LAYNE RIGGS PUNCHES TICKET TO ROUND OF 8 WITH BRISTOL VICTORY
- Layne Riggs drove his No. 34 Ford F-150 to victory Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, which automatically sends him into the Round of 8.
- The win marked his fifth career series triumph and third this season.
- Ford finished first and second with Riggs and Ben Rhodes (2nd).
- Ford has now won five series races this season and 129 overall.
Ford Unofficial Finishing Results
1st – Layne Riggs
2nd – Ben Rhodes
4th – Ty Majeski
10th – Matt Crafton
28th – Josh Reaume
30th – Chandler Smith
31st – Mason Maggio
33rd – Jake Garcia
36th – Clayton Green
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 Love’s RV STOP Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – THE RACE STARTED PRETTY EVENTFUL BUT YOU DIDN’T QUIT. “You don’t get two mulligans in the playoffs and I got two, so I’m not sure what happened on the initial start with the 7. I felt like I was there pretty good and the first lap of the race to spin out is a blow to your confidence, for sure, but I’ve got faith in this team and I’ve got faith in everybody here. Thank you to all of the fans. You all are great. Thank you for the energy. I’ve got to thank Love’s Travel Stops. Ford Racing. Man, you all are awesome and loud. Thank you to Peak, just everybody involved.” YOU ARE OFFICIALLY IN THE NEXT ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS. HOW REWARDING IS THAT? “I think it just shows that we’re right there. We’re in contention. We can do it and these guys right here don’t give up. I don’t give up. That’s three in a row at Bristol Motor Speedway for Front Row Motorsports, so it’s a big testament to all of these guys. We’ve got a really good package here and I’m excited for New Hampshire. I’ve never even been there and I already love that racetrack. Bring the playoffs on.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Soda Sense/Curb Records Ford F-150 – “Honestly, I was just trying to be smart. We were in a pretty good spot. We didn’t need to do something silly and wreck both of us and put ourselves in a worse spot than we needed to be. I probably could have been a little bit more aggressive and held him off. I was trying to get around the 41 and lap traffic is so tough to understand where they’re gonna go, but, overall, it was a good night for us. We had a solid Soda Sense Ford F-150. I’m excited to go to New Hampshire next week.” DO YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOUR POSITION GOING INTO NEW HAMPSHIRE? “Yeah, I think so. We’re running pretty good right now. We’ve got a lot of great racetracks coming up for us, so I feel good about where our team is at. We just needed a little bit more tonight, but we’re gonna build on it and keep top-fiving them to death.”
JAKE GARCIA, No. 13 Quanta Services Ford F-150 – “I feel like we had the fastest truck here tonight. I lost the lead early when that caution came out on the first lap. I guess we were behind at one of the timing lines, but we fought back and won the stage. We pitted there and came out 11th because a lot of people didn’t pit. We passed a couple of them, but then going into turn three I felt the power-steering completely go away. I hung onto it and ran for another half-a-lap before I realized that the water temperature was skyrocketing. I thought just the power-steering belt broke or something, but the whole assembly, the bolt sheared off in there and all the belts came off. The water got super hot, so we came in and pitted. We replaced all of that and came back out 30 laps down. After that, it was just a matter of staying in the race and keeping the truck in one piece and trying to make the most of it. I’m proud of my guys for coming in and addressing the problem and getting me back out there because that could have been the difference in a few points, so, overall, I’m proud of the fight and really proud of the truck we brought here. I’m proud of the speed and the preparation by everybody, but something completely out of our control happened tonight.”
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 QuikTie Ford F-150 – “This No. 38 QuikTie Products Ford F-150 was the fastest one here. That’s the gut wrenching part is just knowing how good this truck was tonight. Now we’re in a must-win situation going to New Hampshire, but honestly it comes all the way back to making a bonehead move at Darlington that put us in this position. Who knows what would have happened and where we would be points-wise depending on how Darlington went and not stuffing it into the fence and stuff like that after tonight, but nevertheless we’re gonna go and do what we were gonna do tonight and that’s kick their ass.” DO YOU FEEL GOOD GOING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE? “I do. I’m just a little discouraged right now, but I definitely do.” WHEN DID YOU START FEELING THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG IN THE TRUCK? “There was a caution at the very start with Layne. After that caution and after about eight laps I started running the top and I was passing guys up top and got up to third or fourth and as I was passing somebody it just cut out. It just stopped. It was dead. I came on the radio and thought maybe it was fuel-pressure related because I was running the top, so I went to the bottom and it kind of cleaned itself up, but with lap traffic and stuff forcing me back to the top it started doing it more and more and then finally it was just done. It’s gut wrenching. We had the fastest truck here tonight. I’m really, really happy that Layne won, though. That’s three in a row here for FRM, so that’s good stuff.” |
