineering student in college, and it was tempting to use, but I found it wasn\u2019t as helpful as I wanted \u2014 it let me down. I\u2019m waiting for it to get better before I put faith in it.<\/p>\n
10. What\u2019s a time in your life that was really challenging, but you\u2019re proud of how you responded?<\/p>\n
My (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series) national championship year in 2022, racing locally. I was a sophomore in college \u2014 the engineering \u201cweed-out\u201d year \u2014 racing two to three times a weekend for our family team. It was me, Dad and volunteers after work. I did nothing besides school and racing that year. It came down to the last race, tied in points, to win the championship.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t lose it. I didn\u2019t go crazy. Being as young as I was and how stressful it was, I handled myself well and raced well. I didn\u2019t try too hard or make a big mistake \u2014 I just stayed on path and raced how I always do. I feel like that set me up for what\u2019s coming in a couple months \u2014 hopefully at Phoenix as a Championship 4 guy. I\u2019ve never been in the playoffs, but I\u2019ve been through that same situation.<\/p>\n
11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to the next level of popularity?<\/p>\n
NASCAR is trying to do all they can, but I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll ever be the same as football or basketball. It\u2019s hard to relate to \u2014 any kid can play football or basketball or soccer, and it\u2019s so much easier to get involved, but not every kid has a go-kart. It\u2019s kind of an acquired taste.<\/p>\n
The key is getting people more involved \u2014 get them to the racetrack, let them see it. Don\u2019t just watch the race (with no rooting interest); if I\u2019m not pulling for somebody while watching the race, that\u2019s boring even to me. \u2026 You need a driver to pull for, someone in the mix, either running good or bad, to make it interesting for you.<\/p>\n