The second race of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs took place in Bristol, TN. Connor Zilisch continued to amaze as he sat on the pole for both the ARCA race and the UNOH 200 in the truck series. After getting his first Xfinity win last week, he looked to continue his great runs. Corey Heim tried to play spoiler as he joined Zilisch on the front row. The stage lengths for the half-mile track were 55 laps for the first and second stages, and 90 laps for the final stage.
Traffic
Zilisch got a great start but Heim would not give up. The two of them pulled away from the rest of the field. They caught the lapped cars quickly. Zilisch was able to cut through the lapped traffic easily at first. Heim and Rajah Caruth were able to catch up to him as the traffic began to pile up.
Heim got a great run off of turn four and moved underneath, and by, Zilisch for the lead. Caruth dove under Zilisch and was also able to get by for second. Heim was unable to pull away because of the lapped traffic. Caruth used the heavy traffic and passed Heim on the outside for the lead, allowing him to get his first stage win of the season!
Trouble for the Rook
Heim was the first truck off of pit road, however Timmy Hill stayed out so he restarted in first. Hill got a decent restart but with those older tires, fell to the new ones. Heim scampered out to a good lead. Connor Jones got squeezed into the wall by Grant Enfinger and his right front tire started to smoke a bit. Heim and Caruth stayed close but they ran away from third place. Lapped traffic closed up the gap. Caruth used a lap truck to try to get back to the lead but it only made him fall to third.
The caution came out after Nick Sanchez got into the rear bumper of Zilisch into turn three and spun him on the last lap of the stage. Heim won the second stage.
Playoff Spoiler Again?
Heim got a great restart on the outside. Layne Riggs followed Heim and took second place. Riggs took the lead quickly on the outside line. Eckes and Heim got side by side as they dueled for second place, but Caruth did not let them get too far away. That allowed Riggs to pull away by almost a second. Caruth took third from Eckes. Riggs caught the lapped traffic but it did not slow him down.
Then, Kaden Honeycutt brought out a caution when he hit Daniel Dye on the track. Dye got a flat tire and tried to get to the pits but Honeycutt ran into him. It was a lengthy caution because of fluids dropped onto the track.
Riggs and Heim restarted the race on the front row. Heim had a good restart but got loose in the turn allowing Riggs to retake the lead. Riggs pulled away from Heim by a second with twenty laps to go. The fourth caution came out when Jack Wood got turned by Ben Rhodes.
Not Over Yet
The green flag came back out with thirteen laps left. Riggs was able to get away when Caruth tried to make it three wide into turn one. Riggs was once again able to gap Heim by a second. Sanchez, with much fresher tires, moved into the top five. Riggs played spoiler again as he got the win in the UNOH 200 at Bristol!
Marvin’s Moment:
Layne Riggs has shown so much speed this season. It was only a matter of time before the wins came – last time out at Milwaukee and now at Bristol. He is fast when it counts. Hopefully, he does not injure himself this time. He has what it takes with a smaller team. In his post-race interview, he was very thankful to his team and sponsors. He is a great dude and driver. He could get into the playoffs next year and make a serious run for a championship.
