Trucks lined up in formation following a caution. Photo courtesy of Terry Hunsicker.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, in St. Petersburg, Layne Riggs claimed the win at the first-ever street-track race for NASCAR trucks.
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By Terry Hunsicker
TAMPA, Fla. — On Saturday, Feb. 28, day two of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Layne Riggs won the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 NASCAR Truck race. The 80-lap, 36-truck race is the first street-course race in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history.
Riggs claimed the trophy after spending 41 total laps in first, leading for the final 18 laps. Ty Majeski claimed second place after a fierce battle with third-place winner Ben Rhodes during the final two laps. All three podium members represented teams associated with Ford.
“It was a lot of fun racing here in St. Pete,” said Riggs during a press conference.
Despite most of the practice window and all NASCAR qualifying races being rained out on the previous day, the race only saw six total caution flags lasting for 17 laps. Riggs said that he felt that everybody was weird at the start of the race due to the unfamiliarity, but that he had the upper hand.
“I didn’t get a single clean lap in,” Riggs said. “I think we might have not had that much of an edge if we did have a bunch of practices.”
Marcus Ericsson, who finished later in the day with a second-place finish in the NTT IndyCar qualifiers, said that while the rubber from the truck tires caused him to experience less tire grip, it didn’t affect his balance.
“It wasn’t a big, big thing for me,” Ericsson said.
Day two of the Grand Prix saw large crowds appear for the Truck race. Dario Franchitti, who hadn’t appeared in a professional race since 2013, made his return to NASCAR driving truck No. 1 for the team Dollar Tree Toyota. Before the start of the race, Franchitti was introduced to the crowd with a loud cheer from the full grandstands.
“I would love to come back,” Riggs said. “I could not believe how packed the grandstands are. I thought we were in the IndyCar show.”
Franchitti finished the race 27th out of 36. However, at the end of the first and second stages, which split the first 40 laps of a race, Franchitti was positioned sixth and eighth, respectively.
Before the trucks began their race at 12:32 p.m., the NTT IndyCar Series and INDY NXT held second practice sessions. Following the truck race at about 4 p.m., both IndyCar affiliates completed their qualifying races.
Scott McLaughlin won pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar race with a best lap time of one minute and 0.5426 seconds. Ericsson finished second in the qualifiers, behind McLaughlin by only .0195 of a second. Max Taylor qualified with pole position for INDY NXT’s race, completing the track in one minute and 4.8887 seconds.
McLaughlin has finished with pole position three times in five years at St. Pete, winning the race in 2022.
“Maybe I need to move to Florida,” said McLaughlin. “I don’t know what it is, but I love this place.”
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete concludes on Sunday, March 1, with a 45-lap INDY NXT race at 10:06 a.m. and the main event, a 100-lap NTT IndyCar Series race at 12:29 p.m. In addition, the event will conclude with two more final races. One for USF2000 and closing the three-day festival with the second Mazda MX-5 Cup race.