A disappointing June has given way to a redemptive July for Layne Riggs.
Just a few weeks after feeling as though he was robbed by CARS Tour officials in the closing stages of the race at Carteret County Speedway, Riggs out-dueled a local ace in Kres VanDyke to win the Food Country 125 at Kingsport Speedway in Tennessee.
The win comes just one week after Riggs returned to Carteret County to win the $15,000-to-win Solid Rock 150 Limited Late Model race, too.
In short, Riggs is simply on a roll.
“This place is insane,” Riggs said in Victory Lane. “They say ‘save, save’ but you can’t when you’ve got Kres VanDyke behind you. That’s why they call this place the concrete jungle.
“You have to run hard every lap and thankfully, the car held up. I’m glad this winless streak is over because we needed to win some races.”
Riggs led the first 28 laps from the pole but was hounded by VanDyke, the reigning track champion and the 2016 Tennessee state champion, whom eventually took the lead on a restart. But Riggs returned the favor and jumped to the lead on a Lap 74 restart and again with six laps to go.
“I knew I would have to drive hard when I heard there was a caution,” Riggs said. “He races hard, but clean, and I knew I could take the outside because I could trust him to race me that way. That means a lot, racing with him. I went through the gears and won with the best car.”
With three poles in a row, and back-to-back wins, counting the Limited race at Carteret, this is the No. 99 team that almost stole a championship from Josh Berry.
“We’ve just figured our car out,” Riggs said. “My dad and I just pounded away at the shop at figured it out. Now we want to win all these other races this year.”
While all this was going on, four-time NASCAR national champion Lee Pulliam was racing from his 13th starting spot and was all over VanDyke for second during the final run. VanDyke held Pulliam off but had to be attended by medical personnel after the race after suffering from excessive heat during the race.
Pulliam was also able to cut into Bobby McCarty’s championship lead as the No. 22 was spun by Sam Mayer on the penultimate lap. McCarty fell to seventh by the end of the race.
The CARS Tour will now take a few weeks off in advance of the August 3 and 4 Throwback 276 at Hickory Motor Speedway. The complete results from Kingsport can be found below.
- Layne Riggs
- Kres VanDyke
- Lee Pulliam
- Sam Mayer
- Deac McCaskill
- Derrick Lancaster
- Bobby McCarty
- Tommy Lemons
- Josh Berry
- Brandon Pierce
- Trevor Ward
- Ty Gibbs
- Ronald Hill
- Trey Bayne
- Cody Haskins
- Nik Williams
- Hayden Woods
- Charlie Watson
- Wayne Hale
- Thomas Beane
- Danny O’Quinn
- Bradley McCaskill
- Craig Moore
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