Riggs' Charlotte Win Closes Honeycutt's NASCAR Trucks Points Lead

CONCORD, N.C. -- Layne Riggs proved he is ready to face Kaden Honeycutt for the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after beating him to win Friday night's Ecosave 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Riggs led the final seven laps after passing Honeycutt for the win. The Front Row Motorsports standout earned his sixth win of the 2026 season and his first of the Chase to make up for two disastrous races to start the postseason.

Riggs started the Chase at 25 points ahead of Honeycutt. However, he fell to 37 points behind Honeycutt after finishing 32nd at Bristol Motor Speedway and 19th at Kansas Speedway.

Through the first two stages, Riggs didn't make up any ground on Honeycutt. He won the first stage over Honeycutt, who then beat him in the second stage.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 30): Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Connor Mosack, Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth, Tanner Gray, Brent Crews, Bayley Currey.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 60): Kaden Honeycutt, Layne Riggs, Chandler Smith, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes, Brent Crews, Bayley Currey, Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric.

The first 99 laps ran without a caution for cause, which played into Riggs' favor with a better truck on the long run. Riggs led 38 laps, compared to Honeycutt's 59, as he'd gain the lead as the run played out and then would lose the lead on pit road to Honeycutt.

A caution on lap 100 for Stewart Friesen not only jumbled up the running order that was already jumbled up from green flag pit stops underway but it seemed to favor Honeycutt. He took the lead back and survived two more restarts before a third got Riggs to him.

Honeycutt admitted he focused on aero-blocking Riggs more than running his own race, which he said cost him the win. Christian Eckes got by to finish second to Riggs by a 0.596-second margin of victory.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 134): Layne Riggs, Christian Eckes, Kaden Honeycutt, Bayley Currey, Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Landen Lewis, Andres Perez, Tyler Ankrum, Justin Haley.

With his day-to-day employer, TRICON Garage, Currey has finished top-five in both of his starts this season -- finishing second at Bristol.

Ankrum finished ninth after announcing his departure from McAnally-Hilgemann Racing during a media scrum earlier in the day.

Haley finished 10th for his sixth top-10 finish of the season. Three of those have come in the last four races since Kaulig Racing rolled out newly-built trucks for his No. 16 team.

Chase drivers finishing outside of the top-10 were Ty Majeski (11th), Grant Enfinger (12th), Ben Rhodes (21st) and Gio Ruggiero (26th). Enfinger was caught by the caution during the pit cycle. Rhodes and Ruggiero were in an eight-truck crash in turn three late in the race.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase points standings are as follows:

The next race is at Phoenix Raceway, Friday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 P.M. ET. Corey Heim won in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota that Honeycutt is driving now.