While Layne Riggs started Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in first position and converted it into an overtime victory in the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, his race was not at all straightforward. Riggs remained competitive all day, as challengers such as Connor Zilisch and Chandler Smith held the lead for much of the middle part of the race.
Riggs said while speaking about his position as a championship favorite, “Pole and win, you can’t do any better than that. But I’m confident, my team’s confident, they’re pumped up, they’re excited. We’re in the best position you could possibly right now.”
A number of crashes shook up the field during the race, with Riggs regaining the lead on lap 120 and holding onto it through four competitive restarts. This includes one during the first overtime, where Seekonk native Gio Ruggiero spun out while trying to pass Riggs in turn two and created a multi-truck wreck.
“I knew he was going to deep it off into the corner pretty hard, I did as well,” Riggs said about his battle with Ruggiero before the spin. “I made sure to give him plenty of room on the bottom so he could at least try not to spin into me.”
For the NASCAR Cup Series, defending Daytona 500 champion Tyler Reddick set the best time during qualifying on Saturday afternoon following a practice session in which he did not feel confident at all.
“For us the thought was ‘Obviously you want to get the most out of the car and most out of the lap,’” Reddick noted, “and I just tried to understand what I didn’t like out of my car in practice and make sure I don’t tap into that at all in the lap.”
Reddick looks to claim his sixth victory of the season in Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301. The race start time has been moved up one hour to 2 P.M. due to the threat of inclement weather. Teams have been preparing wet weather tires if rain does move into the Loudon area during the race.
