Chandler Smith Takes Martinsville Win; Riggs Cuts Into Point Lead

Layne Riggs drove nearly a flawless race in Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black's Tire 200 at Martinsville Speedway. But on the final restart of the race with 12 laps remaining, he was unable to fend off Chandler Smith, his Front Row Motorsports teammate, who would go on to take the lead and, with it, the race win.

For the 24-year-old Smith, who is set to join Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series next season, the 12 laps led to end the race were his first laps led in the entire race. This is the third win of the season for Smith, and the win put Smith into double-digit wins for his career, which spans 111 races, as he now has 10 career victories in NASCAR Truck Series competition.

Ben Rhodes would follow Smith by Riggs as he would score a runner-up finish, while Riggs, the Stage 1 and Stage 2 winner, would settle for a third-place finish.

Riggs led a race-high 156 laps in the 200-lap contest, including the opening 109 laps of the event, but ultimately came up empty.

However, with Kaden Honeycutt, the championship point leader finishing 14th after a late-race pushing-and-shoving situation on-track, Riggs was able to carve into Honeycutt's point lead. Honeycutt's advantage, which stood at 43 points entering the night, is now down to 20 points over Riggs.

While he was disappointed to miss out on the win, Riggs knows next weekend's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway is essentially a winner-take-all situation for the championship.

Ty Majeski came home with a solid fourth-place finish, ahead of Tristan McKee, who became the youngest NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series polesitter in history earlier in the day, the fifth-place finisher.

Andres Perez de Lara, Tyler Ankrum, Gio Ruggiero, William Sawalich, and Christian Eckes rounded out the top-10 finishers in the Black's Tire 200 at Martinsville.

Heading into the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend, only Honeycutt and Riggs remain mathematically eligible to collect the championship trophy.

*This story will be updated with post-race quotes and additional information.

Updated Chase Grid (One Race Remaining)

1. Kaden Honeycutt, 2,403 points
2. Layne Riggs, -20
--Mathematically Eliminated--
3. Chandler Smith, -103
4. Ty Majeski, -128
5. Christian Eckes, -140
6. Gio Ruggiero, -179
7. Ben Rhodes, -186
8. Daniel Hemric, -204
9. Tyler Ankrum, -210
10. Grant Enfinger, -225

Black's Tire 200 Race Results

Fin	Truck	Driver	Laps	Points
1	38	Chandler Smith (C)	200	71
2	99	Ben Rhodes (C)	200	49
3	34	Layne Riggs (C)	200	55
4	88	Ty Majeski (C)	200	45
5	77	Tristan McKee	200	50
6	44	Andres Perez de Lara	200	35
7	18	Tyler Ankrum (C)	200	36
8	17	Gio Ruggiero (C)	200	30
9	5	William Sawalich (i)	200	0
10	91	Christian Eckes (C)	200	36
11	9	Grant Enfinger (C)	200	26
12	12	Brenden Queen #	200	25
13	98	Jake Garcia	200	25
14	11	Kaden Honeycutt (C)	200	32
15	19	Daniel Hemric (C)	200	22
16	62	Kasey Kleyn	200	21
17	14	Mini Tyrrell #	200	20
18	15	Tanner Gray	200	19
19	45	Landen Lewis	200	18
20	10	Corey LaJoie	200	17
21	81	Kris Wright	200	16
22	13	Cole Butcher #	200	15
23	76	Spencer Boyd	199	14
24	1	Gavan Boschele	198	13
25	33	Frankie Muniz	198	12
26	22	Josh Reaume	198	11
27	42	Tyler Reif	198	10
28	69	Tyler Tomassi (i)	196	0
29	25	Carson Ferguson	179	8
30	52	Stewart Friesen	147	7
31	56	Timmy Hill	146	6
32	90	Justin Carroll	141	5
33	7	Sammy Smith (i)	129	0
34	16	Justin Haley	119	3
35	2	Monty Tipton	115	2
36	4	Conner Jones	95	1

(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points

What's Next?

Next up for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday, November 6. That race will be televised on FS1 with coverage set to begin at 7:30 PM ET. The NASCAR Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the season finale.

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