Layne Riggs disqualified from Kansas Truck race, loses runner-up finish

Layne Riggs finished second in Saturday’s thrilling NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, matching his best result of the year after an impressive charge through the field. He made contact with Carson Hocevar on the final as they battled it out for the win, but Hocevar managed to hang on and claim victory, just ahead of Riggs.

However, while Hocevar’s truck cleared post-race checks, Riggs’ machine did not. The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports truck later failed post-race inspection, costing Riggs his runner-up finish and most of the 49 points he scored during the event as he was disqualified. Riggs will now be scored in 31st (last), collecting just six points. Riggs was set to leave Kansas sixth in the championship, but the DQ will drop him down to ninth in the regular season standings.

What was wrong with the #34?

Explaining the infraction, NASCAR officials released the following statement: “The No. 34 has been disqualified for violating rule 14.4.9.A.3 (Bed cover material must be strong enough to prevent the cover from deflecting or sagging and must be sealed around the perimeter of all bed panels while the vehicle is in competition).”

NASCAR has seen several notable issues in post-race inspection this year across all three series. Parker Kligerman was disqualified after winning the Truck Series season-opener at Daytona, later failing to get it overturned on appeal (ride height). It was the same story for Jesse Love, who failed post-race inspection after winning the NASCAR Xfinity race at Rockingham (rear suspension).

And in the Talladega Cup race, both second-place finisher Ryan Preece and fifth-place finisher Joey Logano later failed inspection (spoiler). Erik Jones also failed inspection after a 24th-place finish at Martinsville (weight).