Chandler Smith took the white flag in third but ended up with the win in the Truck Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway Saturday. When points leader Corey Heim and Smith’s Front Row Motorsports teammate Layne Riggs got together, sending Heim spinning, Smith seized the chance to secure his second win of the Truck Series season.
The race was decided in an Overtime restart. Heim, who dominated all day and led 162 of 250 laps, started next to Smith, but Smith spun his tires and allowed Riggs to get by and mount a challenge on Heim. Coming to the white flag, Heim drove too deep into the corner, letting Riggs to his inside, and on the final lap Riggs pounced by driving in deep and pushing Heim all the way to the outside wall.
Heim was turned sideways in front of the field while teammates Riggs and Smith battled through the final set of corners, with Smith able to secure his position in the final set of corners as Riggs drifted sideways, giving it everything he had.
“I did everything wrong, to be completely honest with you,” Smith said of the Overtime restart. “I spun the tires. The 11 [Heim] cleared me right off the rip. My teammate [Riggs] cleared me right off of [turn] two and going down the backstretch I was like, ‘You know, I’m gonna let these guys race it out now.’
“If an opportunity presents itself to go win, I’ll take it. But if it doesn’t, I’m gonna let these guys race it out. It’s the right thing to do. I ended up getting a decent run through [turns] three and four and was able to get about half to a car length back and they went into turn one and raced really hard. The seas parted and here we are.”
Smith, for his part, was quick to justify his teammate’s move on Corey Heim, saying that the track was slick with dust which made it easy to slide up in the turns.
“I had a good view of it,” Smith said. “I don’t know. I think it was super slick in [turn] one all day today, especially when it rubbered up and it was super greasy. I’m not saying this because he’s my teammate and I won the race. I’m saying I actually understand it’s the last lap, sending it in there, trying to just rub him a little bit and I about did the same thing. I personally didn’t see anything egregious, but, at the same time, I had a very early apex of the corner and was able to get pointed and get to the inside of the 34 pretty quick.”
Corey Heim certainly was not quick to justify the move. He confronted Layne Riggs after the race, and could be heard saying: “You were racing like a f****** idiot. You need to calm down or someone’s going to take care of you.”
In his interview with the media after the race, Heim looked much more composed and professional as he expressed his frustration.
As for what he wants to ask Riggs, “Just why?” Heim said. “I mean more than anything. He tried to do it to the 7 last week for the win, and mission accomplished for him this week, and it cost him a 1-2.
“So I don’t know, just brutal. We’ve given up so many of them this year after dominating. Most of this race, the 38 [Smith] was the only other guy that was rightfully good, so felt like he probably deserved to win if anybody, not the 34 [Riggs].
“I got really loose into [turn] 3 – we struggled being loose on the short runs – and he had an opportunity, and he wrecked me, so just disappointed,” he concluded.
Heim finished the race in 17th.
For his part, Riggs was unrepentant after the exchange of words with Heim, maintaining that he did not wreck Heim and only raced him hard.
“I feel like he got really loose into [turns] 3 and 4 and kind of gave the bottom up, and we were side-by-side down the frontstretch and I had a huge run and I went bottom. I didn’t fence him, I slid him up the track and gave him one lane there,” Riggs described.
“We’re at North Wilkesboro on the last lap for a Truck win, I feel like I didn’t really do anything wrong there. I feel like, roles reversed, it was hard racing all day. I feel like everybody came out of there alive. We had a good finish, and I really only care about me and my team,” he said.
When the dust settled, Smith was in victory lane with Layne Riggs behind him in second. Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Hemric, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five. Ty Majeski finished sixth and Gio Ruggiero finished seventh, with the rookie earning his first-ever stage win in Stage 1. Kaden Honeycutt, Kyle Busch driving the No. 07 for Spire Motorsports, and Sammy Smith rounded out the top ten.
As for the rest of the race, it seemed like no one could really match Heim. Grant Enfinger started the final stage out front, but once Heim got by him he never relinquished control until the final lap. That included staying on track on older tires in a caution with 40 laps to go, even while his competitors chose to pit for fresh tires.
Smith restarted fifth but caught Heim by the end and was battling with him in the final laps before the eventual final caution came when Brent Crews was spun by Ben Rhodes, setting up the wild Overtime battle and giving Smith his chance.
The Truck Series returns at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 23rd.
