HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Front Row Motorsports driver Layne Riggs fell short of the Craftsman Truck Series championship on Friday night, but he played a major role in ending a decades-long drought.
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He and several other drivers helped Ford Racing clinch the Craftsman Truck Series Manufacturers' Championship after 26 years of misses.
Riggs led the series with seven wins in his No. 34 Ford. Teammate Chandler Smith won three races while ThorSport Racing's Jake Garcia won one. Additionally, all six Ford drivers scored points in this season-long championship battle by being the top finisher for the OEM in the various 25 races.
Riggs ended the race as the top Ford finisher 11 times this season. Smith did so five times while two-time champion Ben Rhodes did so three times. 2024 champion Ty Majeski had three races in which he served as the top finisher for Ford.
Garcia added to this total in two races while rookie Cole Butcher did so one time.
"I'm just proud of everybody on the team and the year that we had," Riggs said after damage and tire issues led to a 32nd-place finish in the championship race.
"We were there all the way to the end. We had speed all year long, but we just didn't have the consistency that we needed to be champions."
It's not that Ford Racing drivers have failed to win championships in the NASCAR series. For example, Matt Crafton (2019), Zane Smith (2022), Rhodes (2023), and Majeski (2024) all won championships while driving Ford F-150 trucks.
However, Toyota and Chevrolet won the Manufacturers' Championship during these seasons.
Ford Racing has only won the Manufacturers' Championship two times. The OEM partner clinched its first in 1999 after the affiliated drivers combined to win 12 races. The second title came in 2000 as the drivers added another 12 wins. Greg Biffle won the Drivers' Championship.
"Our Ford Racing engineers have worked hard with our race teams throughout this year and it's great to see all of that pay off with this Manufacturers' Championship," said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Racing.
"This was truly a team effort and something we'll celebrate with our global Ford employees, especially those who build the F-150 at the Dearborn Truck Plant.
"Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is important to us because we know a lot of the fans who are in the grandstands every weekend get there in an F-Series truck, so to be able and share something like this with them feels good."
