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Motorsport

With a middle finger out the window, Carson Hocevar wins Kansas Truck race

Carson Hocevar Layne Riggs NASCAR William Byron Corey Heim Grant Enfinger Kansas Speedway Turn 1

Saturday's NASCAR Truck race at Kansas Speedway ended in dramatic fashion as Layne Riggs ran down Carson Hocevar in a tense battle for the win. Riggs got alongside him in Turn 1, pushing up the track until the two trucks made contact. Hocevar began to spin sideways before hitting the outside wall, which straightened it back out. Riggs slid sideways and hit the wall as well, allowing Hocevar to escape with the victory.

This is the fifth victory for Hocevar in his Truck Series career, and his first with Spire Motorsports, who he competes with in his full-time job as a Cup Series driver on Sundays.

"I just thought I'd make it entertaining," smiled Hocevar in his post-race interview. "Were you all entertained? But no, that No. 34 truck [Riggs] was super, super good. This truck was really good on the short runs. I didn't think he would get to us for how far back he was, but he was super good. It's been a while since I've been in a finish like that where it's just all out there. So, credit to him. I know he was going for everything there. I was shocked. I thought I threw it away."

Contact! 💥 The leaders are sideways and into the wall but both drivers hang onto it 🤯 as @CarsonHocevar wins the @NASCAR_Trucks race at @kansasspeedway! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/Pfav4G2bmk
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) May 11, 2025

Riggs: "I think he flipped me off"

Riggs, who won two races last year, has yet to visit Victory Lane in 2025. This is his second runner-up finish of the season, and his late charge to the front was wildly impressive. He was over 1.5 seconds back of Hocevar with just a few laps to go, but he quickly erased the gap while running right against the outside wall, sometimes touching it.

"Man, I gave it my all," said Riggs. "We were really down bad with the track position there. About midway through the third stage, we were about to take the lead and we did a green-flag pit stop. That really hurt us. Had to come from 16th all the way on that green flag run to get all the way back to him. Last lap, I got to him, got into him a little bit and we both hit the wall.

”He won the race and I think he was mad at me. I think he flipped me off all the way down the frontstretch coming to the checkered. But how can you be mad when you win the race, right? But it's all good. It's great racing with Cup cars and I think that just proves that I'm going to be there one day."

You can also clearly see Hocevar showing Riggs that he's 'number one' in the above video of them racing to the finish line.

INSPECTION UPDATE: The No. 34 truck of Riggs later failed post-race inspection due to an issue with the bed cover. The updated finishing order is as follows: William Byron ended up second, Corey Heim third, Gio Ruggiero fourth, Stewart Friesen fifth, Brandon Jones sixth, Jake Garcia seventh, Kaden Honeycutt eighth, Grant Enfinger ninth, and Daniel Hemric tenth.

The caution that changed everything

The pivotal moment of the race came with about 40 laps to go when a cycle of green-flag pit stops began. The battle for the lead was tense with Enfinger and Riggs undercutting Hocevar by a lap, momentarily pausing their three-way fight at the front of the field.

However, that's when Frankie Muniz went for a spin through the infield grass, triggering a caution flag with Byron out front. Hocevar was lucky to stay on the lead lap, but the other trucks he was battling were trapped and forced to take the wave around.

Cycling back to the lead, Hocevar held back Byron while Heim, who was among those trying to make up ground after the caution, moved out of line too early and got a penalty. The final caution of the race came with 25 laps to go as two trucks spun down the back, but once again, no one could stop Hocevar.

During this time, Riggs was marching through the field, proving just how fast he was as he easily passed trucks that were running inside the top five.