Layne Riggs received the checkered flag under caution, and the first thing he said over the radio was "Did it for Kyle, man, did it for Kyle." The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway ended when the clock struck noon on Sunday and the time limit due to bad weather ran out on lap 110, 24 laps short of the scheduled distance. Riggs was leading at that moment in the Ford No. 34 of Front Row Motorsports and scored his second victory of the season, his first on the 1.5‑mile oval.
A race postponed three times by rain
The North Carolina Education Lottery 200 was postponed three times since Friday due to rain and was run under NASCAR's severe‑weather event provision. Riggs had won the second stage and led 52 laps, more than any other driver in a race that featured 11 cautions. After climbing out of the truck, he imitated the bow that Kyle Busch used to do in front of the crowd. "Our hearts are very heavy this weekend. I've been struggling with this. I was on the verge of tears at the end," he admitted.
Corey Day's crash
Corey Day had started from pole position in the Chevrolet No. 7 of Spire Motorsports, the same truck that Busch was going to drive this weekend before his death on Thursday at age 41. Day was running inside the top ten when on lap 47 he tried to block Giovanni Ruggiero's Toyota on the back straight. Contact from the No. 17 sent Day's Silverado sideways, and the truck flipped completely in the air before landing on its wheels and hitting the inside wall at the entrance to Turn 3. Day walked away from the medical centre and apologised: "My spotter didn't do anything wrong. He told me he was there. I thought I was clear and I wasn't. I wanted to give them a good race and I feel terrible."
The finish and the dedication
Kaden Honeycutt finished second in the Toyota No. 11 and keeps the championship lead, 11 points ahead of Riggs. Connor Zilisch was third and Ben Rhodes fourth in the Ford No. 99. Christian Eckes won the first stage and led 33 laps, but finished sixth. Chandler Smith, Riggs's teammate at Front Row, pushed Riggs into the lead on the lap‑104 restart and later spun under Zilisch to bring out the final caution, just as the clock reached the time limit. Smith finished 30th.
The Truck Series returns next week at Nashville. Riggs dedicated the victory to the driver who has won the most races in the history of the category and said that his team was the only thing that brought a smile to his face on a weekend where, as Honeycutt repeated, "life means more than racing."
NC Education Lottery 200 2026
| Pos | Nº | driver | brand | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #34 | Layne Riggs | Ford | - |
| 2 | #11 | Kaden Honeycutt | Toyota | +0.38s |
| 3 | #77 | Connor Zilisch(i) | Chevrolet | +0.90s |
| 4 | #99 | Ben Rhodes | Ford | +1.36s |
| 5 | #17 | Giovanni Ruggiero | Toyota | +1.88s |
| 6 | #91 | Christian Eckes | Chevrolet | +2.63s |
| 7 | #1 | Brandon Jones(i) | Toyota | +3.23s |
| 8 | #15 | Tanner Gray | Toyota | +3.93s |
| 9 | #4 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr(i) | Chevrolet | +4.69s |
| 10 | #5 | William Sawalich(i) | Toyota | +5.18s |
| 11 | #19 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | +5.70s |
| 12 | #10 | Corey LaJoie | RAM | +6.71s |
| 13 | #98 | Jake Garcia | Ford | +7.54s |
| 14 | #42 | Conner Jones | Chevrolet | +8.07s |
| 15 | #71 | Shane Van Gisbergen(i) | Chevrolet | +9.33s |
| 16 | #9 | Grant Enfinger | Chevrolet | +9.70s |
| 17 | #16 | Justin Haley | RAM | +10.32s |
| 18 | #56 | Timmy Hill | Toyota | +11.24s |
| 19 | #44 | Andres Perez De Lara | Chevrolet | +12.47s |
| 20 | #18 | Tyler Ankrum | Chevrolet | +12.97s |
| 21 | #25 | Travis Pastrana | RAM | +13.54s |
| 22 | #26 | Dawson Sutton | Chevrolet | +13.54s |
| 23 | #62 | Leland Honeyman Jr | Toyota | +15.08s |
| 24 | #33 | Frankie Muniz | Ford | +15.60s |
| 25 | #76 | Spencer Boyd | Chevrolet | +16.16s |
| 26 | #52 | Stewart Friesen | Toyota | +17.12s |
| 27 | #13 | Cole Butcher # | Ford | +17.12s |
| 28 | #22 | Josh Reaume | Ford | +1 vuelta |
| 29 | #45 | Ross Chastain(i) | Chevrolet | +3 vueltas |
| 30 | #38 | Chandler Smith | Ford | +4 vueltas |
| 31 | #81 | Kris Wright | Chevrolet | +23 vueltas |
| 32 | #12 | Brenden Queen # | RAM | +23 vueltas |
| 33 | #88 | Ty Majeski | Ford | +59 vueltas |
| 34 | #14 | Mini Tyrrell # | RAM | +63 vueltas |
| 35 | #7 | Corey Day(i) | Chevrolet | +64 vueltas |
| 36 | #2 | Luke Baldwin | Ford | +73 vueltas |
Photo By Getty Images - Nascar
Photo By Getty Images - Nascar
Photo By Getty Images - Nascar