{"id":60226,"date":"2026-08-22T16:40:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T21:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=60226"},"modified":"2026-08-22T20:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T01:47:34","slug":"riggs-rules-new-hampshire-ankrum-survives-to-claim-final-chase-berth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/22\/riggs-rules-new-hampshire-ankrum-survives-to-claim-final-chase-berth\/","title":{"rendered":"Riggs rules New Hampshire, Ankrum survives to claim final Chase berth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

LOUDON, N.H. \u2013 Layne Riggs capped his 2026 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season with his series-best sixth win of the year, claiming the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon in a dramatic double overtime victory in the regular season finale.<\/p>\n

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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The 24-year-old North Carolinian claimed a .293-second win over his Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith \u2013 Riggs\u2019 pole-sitting No. 34 Front Row Ford leading a race high 106 of the 189 laps, including the last 71 through a pair of overtime restarts. It’s his 11th career Truck Series win.<\/p>\n

\u201cStatement win, this is awesome,” a grinning Riggs told a thrilled New Hampshire Motor Speedway grandstand, receiving cheers as he spoke about how much he loves racing in New England.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to everybody at Front Row Motorsports and Ford racing. I thought I was off a little bit and thought I was in trouble,” Riggs said, of finishing second and third to NASCAR Cup Series regular Connor Zilisch who swept Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the race.<\/p>\n

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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

But Riggs credited his team with making the key adjustments to his truck to close out the race and the young talent took it from there in what\u2019s been his most successful season of NASCAR competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, two, Front Row Motorsports, it\u2019s in the name,” he added of his and Smith\u2019s effort Saturday. \u201cLet\u2019s bring on the Chase. Only got seven [races] left. No mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another big winner on the day was McAnally-Hilgemann Racing\u2019s Tyler Ankrum, claiming the 10th and final position for the seven-race Chase that will decide the ultimate 2026 season champion. Ankrum persevered after his No. 18 Chevrolet suffered mechanical gremlins mid-race, dropped nearly a lap down but rebounded for a 16th-place finish in the 36-truck field.<\/p>\n

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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, and crew celebrate after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Although disappointed with the struggles, the finish was good enough to give Ankrum a seven-point edge over veteran Stewart Friesen and an 11-point edge over Jake Garcia who were vying with him for the final Chase position. Both of those drivers led multiple laps, but ultimately, Ankrum\u2019s points advantage coming into the race was enough cushion to keep him in that final championship transfer position. Friesen\u2019s No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota finished fourth while Garcia\u2019s No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford was 14th.<\/p>\n

Ankrum was excited about making the Chase, but still visibly frustrated with an emotional day full of challenges to get to that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely rare you come to a place as fast as this and have no rear brakes and can\u2019t fix the problem,” Ankrum said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had adversities like this through the year, and I thought we were done with them. Luckily, Eddie D\u2019Hondt, my spotter, gave me some advice [in the closing laps].<\/p>\n

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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDefinitely did not want to come to New Hampshire and perform like that. Got lucky. Did not perform like we belong in the Chase,” he added, promising in a couple hours he would be able to, “Move on past this and go to the shop and improve and race for the championship.”<\/p>\n

Friesen, whose fourth-place run at New Hampshire was his fourth top-five finish in the last five races, was proud of his team effort despite the near miss. A heart-breaking 36th-place finish at Richmond, Va. last week after an early-race crash, essentially made the mathematical difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was what it was, proud of the Halmar team,” the 42-year-old Friesen said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t bring enough speed all year. We battled today, [crew chief] Bruce [Cook] made a good call to get two tires and up in the front we got the balance pretty close and found a lane I could work with.<\/p>\n

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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, leads the field during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bummer, I think we\u2019re definitely at top 10 team, we just had some misfortune at Richmond last week and some other times throughout the season. We\u2019ll just go back to work and keep building this team up and get better and better, I promise you that.. \u2026 We\u2019ll go back to work and finish the year as strong as we can and bring better stuff for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt finished third in another remarkable competitive recovery \u2013 a tire went down in the opening stage, and he ended up losing a lap but battled back to his 11th top-five on the season. He\u2019ll start the Chase ranked second in the reseeded championship standings, 25 points off Riggs.<\/p>\n

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LOUDON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – AUGUST 22: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing Ford, drives during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on August 22, 2026 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Friesen was fourth with Zilisch rounding out the top-five in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet \u2013 his effort coming the same week he announced big plans to move in 2028 to the championship Hendrick Motorsports organization in the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n

His Spire Motorsports teammate, Tristan McKee continued his impressive work, the 16-year-old answering an eighth-place finish in his series debut last week at Richmond with a sixth-place showing in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Christopher Bell, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series New Hampshire winner was seventh with McAnally-Hilgemann\u2019s Daniel Hemric, Kaulig Racing\u2019s Justin Haley and Niece Motorsports\u2019 Parker Eatmon rounding out the top-10.<\/p>\n

The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series takes a four-week break before starting its seven-race Chase run to the title. Joining Riggs and Honeycutt in that championship run are Smith, McAnally-Hilgemann\u2019s Christian Eckes, TRICON Garage\u2019s Gio Ruggiero, ThorSport Racing\u2019s Ty Majeski, CR7 Motorsports\u2019 Grant Enfinger, Hemric, three-time series champion ThorSport Racing\u2019s Ben Rhodes, and Ankrum will contend for the season trophy.<\/p>\n

The title run begins Sept. 17 with the UNOH 250 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Riggs is the defending race winner.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

NCTS Race Winner Layne Riggs (No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford) –<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NCTS Pole Winner Layne Riggs (No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford) –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LayneRiggs8.21.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – Team EJP 175<\/b><\/p>\n

New Hampshire Motor Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Loudon, New Hampshire<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, August 22, 2026<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (1)  Layne Riggs, Ford, 189.<\/p>\n

                2. (12)  Chandler Smith, Ford, 189.<\/p>\n

                3. (2)  Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                4. (13)  Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                5. (4)  Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                6. (5)  Tristan McKee, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                7. (17)  Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                8. (6)  Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                9. (25)  Justin Haley, RAM, 189.<\/p>\n

                10. (18)  Parker Eatmon, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                11. (16)  Ty Majeski, Ford, 189.<\/p>\n

                12. (21)  Michael Christopher Jr., Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                13. (8)  Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                14. (9)  Jake Garcia, Ford, 189.<\/p>\n

                15. (24)  Corey LaJoie, RAM, 189.<\/p>\n

                16. (15)  Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                17. (14)  Cole Butcher #, Ford, 189.<\/p>\n

                18. (10)  Ben Rhodes, Ford, 189.<\/p>\n

                19. (23)  John Hunter Nemechek(i), Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                20. (26)  Brenden Queen #, RAM, 189.<\/p>\n

                21. (20)  Tanner Gray, Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                22. (27)  Connor Hall, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                23. (33)  Mini Tyrrell #, RAM, 189.<\/p>\n

                24. (30)  Colin Braun, RAM, 189.<\/p>\n

                25. (34)  Dawson Sutton, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                26. (3)  Giovanni Ruggiero, Toyota, 189.<\/p>\n

                27. (29)  Andres Perez De Lara, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                28. (19)  Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, 189.<\/p>\n

                29. (31)  Timmy Hill, Toyota, 187.<\/p>\n

                30. (11)  Connor Mosack, Chevrolet, Accident, 179.<\/p>\n

                31. (36)  Luke Baldwin, Ford, 177.<\/p>\n

                32. (22)  Landen Lewis, Chevrolet, 177.<\/p>\n

                33. (7)  Gavan Boschele, Toyota, Accident, 169.<\/p>\n

                34. (28)  Kris Wright, Chevrolet, Vibration, 146.<\/p>\n

                35. (32)  Patrick Emerling, Ford, Suspension, 131.<\/p>\n

                36. (35)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, Accident, 75.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  86.325 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 18 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.293 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  9 for 56 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  6 among 5 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   L. Riggs 1-35;C. Zilisch(i) 36-59;J. Garcia 60-73;C. Smith 74-83;C. Zilisch(i) 84-114;S. Friesen 115-118;L. Riggs 119-189.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Layne Riggs 2 times for 106 laps; Connor Zilisch(i) 2 times for 55 laps; Jake Garcia 1 time for 14 laps; Chandler Smith 1 time for 10 laps; Stewart Friesen 1 time for 4 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 71,34,19,38,62,17,77,9,98,1<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 71,38,34,62,98,17,19,1,7,52<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. \u2013 Layne Riggs capped his 2026 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season with his series-best sixth win of the year, claiming the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon in a dramatic double overtime victory in the regular season finale. The 24-year-old North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":60217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[953,16,882,466],"class_list":["post-60226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-layne-riggs","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-craftsmen-truck-series","tag-new-hampshire-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-fFo","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2291596562-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1683&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60226"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60231,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60226\/revisions\/60231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}