{"id":173136,"date":"2026-02-28T21:20:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/173136\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T21:20:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:20:40","slug":"layne-riggs-holds-off-ty-majeski-for-inaugural-truck-win-at-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/173136\/","title":{"rendered":"Layne Riggs Holds Off Ty Majeski for Inaugural Truck Win at St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series took to the streets of St. Petersburg for the first-time ever on Saturday, and much to the surprise of many onlookers, the field put on a spectacular, clean, and professional show, despite being the series’ first street course event. <\/p>\n

Layne Riggs, a driver that didn’t grow up competing on road courses (much less on street courses) adapted perfectly to the 1.8-mile street course in St. Petersburg, Florida, driving from a horrific starting spot of 28th-place (as a result of NASCAR’s Performance Metric<\/a>) to the lead in no time, finding his No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford F-150 very much in contention for the victory.<\/p>\n

“First thing I’m going to say is thank you to Joey Hand, my road course guy. He’s the man; we’ve been working on this racetrack on the simulator at Ford Racing since December. I really wanted to get my first win on a road course,” Layne Riggs said in Victory Lane<\/a>. “The short track guy from Bahama, North Carolina, won at St. Pete, can you believe it? I’ve really been perfecting my craft. I feel like I’ve been really close on the road courses, and big shout-out to everyone at Front Row Motorsports. I literally said this year, I want to win on a road course to show that I’m not just that short track guy.”<\/p>\n

Hard work pays off, @LayneRiggs99<\/a>. \ud83d\udc4f pic.twitter.com\/vUDCbY6li2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

To make that goal come to fruition, Riggs had to hold off a hard-charging Ty Majeski, the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion. At one point during the final run of the race, the No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 had gotten to the head of the field, but overcooked Turn 14 and went off, giving the lead to Layne Riggs, and second-place to his ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes.<\/p>\n

Despite being five seconds back with less than 10 laps remaining, Majeski charged towards the two leaders and methodically worked his way to second, before pressuring Riggs on the final lap of the event. In the final corner, it looked as though Majeski had thoughts of pulling a lunge, but instead, chose to defect to the outside and finish second.<\/p>\n

Ben Rhodes led a significant portion of Saturday’s inaugural event at St. Petersburg, looking to capture a second road course victory after winning at the Daytona Road Course in 2021. However, in the final laps, his Campers Inn RV Ford F-150 appeared to fade, dropping him back to third.<\/p>\n

Chandler Smith, winner of the season-opener at Daytona<\/a>, was a contender throughout the afternoon at St. Petersburg, but just couldn’t keep up with the top-three drivers. Smith finished fourth, completing a top-four sweep for Ford Racing in the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series street race.<\/p>\n

Kaden Honeycutt, who paced practice on Friday (although it was majorly shortened by rain) rounded out the top-five, ending the streak for the TRICON Garage No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro at the road courses. <\/p>\n

Landen Lewis and Andres Perez de Lara, teammates out of the Niece Motorsports stables, had impressive runs in sixth and seventh-place, with Daniel Hemric in eighth — despite an earlier incident — with a pair of ringers Colin Braun (Kaulig Racing) and James Hinchcliffe (Spire Motorsports) rounding out the top-10.<\/p>\n

Cole Butcher made an impressive rally to finish 14th in a backup truck, after destroying his primary No. 13 Ford F-150 in an accident in the opening seconds of practice on Friday.<\/p>\n

Dario Franchitti, the other major story heading into the afternoon, had a fantastic run going all afternoon to be inside the top-10, but had to make a late unscheduled pit stop, dropping him outside the top-25, finishing in 27th-place.<\/p>\n

Leaving St. Petersburg, Chandler Smith — with three top-10s on the season — holds a 34-point advantage over Ben Rhodes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings, with Ty Majeski, Gio Ruggiero, and Layne Riggs rounding out the top-five.<\/p>\n

OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg – Race Results<\/p>\n

1. #34 – Layne Riggs
2. #88 – Ty Majeski
3. #99 – Ben Rhodes
4. #38 – Chandler Smith
5. #11 – Kaden Honeycutt
6. #45 – Landen Lewis
7. #44 – Andres Perez De Lara
8. #19 – Daniel Hemric
9. #25 – Colin Braun
10. #77 – James Hinchcliffe
11. #4 – Ben Maier
12. #16 – Justin Haley
13. #7 – Connor Mosack
14. #13 – Cole Butcher
15. #91 – Christian Eckes
16. #42 – Tyler Reif
17. #10 – Daniel Dye
18. #98 – Jake Garcia
19. #81 – Kris Wright
20. #15 – Tanner Gray
21. #2 – Carter Fartuch
22. #9 – Grant Enfinger
23. #5 – Adam Andretti
24. #12 – Brenden Queen
25. #17 – Giovanni Ruggiero (-1 Lap)
26. #52 – Stewart Friesen (-1 Lap)
27. #1 – Dario Franchitti (-1 Lap)
28. #14 – Mini Tyrrell (-3 Laps)
29. #22 – Jackson Lee (-5 Laps)
30. #33 – Frankie Muniz (-6 Laps)
31. #18 – Tyler Ankrum (-10 Laps)
32. #56 – Timmy Hill (-17 Laps)
33. #26 – Dawson Sutton (OUT)
34. #76 – Nathan Nicholson (OUT)
35. #69 – Derek White (OUT)
36. #62 – Wesley Slimp (OUT)<\/p>\n