By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

LOUDON, N.H. (August 22, 2026) – 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 Carolinian claimed a .293-second win over his Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith – Riggs’ 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.

“Statement 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.

“Thank 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.

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’s been his most successful season of NASCAR competition.

“One, two, Front Row Motorsports, it’s in the name,” he added of his and Smith’s effort Saturday. “Let’s bring on the Chase. Only got seven [races] left. No mercy.”

Another big winner on the day was McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s 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.

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’s points advantage coming into the race was enough cushion to keep him in that final championship transfer position. Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota finished fourth while Garcia’s No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford was 14th.

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

“It’s extremely rare you come to a place as fast as this and have no rear brakes and can’t fix the problem,” Ankrum said. “We’ve had adversities like this through the year, and I thought we were done with them. Luckily, Eddie D’Hondt, my spotter, gave me some advice [in the closing laps].

“Definitely 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.”

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.

“It was what it was, proud of the Halmar team,” the 42-year-old Friesen said. “We just didn’t 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.

“It’s a bummer, I think we’re definitely at top 10 team, we just had some misfortune at Richmond last week and some other times throughout the season. We’ll just go back to work and keep building this team up and get better and better, I promise you that.. … We’ll go back to work and finish the year as strong as we can and bring better stuff for next year.”

TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt finished third in another remarkable competitive recovery – 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’ll start the Chase ranked second in the reseeded championship standings, 25 points off Riggs.

Friesen was fourth with Zilisch rounding out the top-five in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – 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.

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.

Christopher Bell, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series New Hampshire winner was seventh with McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric, Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley and Niece Motorsports’ Parker Eatmon rounding out the top-10.

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’s Christian Eckes, TRICON Garage’s Gio Ruggiero, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski, CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger, Hemric, three-time series champion ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes, and Ankrum will contend for the season trophy.

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.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

RICHMOND, VA (August 15, 2026) – Joey Logano issued a not too subtle reminder Saturday night that he is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and absolutely ready to position himself for yet another title run.

Logano claimed his second win of the 2026 season – in fact, his second victory in the last four races – driving his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to a dramatic .392-second win in the Cook Out 400 under the lights in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd at Richmond Raceway.

The veteran led 95 of the 400 laps and has improved from 20th place to ninth place in the championship standings in just the last six races after the slowest season start in his 39-time trophy-hoisting championship career.

“Don’t let the boys get hot, we’re pretty strong right now,” the 36-year old Logano said grinning. “It’s awesome to see the speed in the 22 again. Gosh, it was a great car and we’ve had a great car here in the last five races but weren’t able to capitalize on the win. So close, but sweet redemption today.’’

Logano had to work at it, leading six different times on the night, ultimately taking the point for good during pit stop exchanges with only 25 laps remaining. And even then, he had to hold off what looked like the night’s strongest car, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Chase Briscoe, whose runner-up showing marked not only his first at the famed .75-mile Richmond track, but his first career top-10 on any short track on the schedule. He led a race-best 171 laps but said an issue with the brakes late in the race may have ultimately hampered his ability to get back by Logano.

“As I lost that [brakes] I just kind of lost my advantage and then I just became not mediocre but not quite as strong as I needed to be to maintain there,’’ said Briscoe, who clinched a position into the 16-driver championship field with his effort Saturday. “Definitely frustrating from that standpoint but still a huge improvement from what I’ve been here, so go on to the next one.”

Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric finished third in the No. 2 Ford, his work having major championship implications. He was strong all evening and that third-place effort moved him up from 16th to 15th in the standings with the top-16 drivers advancing to settle the 2026 title when the 10-race Chase begins in three weeks at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway

Championship points leader and the Virginia hometown favorite Denny Hamlin was fourth Saturday in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He now holds a 115-point advantage atop the standings over Richmond polesitter Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Team Penske Ford led 88 laps and won Stage 1, but finished 13th.

Chase Elliott finished fifth in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, notably his first top-10 showing in the last 10 races. A two-time winner this season, he formally clinched his Chase position and sits sixth in the standings with two races remaining to set that 16-driver Chase field.

Following the Richmond race, seven drivers have now earned their title shot – Hamlin, Blaney, JGR’s Ty Gibbs, who finished 15th Saturday as well as five-race winner, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th Saturday night answering a disappointing 36th place showing last week in Iowa.

Briscoe, Elliott and JGR’s Christopher Bell also formally claimed a championship chance, now holding positions fifth through seventh in the standings.

Two-time and reigning series champion Kyle Larson finished sixth Saturday in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, a position ahead of Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota. Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry was eighth, followed by Hendrick teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Only two races – at New Hampshire and Daytona International Speedway – now remain to set that 16-driver Chase field. Larson, Logano, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Byron, Spire’s Daniel Suarez and Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace hold positions eight through 15th now in the standings.

The season’s two-race winner, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, claims that pivotal 16th place in the standings. He finished 14th at Richmond and takes a 50-point edge on RFK’s Ryan Preece to next week’s stop in New Hampshire. Ross Chastain is 63 points off his teammate van Gisbergen’s pace.

The run for the title continues as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway mile for next Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney is the defending race winner.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

RICHMOND, VA – It’s been the ultimate celebratory week for TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt who absolutely dominated the weather-delayed Black’s Tire 250 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Saturday afternoon – the strong winning effort coming only days after the 23-year-old Texan announced he and his wife Jessica were expecting their first child.

Honeycutt led 225 of the 250 laps at the .75-mile track – the most laps he’s ever led in a single race – surpassing his 59 laps out front at Darlington, S.C. earlier this year – more laps led than in all his 75 previous series races combined. And for the first time in his career, he swept both stage wins as well.

Ultimately Honeycutt’s No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota crossed the line a healthy 1.313-seconds ahead of his teammate, reigning series champion, Corey Heim in the team’s No. 5 Toyota Tundra. After a series of late race pit stops, Honeycutt reclaimed the lead with 29 laps remaining and never looked back.

His strong day broke a long-tenured Richmond race pattern where the driver who leads the most laps does not typically win the race. Honeycutt was strong early and often…at one point holding the lead position for a 195-lap stretch.

This marks his second career win and second of the season and trims Saturday’s 15th place finisher, Front Row Motorsports driver Layne Riggs’ championship lead to 61 points heading into the regular season finale next week at New Hampshire.

The victory is also significant for Honeycutt’s veteran crew chief Scott Zippadelli, who now claims 38 career series victories, second all-time to Eric Phillips 44-trophy haul.

“Man, we never give up,’’ Honeycutt said. “We’ve had a rough last couple weeks and just wondered what the heck was going on. We’re not a seventh place, tenth place team and it’s all thanks to [crew chief] Scott Zippadelli and everyone on this 11-team.

“We just stay on it. We don’t give up and I just can’t thank everyone enough. What a dominant day. I’ve never been able to do something like that before so really good confidence for me and hopefully we can go to Loudon (N.H.) and do the same thing next week. Just really cool.’’

McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes was third in the No. 91 Chevrolet with first-time series pole-winner, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen finishing fourth in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in what will be a Saturday doubleheader as he competes Saturday night here in the NASCAR Cup Series race. Grant Enfinger, who led 22 laps on the day in the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet, rounded out the top-five.

As so often happens, the Richmond race proved to have a significant impact on the championship standings.

Tyler Ankrum—who came into the race ranked 11th, one position outside the Chase 10-driver championship-eligible field—was dealt a penalty for his No. 18 McAnnally-Hilgemann team having too many men over the pit wall on the opening pit stop of the race. After collecting stage points with an eighth-place finish in the first stage, he started the next stage as the last truck on the lead lap.

Ankrum was able to overcome the situation a mere 20 laps into the run, however, quickly re-passing his primary foe Stewart Friesen (who came into the race 10th in points) before moving to an 11th place finish in Stage 2 and ultimately the race.

Friesen brought out the third and final caution flag crashing by himself with 33 laps remaining and triggering an impactful twist in the standings. Ankrum’s steady work and Friesen’s misfortune—he finished last in the 37-car field—moved Ankrum into that all-important 10th position in the standings.

He’s now 20 points up on Friesen and 21 points over Saturday’s sixth place finisher, ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia as the series heads into the regular season finale next week at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway one-miler.

Those three drivers contending for that final Chase transfer position have only four previous starts among them at New Hampshire. Friesen has competed in two races there, his best work was a fifth-place finish back in 2017. He was injured and did not race last Fall. Ankrum and Garcia did race, finishing 11th and 16th respectively, in their only series starts at the New England mile.

ThorSport’s Ty Majeski also survived a hectic afternoon, the former Richmond winner officially locking into the Chase even after going down two laps with tire trouble early in the day. He finished 19th a lap down, but his perseverance on a challenging day was enough to secure his position into the Chase.

Garcia, Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith were sixth and seventh with Spire Motorsports’ 16-year-old Tristan McKee earning an impressive eighth place finish in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. TRICON’s Gio Ruggiero and McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric rounded out the top-10 Saturday. Virginian-native Elliott Sadler in the free agent Kaulig Racing Ram finished 32nd.

The regular season finale is set for next Saturday with the Team EJP 175 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 2025 series champion Heim won last year’s race from pole position.