Over the past four months, only one driver not named Corey Heim has managed to win a NASCAR Truck Series race, and that driver is certainly no slouch.
While the Tricon Garage competitor has won six of nine races contested since Saturday, June 7, Front Row Motorsports' Layne Riggs has won the other three, and he entered the round of 8 sitting in second place in the standings, trailing Heim but sitting 22 points above the Championship 4 cut line.
But while Heim did what Heim does by winning Friday's race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway to punch his third straight ticket to the Championship 4 with his 10th win of the year, second in a row, and fifth in the six most recent races, Riggs could only manage a 21st place finish.
Layne Riggs drops below NASCAR Truck Series championship cut line
That result, worst among the eight remaining championship contenders in the round of 8 opener, knocked Riggs below the Championship 4 cut line with two races remaining in the semifinal round. Riggs now finds himself one point below the cutoff.
ThorSports Racing's Ty Majeski technically fell below the cutoff with an eighth place finish as well, though he entered the race in a tie for the fourth and final spot above it.
Moving up were McAnally-Hilgemann Racing's Tyler Anrkum, who had been classified as being below the cut line despite being tied with Majeski, and Spire Motorsports' Rajah Caruth, who began the round five points below it. Among playoff drivers not named Heim, Caruth led the way with a fourth place finish on Friday. Ankrum finished ninth.
Majeski's teammate, Daniel Hemric, remained above the cut line, and the seven playoff drivers not named Heim are literally as close as they can possibly get.
Five points separate Ankrum and Hemric, who are tied for second in the updated playoff picture, from the two drivers tied for seventh: CR7 Motorsports' Grant Enfinger and Halmar Friesen Racing's Kaden Honeycutt.
Just take a look at how things stand.
T-2. Tyler Ankrum (+2)
T-2. Daniel Hemric (+2)
4. Rajah Caruth (+1)
5. Layne Riggs (-1)
6. Ty Majeski (-2)
T-7. Grant Enfinger (-4)
T-8. Kaden Honeycutt (-4)
It truly doesn't get much closer than this.
The next race on the 2025 NASCAR Truck Series playoff schedule is not scheduled to take place until Friday, October 17. This race, the Love's RV Stop 225, is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Talladega Superspeedway starting at 4:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all upcoming Truck Series playoff action!