Riggs, Rodney and Harvick Go Full Circle with CARS Caraway Win

Full circle.

Veteran racer John Paul Linville, the father-in-law to Kevin Harvick, was extremely instrumental in getting Scott Riggs going at the start of his Late Model Stock career. When Riggs got to NASCAR, he was paired with a young Late Model Stock racer turned crew chief in Rodney Childers. Eventually, Childers became one of the best crew chiefs at the highest level when he was paired with Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas Racing. Riggs had a son, Layne, who spent his formative years running around the hauler inhabited by his dad and Childers back in the day. Harvick and Childers went on to launch a Late Model Stock team and for its second race and hired Layne, who went onto win the CARS Tour race on Wednesday night at Caraway Speedway.

Full circle.

“That’s the phrase,” Riggs said after winning in CARS Tour competition for the seventh time in his career, but first outside of their family owned No. 99. “Delana’s dad, John Paul, I dedicate this win to his memory. I never met him, but he did so much for my dad. It’s just awesome to have the opportunity to drive this car. Huge thank you to Kevin, to Delana and Rodney for spending all the long nights in the car. This is his hobby, short track racing, and you don’t see him smiling a lot, but he was grinning ear to ear tonight.

And that’s because he loves this stuff.

Childers spent his formative racing years as a driver primarily winning races at Tri-County Motor Speedway. Even as his career took him more to the engineering and race-calling side, his heart has never left the discipline. He is one of the most passionate supporters of this kind of racing and that’s why he’s spent much of his free time away from working on Harvick’s Cup car working on Harvick’s Late Model.

That he could win, in just their second time out, but first working with the Riggs again made it special for him as well.

“This is a great bunch of people,” Childers said. “It’s a lot of fun to come here with Layne and see him do the things he does behind the wheel. He’s a great race car driver and I’ve watched him grow up since he was a baby, running around the motor home naked eating frozen freezer chicken, and now we won a race together.

“Man, I love Late Model Stock racing and the CARS Tour. It’s so much fun being able to do this.”

To win the race, it meant passing the defending champion and current points leader, Carson Kvapil driving the JR Motorsports No. 8. They were in a league of their own, and almost to their detriment, with both drivers feeling as though the other was setting too high a pace when they were leading.

Both drivers expressed concern for their right rears during the final caution on Lap 97. Both drivers were told no one felt particularly happy with their right rears.

“I knew we had a big lead over third, so I was just trying to bring him back, I guess, a little bit,” Kvapil said. “In my head, I’m thinking, why are we going so hard? We both could drop back a straightaway. I wanted to slow us down a little bit and from there, try to keep him at bay.”

Childers actually thought Riggs burned too much of it up.

“I felt like he went too hard the whole race but the car had so much turn in the center and I think that helped him keep the right rear on it,” Childers said.

Riggs, proving he is what everyone says he is on this night, felt like he always had it under control.

“I started to lose the right rear but spotter did a good job keeping me updated and letting me know what everyone else was doing,” Riggs said. “The pace was fast tonight. It was much faster than I expected. Early in the race, I just wanted to run behind Carson because he has more experience on this new CARS Tour tire than I have.

“Sometimes you have to save a lot and sometimes you have to ride hard, so I knew if I could just match his pace, I could learn what kind of car I had and I learned it was a really good car. I started to press him, and he started to slip and slip, and that’s when I felt like we had the winning hand.”

So, as it turns out, what had Kvapil a little unnerved was just part of the plan, because Riggs knew what he had under him on entry.

Meanwhile, watching all of it from atop the hauler was Harvick, who was just excited over how everything played out.

“For me, and for Rodney, this just started out as something to do just for fun,” Harvick said. “After we ran North Wilkesboro, for us to put Layne in the car and connect the two families back – Scott drove Delana’s dad’s car 26 years ago — and have Rodney be the crew chief after working with Scott.

“There are so many dots to be connected. To watch him drive the car to Victory Lane … and this is another thing … Rodney had to thrash on the car today. He, and Scott, and Layne were all working hard on this thing today.

“I just showed up and felt fortunate to watch good people get to do good things.”

Full circle.

LARSON FINISHES SEVENTH

It’s been a long time since Kyle Larson had raced a Late Model Stock and these cars have changed so much since he his last appearance but the 2021 Cup Series champion finished seventh in his CARS Tour debut for JR Motorsports.

He spent much of the race around 12th, learning his entry and braking points, under the tutelage of crew chief Josh Berry. Larson started to make up ground by the end and finished eighth with much to digest from the afternoon and evening.

“It’s different,” Larson said. “I mean, maybe not different but the lack of horsepower is a takeaway, and just being on a short track. I know I’ve won a couple times on a short track in a Cup car but it still takes a lot for the team to get me good at it. I wasn’t expecting to do great and going into the race, I thought eighth is where I needed to be, and that’s where we finished.

“Happy about that. I wanted to be better. I know the car was capable of running better than I ran with it so that’s what bothers me.”

But he enjoyed working with Berry and just doing something out of his usual deal.

“It was a lot of fun,” Larson said. “Josh is a great race car driver. He knows a lot about these race cars and has won a lot of these races so it was great to work with him, and get to know him a little better, because we’re going to be racing a lot more together next year when he gets in the Cup car.”

Is this just a one-off or would Larson want to do it again?

“I mean who knows,” Larson said. “This obviously worked out because it was mid-week and close to home, so that makes things a lot easier. I don’t know, I’ve never even looked at a Late Model schedule before, so I don’t even know what else is out there.”

CARS Tour Firecracker 125
Caraway Speedway
June 29 2023

1. 62 Layne Riggs
2. 14 Jared Fryar
3. 24 Mason Diaz
4. 8 Carson Kvapil
5. 10 Kaden Honeycutt
6. 6 Bobby McCarty
7. 03 Brenden Queen
8. 5 Kyle Larson
9. 67 Cameron Bolin
10. 81 Mini Tyrrell
11. 1 Andrew Grady
12. 21 Lanie Buice
13. 22 Landon Huffman
14. 77 Connor Hall
15. 95 Jacob Heafner
16. 15 Ryan Millington
17. 57 Connor Zilisch
18. 2 Brandon Pierce
19. 43 William Sawalich
20. 15C Logan Clark -1
21. 42 Carson Brown -1
22. 97A Jason Kitzmiller – OUT
23. 8B Chase Burrow -15
24. 77W Trevor Ward – OUT
25. 45 Matt Gould – OUT
26. 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr. – OUT
27. 16 Chad McCumbee – OUT
28. 18 Jason York – OUT
29. 5B Bryant Barnhill – OUT
30. 7 Dylan Ward – OUT
31. 19 Jeremy Mayfield – OUT