NCTS Race Recap: Black’s Tire 200

With only two races left on the schedule, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series headed to Martinsville Speedway for the Black’s Tire 200. Youngster Tristan McKee was fastest in qualifying and earned himself the pole at only 16 years old. Layne Riggs joined him on the front row.

Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes started on the second row. Championship leader Kaden Honeycutt started the race from fifth. The lap lengths were 50 laps for stages one and two, with the final stage being 100 laps.

The Layne Train

The front row got equal starts, but Riggs snagged the lead out of turn two. Honeycutt fell to sixth but stayed patient. Quickly, the field migrated to one line around the paperclip.

Riggs pulled away from McKee by three quarters of a second.

William Sawalich and Connor Jones got together battling for 17th. Sawalich was not pleased with the aggressive blocking from Jones.

Josh Reaume was the first truck a lap down. Riggs made quick work of the traffic and even improved the gap over McKee. He caught more traffic, but it did not slow him down.

Frankie Muniz got turned around and brought out the first caution of the night. Christian Eckes got into Honeycutt, who turned Muniz. Simply put, Muniz was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

McKee and Riggs brought the field back to green with six to go in the stage. Riggs quickly pulled back out front.

Riggs pulled away by over a second before winning stage one in the Black’s Tire 200! McKee, Smith, Rhodes, and Ty Majeski finished in the top five.

Riggs is Fast

McKee and Riggs started stage two from the front row. Riggs retook his lead out of turn two. McKee tried to hold off Smith for second. Rhodes used his chrome horn to move Smith up the track and took third.

Honeycutt drove around Eckes on the inside for sixth.

Rhodes began to complain about brake issues. He had trouble with his pedal.

Riggs built his lead to over a second and a half. He was consistently the fastest truck on track.

On lap 97, Jones slowed on the track, and his truck began to smoke. He made it to pit road and no caution was thrown.

Riggs brought his broom and swept the stages in the Black’s Tire 200!

The Cautions Begin

Riggs retook the lead after Stewart Friesen restarted alongside him.

The fourth caution came out when Daniel Hemric hit the inside curb and collected Tyler Reif. Reif turned in front of Brenden Queen; Landen Lewis, Corey Lajoie, Kasey Kleyn, Tanner Gray, and Monty Tipton also received damage.

NASCAR red-flagged the race to allow for cleanup.

McKee and Riggs got the race restarted with 75 to go. Honeycutt restarted in fourth. McKee did a great job battling Riggs on the outside line. He snagged the lead out of turn four. Honeycutt dove to the inside of Riggs but could not take the spot.

The fifth caution came out for Kleyn, who got turned around. Lewis turned Kleyn around off his bumper.

Riggs and McKee brought the green flag back out with 65 to go.

Honeycutt restarted behind McKee. Riggs held onto second and was able to pull down in front of him.

Cole Butcher spun in turn three. That brought out the sixth caution. Hemric was also spun after the stack-up to avoid Butcher.

54 to go

Again, McKee and Riggs restarted the race. Riggs stayed to the outside of McKee.

Before the lap could be completed, the seventh caution came out. Tanner Gray turned Timmy Hill on the backstretch. A few trucks ran into the incident. The incident collected Gavan Boschele, Butcher, Gray, Reaume, Carson Ferguson, Muniz, Friesen, Timmy Hill, and Justin Carroll. NASCAR displayed the red flag for cleanup.

Riggs and McKee brought the green back out. Smith pushed Riggs out in front of McKee. Honeycutt fell to fourth as Smith took third.

Smith moved McKee up the track to fight for second. He could not complete the pass.

Honeycutt dropped to sixth after being passed by Majeski and Rhodes.

Kleyn brought out the eighth caution after another truck turned him. Kris Wright overdrove turn one and collected Kleyn.

Riggs restarted the race with 30 laps to go. He retook the lead out of turn two. Smith passed McKee to get to second. McKee shoved Smith up the track to take second back. Smith used a huge run out of turn two to take the spot.

Riggs took advantage of the fighting behind him to pull away by over a second and a half.

20 to go

The ninth caution came out on lap 180. Carson Ferguson was run over by Reif. They both hit the inside wall and were not happy with each other before the incident. Additionally, Reif served a two-lap hold penalty for reckless driving.

Smith and Riggs restarted out front. Smith got a better restart and took the lead out of turn two. Rhodes followed him to take second.

McKee shoved Honeycutt out of the line and fell outside of the top ten.

Smith led the rest to win the Black’s Tire 200! Rhodes, Riggs, Majeski, and McKee finished in the top five. Honeycutt finished the race in 14th.

Marvin’s Minute:

Riggs did everything right, but late-race cautions derailed his bid for the win. Instead of letting the setbacks define his race, Riggs continued to fight for every position and put himself in position to challenge for the victory.

Meanwhile, Honeycutt executed when it mattered most and did exactly what he needed to do to leave the penultimate race with the points lead. His strong finish puts him in control heading into the season finale, but the championship remains within Riggs’ reach. Riggs now faces a steep challenge at Homestead, where he will need another strong performance to close the points gap and keep his championship hopes alive.

The series heads to Homestead next week for the final race of the season, and both drivers have everything to fight for.