The NASCAR fraternity is at the Bristol Motor Speedway for the weekend. All eyes will be on the Cup drivers, as this is the first cut-off race that will eliminate the bottom 4 drivers. But before they could hit the track, the NASCAR Truck Series drivers had a go-on at the Bristol Motor Speedway first. In the end, Layne Riggs won the race. Not that Nick Sanchez, who is currently third in the title race, is complaining about it.

As it happens, Riggs is not a Playoff contender, so Sanchez was not too sad to see him win. If he couldn’t win his way into the next Playoff round, a non-Playoff driver winning races was the next best scenario. Still, Sanchez did confess that he would love to be the one reaching Victory Lane instead.

After this Bristol race, the only regret he had was that things did not go his way. As it turns out, there were some caution periods during the race that just fell at the wrong moments for him. Otherwise, he was on a great strategy and could have even challenged for victory.

Nick Sanchez opened up about the lost opportunity at Bristol

What worked in Sanchez’s favor was that he had qualified in 6th place. Owing to that, he was right in the hunt for victory from the very beginning. Despite the disappointment of losing, this was still a solid day in the office for the #2 driver, and he acknowledged that.

Sanchez told Bob Pockrass, “I guess it’s a good night. Walking in tonight is pretty cool, obviously, you want to win, but tonight we couldn’t do that.”

“It was a good strategy call by Bono (Kevin Manion) putting me on the offensive side. I wish we didn’t have those caution laps, but I think a solid night. Finishing at Bristol, a place I haven’t really finished at, so I guess that’s good. Let’s move on to Kansas. I guess I’ve never been in that position before in the Playoffs format, so that’s nice. In the next round, I have a shot to walk into the round of 4 championship at Phoenix. At the end of the day, that’s my goal, just got to try and get there one step closer.”

In the opening stage, he ended up in 5th place, behind fellow Playoff drivers, Rajah Caruth, Corey Heim and Christian Eckes. The only outlier in that group was pole-sitter and teenage rookie sensation, Connor Zilisch, in fourth place. During Stage 2, Sanchez just about avoided a spinning Zilisch. Unfortunately, during the restart, he was down in 16th place and left with a mountain to climb.

How did the rest of the race play out for the driver?

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From that point onwards, Nick Sanchez had to just focus on clawing his way up the order. By the time the next caution dropped, he had worked his way up to eighth. Then he was up to seventh, then sixth and finally he ended his night in P5, while Riggs stormed to a second consecutive win.

What makes this even more incredible is that this is Riggs’ maiden full-time season. As for Sanchez, this is his second-full-time Truck Series campaign, as he finished 6th in last year’s run. At that time, he failed to reach Victory Lane, and that definitely cost him dearly. Fortunately, there was no such thing in 2024, as Nick Sanchez got off to a flying start.

The #2 driver triumphed at the opening race in Daytona and later won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Since then, he has been a picture of consistency, never finishing lower than 18th, other than one hiccup at Richmond. Now, there are five races left on the Truck Series calendar, and it will be pedal to the metal until the finale at Phoenix.