Riggs Leads 52 Laps and Wins the NC Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte When the Clock Expires
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Layne Riggs led 52 laps and won the NC Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte when the adverse conditions clock expired with Riggs in the lead, giving him his first Trucks Series win of the 2026 season.
The Short Version
Riggs wins from the second starting spot, leads the most laps, wins Stage 2, survives 11 cautions and a chaotic finale to hold on when the clock expires. Honeycutt second by 0.384 seconds — takes the points lead regardless. Zilisch third from 24th. Rhodes fourth. Eckes wins Stage 1 and leads 33 laps. Corey Day spins, gets airborne, and exits early from the lead.
What Happened
Day — starting from the pole — stacked up the top lane at the green when he spun the tires, letting Riggs and Honeycutt slot ahead. Day worked back to the front quickly, but his race ended on lap 47 when he spun down the backstretch, briefly became airborne, and slammed the inside wall. He finished 35th, 64 laps down.
Eckes ran at the front through much of Stage 1, took the lead with a restart on lap 29, and won the stage on lap 30. Stage 2 belonged to Riggs — he cleared Eckes off turn 3 on lap 46 after running side-by-side through two restarts and led the rest of the stage to win it at lap 60.
The final stage was chaos. Eleven cautions total compressed the field and reshuffled the order repeatedly. Chastain — who had worked into the top five — came to pit road with a flat right front on lap 68 and fell out of contention, eventually finishing 29th, three laps down, after spending nearly 8 minutes on pit road across his stops. Chandler Smith spun off turn 2 on lap 106 battling Zilisch for third and hit the inside wall, ending his run.
By lap 97, Riggs, Eckes, and Honeycutt were running three-wide for the lead, with Riggs clearing off turn 2. Riggs held the position through the final cautions. When the adverse conditions clock expired with the field unable to complete the distance, Riggs was declared the winner.
The Defining Moment
Lap 46. Eckes led from the inside on the restart, Riggs ran outside. Riggs stayed alongside through the turn, wouldn’t let Eckes close the door, and cleared in turn 3. That pass held through Stage 2 and into the final stage. The lead established there is what survived to the checkered.
The One That Got Away
Christian Eckes. Won Stage 1, led 33 laps, had the fastest lap of the race at 177.813 mph, and ran in the front group all afternoon. He finishes sixth — the late-race restarts allowed Honeycutt and Zilisch to run him down, and the field compression from 11 cautions took away the clean-air advantage he’d built. A fourth-place truck in the final results doesn’t reflect the day he ran.
Numbers That Matter
- Winner: Layne Riggs — No. 34 · Ford
- Margin of Victory: Adverse conditions clock (final lead margin 0.384s over Honeycutt)
- Cautions: 11 for 53 laps
- Lead Changes: 18 among 9 leaders
- Stage 1: Christian Eckes | Stage 2: Layne Riggs
- Laps Led: Riggs — 52 | Eckes — 33 | Ruggiero — 12 | Enfinger — 4 | Haley — 3 | Ankrum — 3 | Zilisch — 1 | Jones — 1 | Day — 2
- Fastest Lap: Christian Eckes — 177.813 mph (Lap 84)
Take
Riggs wins for the first time in 2026 and does it the right way — most laps led, Stage 2 win, held the front through the chaos. Charlotte wasn’t decided by strategy or circumstance; it was decided by who led the most laps in the most difficult conditions. That was Riggs.
Honeycutt finishing second extends his points lead regardless — he now has two wins and consistent top-five finishes at the tracks that matter. The gap between him and the rest of the field in the standings has been building quietly while the races get their own headlines.
Zilisch third from 24th is the result nobody saw coming. He moved through traffic, survived the 11-caution mayhem, and finished on the podium starting from deep in the field. The Cup cameo at Watkins Glen showed the pace exists. Charlotte confirms it wasn’t a one-off.
Day’s lap 47 airborne moment was the most significant incident of the race. He was a factor early — recovered from the opening spin to run near the front — before the backstretch contact launched the truck. He finishes 35th, 64 laps down. Two consecutive early exits at Charlotte (Trucks and Xfinity) for the Xfinity series wins leader.
Notes
- Chastain came to pit road with a flat right front on lap 68, spent 485 seconds (over 8 minutes) on pit road across his stops, and finished 29th, three laps down. Another Cup cameo that fell apart in Stage 3.
- SVG starts 35th — last — and finishes 15th. Charlotte intermediate didn’t show the road course pace, but 20 positions gained in a chaotic race is a functional result.
- Majeski retired on lap 51. He’d led laps at Dover in the Trucks race last week. Two rough intermediates in a row.
- Riggs’s two right-side tire call at lap 78 — the final pit stop — is what put him at the front for the final sequence. Honeycutt took four tires and was 0.384 back at the clock.
- Corey Day started from the pole and finished 35th, 64 laps down. That’s the second time in four races the Xfinity wins leader has had a catastrophic Trucks result.