Author Archives: PressBox

Layne Riggs won the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday in double overtime, beating Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith by 0.293 seconds. Starting from the pole in the No. 34 Ford F-150, Riggs led a race-high 106 of 189 laps, including the final 71 laps after the overtime restarts. He said late handling problems nearly cost him before his crew made changes that helped him control the final restart. The victory was Riggs’ sixth of the 2026 Truck Series season and the 11th of his career, and it became official after post-race inspection.

The win closed the regular season and set the 10-driver championship field. Riggs will enter the postseason as the top seed, with Kaden Honeycutt second after finishing third and rebounding from a flat tire. Chandler Smith was seeded third, followed by Christian Eckes, Gio Ruggiero, Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Daniel Hemric and Tyler Ankrum. The postseason is scheduled to open Sept. 17 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Tyler Ankrum secured the final berth despite mechanical problems that left him nearly a lap down, finishing 16th and holding off Stewart Friesen and Jake Garcia on points. Friesen finished fourth and Garcia missed the cut. Connor Zilisch swept both stages and finished fifth. Post-race inspection found Riggs’ truck clear, while Grant Enfinger’s No. 9 had one lug nut not safe and secure, which will cost him pit selection at the next event. Four trucks were sent to the R&D center for teardown.

Tyler Reddick overcame a rough practice session to win the pole for Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, putting his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota at the front of the field for the 301-lap NASCAR Cup Series race. Reddick, who said he was “really unhappy” with the car in Saturday practice and ranked 31st in single-lap speed, turned in a lap of 29.054 seconds at 131.094 mph to edge Josh Berry by 0.015 seconds. It was Reddick’s fifth pole of the season.

Berry will start alongside Reddick on the front row after a 29.069-second lap in the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford. William Byron qualified third, Denny Hamlin fourth and Shane van Gisbergen fifth, with Christopher Bell sixth and Ty Gibbs seventh. The top five qualifiers were separated by just 0.052 seconds, and Toyota claimed three of the top six starting spots.

Reddick said his team found what it needed to work on before qualifying after the difficult practice run, and he said he wanted to avoid another poor starting position like Richmond, where he lined up in the 30s. The race was moved up to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday because rain is in the forecast. Chase Elliott will start 29th in the 36-car field.

Kurt Busch made his first public comments Friday on NBC’s Today about the death of his younger brother Kyle Busch, describing the final day he spent at Kyle’s hospital bedside as he hoped and prayed for a turnaround. Kurt said he stayed at the hospital the entire day after Kyle suffered a medical emergency in May, later spoke his final words to him, and told him, “I got you, man.” He called Kyle’s death unfair. Kyle died the next day from complications related to sepsis following pneumonia.

Kurt also said their father, Tom Busch, stayed away from the hospital room so he could remember Kyle as he wanted. He said Kyle’s legacy was “self-evident,” pointing to his record as the winningest driver in NASCAR history across the sport’s top three national series with 234 combined victories and two Cup championships in 2015 and 2019.

The family’s racing future also weighed on Kurt. He said he is mentoring Kyle’s 11-year-old son, Brexton, whom he called a motorsports prodigy and said races “like an 18-year-old.” Kurt said he plans to be more involved in Brexton’s career because of what Kyle’s death has meant to him and the family, and he said NASCAR drivers are conditioned to keep going through the sport’s 38-week, 36-race schedule. He also pointed to his own abrupt retirement after a concussion at Pocono Raceway in 2022 and said he wants to help Brexton as the family grieves.