The Craftsman Truck Series Chase field is complete after an intense Saturday race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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The final race of the regular season featured nine cautions for incidents and a double overtime finish as three main drivers battled for the final spot in the Chase. Meanwhile, Layne Riggs captured his sixth win of the season after clinching the No. 1 seed.
The rest of the Truck Series Chase field will feature Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Gio Ruggiero, Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Daniel Hemric, Ben Rhodes, and Tyler Ankrum.
Next Stop: The Chase
Introducing the 10 drivers who will compete for a championship in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series! pic.twitter.com/Xwk5B0o4Ld
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) August 22, 2026
The majority of these drivers had secure spots in the Chase entering Saturday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Only three spots remained, and only one remained truly up for grabs. Rhodes and Hemric would have to have truly dreadful days to fall out of contention.
The final spot in the Chase came down to Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, and Jake Garcia. And these drivers put on a battle throughout the caution-filled race while dealing with setbacks.
Ankrum, in particular, had persistent brake issues throughout the race. Garcia sustained damage in an early incident, but he continued racing for position. Friesen had the cleanest day, but he had to make up considerable ground to put himself above the cutline.
MORE: Truck Series New Hampshire Results
"It's very rare you come to a place as fast as this and have no brakes," Ankrum said after the race. "We can't fix the problems. We've had adversities like this throughout the year, and I thought we were done with them. And it came back."
Friesen, the veteran driver, did what he needed in the closing laps of the race. He put himself ahead of both Garcia and Ankrum with a two-tire strategy, and he temporarily took the final spot in the Chase. Yet, the situation changed drastically with just over five laps remaining in the race.
The caution flew for Gavan Boschele spinning into the wall. This ended Boschele's day and sent the race to overtime. The majority of drivers pitted for fresh tires and fuel, but Ankrum stayed out on older tires.
This strategy put Ankrum 10 points ahead of Friesen. All he had to do was keep his track position over the final two laps of overtime.
This plan encountered an early hurdle as the caution flew at the start of overtime. Ruggiero spun from the front row while Connor Mosack and Dawson Sutton both crashed. This sent the race to double overtime and set up another restart.
Riggs led the final two laps of the race while Smith tried to steal the win. He ultimately had to settle for second place while Honeycutt finished third.
Friesen crossed the line in fourth place, but he fell short of the final Chase spot by seven points. The reason is that Ankrum's strategy of staying out on older tires kept him just ahead in the standings. He fell to 16th in the running order but still advanced to the Chase.
"It was what it was," Friesen said. "Proud of the Halmar team. We just didn't bring enough speed all year. We battled today, Bruce (Cook, Crew Chief) made a good call to get two tires and up in the front we got the balance pretty close and found a lane I could work with.
"It's a bummer, I think we're definitely at top-10 team, we just had some misfortune at Richmond last week and some other times throughout the season."
