Latest news with #ThePaperClip
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR Truck Driver Layne Riggs Slams Martinsville: 'I Hate This Racetrack'
Layne Riggs is one of the top young drivers in the NASCAR Truck Series. The 23-year-old recorded his first two career wins in 2024 at Milwaukee and Bristol and won Rookie of the Year honors. In 2025, he's already scored a pair of top fives through the season's first five races. On Friday night at Martinsville, the Front Row Motorsports driver finished 11th and earned it. That's because he was spun out early in the race on Lap 24. Advertisement After the race on the half-mile track, the No. 34 driver didn't sugarcoat what he thought of the incident and the overall racing at The Paper Clip. Layne Riggs before NASCAR Truck Series championship at Phoenix J. Rebilas-Imagn Images 'I said it earlier. I'm a short track guy and I love short track racing,' Riggs told a reporter after the race. 'But I hate this racetrack in a national series level. It's really sad when the late model race here is the cleanest one there is. 'It's just so crazy in the Truck series. You're doing everything right. You're running your right line. You're running the bottom, protecting the bottom like you should be and then the guy that's five back hits him, he hits him, he hits him, he hits him, and then you get hit, and then you get spun around. It's like, who do you even get mad at at that point? 'And then you know, you're doing everything right. It's just really annoying.' Advertisement Riggs and his fellow Truck Series competitors have a week off. The trucks return to action on another short track at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 11. Race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Related: Frankie Muniz Sends Strong Message to Rival Drivers After NASCAR Truck Series Crash
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NASCAR Won't Stop Aggressive Driving at Martinsville and The CW Pre-Race Show Showed Why
Sammy Smith came from more than a car length back and wrecked Taylor Gray on the final lap at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series, allowing Austin Hill to unexpectedly sneak by underneath and pull off the win. To no one's surprise, the No. 21 driver's victory, which was the 100th Xfinity win for Richard Childress Racing, wasn't the top story. The No. 8 driver ramming into the rear of the No. 54 car was instead. Advertisement Numerous big names took to social media, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin, all condemning what happened on that final trip around the half-mile track. Heck, even Smith admitted in his post-race interview what he'd done was wrong and egregious. Taylor Gray takes the lead late at Martinsville Dedmon-Imagn Images Some, including Hamlin and his former crew chief and now Director of Competition at Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gabehart, said this sort of driving should be penalized. Why? NASCAR isn't opposed to this type of on-track behavior. You only have to look at the opening of the Xfinity broadcast on The CW to see NASCAR views this as all part of the entertainment. Advertisement Adam Alexander and Parker Kligerman began the broadcast mentioning how Jamie McMurray was absent and the former Xfinity Series driver joked that he they had 'knocked him out just like they're gonna do today.' 'There's gonna be full contact at this racetrack today,' Alexander replied. 'It's a theme when you come to The Paper Clip.' 'It absolutely is,' Kligerman agreed as the broadcast then started showing clips featuring aggressive contact in recent Xfinity Series races, including Sam Mayer and Ty Gibbs and the fight (April 2022), Gibbs and JGR teammate Brandon Jones (October 2022) and Sheldon Creed and RCR teammate Austin Hill (October 2023). Advertisement 'Contact isn't a maybe it is all but guaranteed and it happens in a big way,' Kligerman continued. 'We'll see it at the front of the field. We'll see at the middle of the field. We'll see at the back. "It even leads to a bit of contact outside of the race car as well, Adam, and it doesn't discriminate between teammates. You'll see teammates running into each other, which we've seen in years past. It is a full-contact affair here. But it's fun for us to watch and it puts on a heck of a show every time.' Hours later, Smith drove into Gray very similar to how Gibbs did it to Jones in 2022. Nothing happened to Gibbs because NASCAR viewed it as racing for the win. This is no different. Related: NASCAR Fans Upset After The CW Shows Kyle Busch Working Xfinity Series Booth
