NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Chandler Smith owes Front Row Motorsports teammate Layne Riggs a vote of thanks after Saturday’s Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
After Riggs’ Ford slid up into the No. 11 Toyota of Corey Heim in Turn 2 of the final lap, Smith took the lead and held on for the win, his first at the 0.625-mile short track and his second of the season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Heim, who led 162 of 255 laps, left North Wilkesboro with a 17th-place finish and a percolating rivalry with Riggs, his nemesis throughout the race.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
Riding on tires that were 68 laps older than Smith’s, Heim had the lead for the overtime restart on Lap 254. He quickly cleared Smith on his inside and Riggs behind him, but Riggs mounted a strong run through Turns 3 and 4 on the white-flag lap and steered to Heim’s inside.
Riggs slid up into Heim’s truck, which turned sideways as Smith claimed the lead and headed for the finish line with Riggs in his wake. Smith’s margin of victory over his teammate was 0.611 seconds.
The final overtime lap was the only one Smith led on Saturday in collecting his seventh career Truck Series win.
“I feel like this place… tires kind of mattered, but they also kind of didn’t,” said Smith, who started from the rear of the field after unapproved adjustments to fix a brake issue in his No. 38 Ford. “I didn’t think we were as good as the 11 — obviously we had a tire advantage on him there.
“That last restart, I did everything but the right thing. My teammate, Layne Riggs, executed perfectly, and we came out on the right end of the stick.”
Heim took exception to the characterization of the “perfect” execution.
On a Lap 81 restart after the first stage break, Riggs ran Heim toward the outside wall, handing the lead and ultimately the Stage 2 win to Grant Enfinger. Then came the controversy in overtime.
After the race, Heim briefly expressed his displeasure to Riggs on pit road.
WATCH: Heim, Riggs share brief exchange on pit road | Heim on Riggs | Riggs on incident
“He tried to do it to the 7 (Carson Hocevar) last week for the win, and mission accomplished for him, I guess, this week,” Heim said. “And it cost him one, too. I don’t know. We’ve given up so many of them this year, after dominating the race.
“The 38 (Smith) was the only other guy that was rightfully good. I felt like he deserved to win over anyone else, not the 34 (Riggs). I got really loose into (Turn) 3. Just struggled being loose on the short runs, and he had an opportunity to wreck me. Just disappointed.”
Predictably, Riggs had a different perception of the final lap.
“I feel like he got really loose into (Turns) 3 and 4 and kind of gave the bottom up, and we’re side by side on the frontstretch,” Riggs said. “I had a huge run, and I went bottom. I didn’t fence him. I slid him up the track and gave him one lane there.
“It’s North Wilkesboro on the last lap for a Truck win. I feel like I didn’t really do anything wrong there.”
Tyler Ankrum finished third, followed by Daniel Hemric and Enfinger. Defending series champion Ty Majeski, Giovanni Ruggiero, Kaden Honeycutt, Kyle Busch and Sammy Smith completed the top 10.
MORE: Truck Series standings | Truck Series schedule
Busch’s efforts were hampered by a pair of pit road speeding penalties in his second start of the season.
Heim retained the series lead by 47 points over Chandler Smith in second heading to next Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Chandler Smith as the winner.
Contributing: Staff reports