When Layne Riggs announced that he was going to run for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship with South Boston Speedway as his “home track” this year, quite a few people expected his run to fizzle out by the summertime.

Riggs started out extremely hot winning the first four Late Model races at South Boston, and five of the first six, but taking the battle straight to defending champ Peyton Sellers at Sellers’ personal playground was supposed to be a difficult task.

But Riggs has proven to have the on-track speed and the mental fortitude to hold the national points lead with July more than half over. He suffered a setback in the South Boston 200 earlier this month, where he finished 24^th after getting caught up in two late-race incidents while Sellers finished in third.

It was the type of incident that could derail a competitor’s season and be the beginning of the end for their championship hopes. But, that was not the case for Riggs.

The second-generation driver went back to South Boston this past weekend and swept their twin features for his eighth and ninth victories at the track to further extend his lead in the track standings and national standings.

Earlier in the year the expectation was that Sellers would be able to overcome the Riggs challenge, but now it’s starting to look like this is Riggs’ national championship to lose.

And the cool thing is, Riggs is already seeing the result of his hard work. Riggs will make his NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series debut at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for Halmar-Friesen Racing on July 29, and he’ll make a second start for the team at Richmond Raceway on August 13.

If Riggs can hold on and pull of the national championship still remains to be seen, but now it definitely won’t be considered an upset if he does.

Strong Entry List For Hampton Heat 200

When 17 cars piled into each other at the entrance of South Boston’s first turn late in the South Boston 200, a few media members turned to each other and all had the same thought: “Well, there goes the Hampton Heat having a good car count in two weeks.”

Fortunately, we all couldn’t have been more wrong. Langley Speedway officials recently released a preliminary entry list boasting 37 cars for the Hampton Heat 200, the second race of the Virginia Late Model Stock Car Triple Crown.

Watch: 17-car Pileup Late In South Boston 200

Riggs, Sellers, Carson Kvapil, Bobby McCarty, and Brenden Queen are just a handful of the big names who have already filed entries for the Hampton Heat. Brandon Pierce, who injured his wrist in that 17-car crash at South Boston, is also on the entry list for Lee Pulliam Performance.

Five former Hampton Heat winners are on the entry list, including Queen, Sellers, McCarty, Connor Hall and Woody Howard.

The winner of the first Triple Crown race (South Boston), will not be in competition. Corey Heim will be racing in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series race at Pocono Raceway this weekend, which means that Triple Crown lead is up for grabs at the middle race this weekend.

Currently, Jacob Borst, who finished second to Heim at South Boston, leads the Triple Crown standings over Sellers, McCarty, Mason Diaz, Carter Langley and Mark Wertz.

Evergreen Speedway Ready For A Showdown

The biggest Super Late Model race on the west coast, and one of the biggest Super Late Model races of the year anywhere, is the Summer Showdown at Monroe, Washington’s Evergreen Speedway.

The 10^th running of the race is this Saturday night on the challenging 5/8-mile oval, and it’s shaping up to be one heck of an event.

The Super Late Model 200-lap event on Saturday will pay $25,000 to the race winner, while the winner of the Pro Late Model feature on Friday night will take home $10,000. If the winner of the Pro Late Model race is also in the SLM event, they can choose to start at the rear of the field for the Super Late Model race to go for a $35,000 bonus should they pull off the sweep. To make it in simpler terms, there’s a chance one driver could take home $70,000 in one weekend.

That’s massive money for the pavement Late Model world, and it’s just one of the reasons why the Summer Showdown has become a marquee event.

Thirty-one drivers are on the unofficial entry list for Saturday’s Super Late Model race, while 33 cars are entered for Friday’s Pro Late Model event. So far 15 drivers are planning to attempt both races and go for the bonus.

Those drivers include Naima Lang, Angel Cervantes, Dustin Ash, Colton Price, Dan Moore, TJ Moore, Max Schroeder, Derek Thorn, Preston Peltier, Joe Farre, Haeden Plybon, Tyler Tanner, Trevor Cristiani, Austin Thom and Greg Bennett.

Only three previous winners have filed entries so far. Peltier has won this race three times in a dominant stretch from 2017 to 2019. Peltier’s three wins are sandwiched in between victories by Tayler Riddle in 2016 and Owen Riddle one year ago. Both of the Riddles are on the entry list as well.

Race fans can watch both nights of action from Evergreen Speedway’s Summer Showdown live on FloRacing. Friday’s action will kick off at 3 p.m. ET, and Saturday’s

National Championship Update

NASCAR Roots On FloRacing This Week

Wednesday

8 p.m. ET – NASCAR Late Models at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway

Friday

6 p.m. ET – Pro Late Model 100 at Evergreen Speedway

6:30 p.m. ET – Dirt Modifieds at Autodrome Granby

Saturday

5:30 p.m. ET – Late Models at Riverhead Raceway

6 p.m. ET – Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway

6:30 p.m. ET – Super Late Models at Berlin Raceway

7 p.m. ET – Twin Late Model Stock Car features at Hickory Motor Speedway

7:50 p.m. ET – Modifieds at Bowman Gray Stadium

8 p.m. ET – NASCAR Late Models at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway

8 p.m. ET – Summer Showdown 200 at Evergreen Speedway

8:30 p.m. ET – Sprint Cars and Modifieds at Meridian Speedway

9 p.m. ET – Late Models at All American Speedway

9:30 p.m. ET – NASCAR Pinty’s Series at Edmonton International Raceway

10 p.m. ET – Late Models at Alaska Raceway Park