The NASCAR Truck Series championship leader, Layne Riggs, is on a roll with back-to-back wins in Charlotte and Nashville. But an uncertain contract situation lies ahead for the Front Row Motorsports driver for 2027, and looking at Ford's disappearing presence in NASCAR doesn't help.

Riggs, who won the Allegiance 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday to make it three wins this season, spoke about his contract for next year. In the post-race press conference, when asked for an update on his future, the FRM driver replied:

"Undetermined at the moment. That’s something that I actually don’t know about yet, so I'm excited to see what I got going on. It’s been great to race for Front Row. I’m just kind of waiting for whatever Bob Jenkins or Jerry Freese has on the cards for me.”

Asked to confirm if his future is with Front Row Motorsports, Riggs spoke about the type of contract he has in place, which gives Front Row Motorsports control over his future.

"According to that, yes, I think so. I think this is a more agent technical question, but as far as I know, yes. Yeah, it’s kind of an option style contract; it’s more up to their decision."

Ford's future in NASCAR is in a tricky position, especially in the lower series. The manufacturer is nearing an exit in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

They currently field no full-time drives in the NOAPS. AM Racing was Ford's last team in the series after the Haas Factory Team and RSS Racing switched to Chevrolet. Moreover, AM Racing's withdrawal from certain races means Ford has no championship challenger in the NOAPS.

However, the Blue Oval has managed to hold its footing in the Truck series. Riggs is uniquely placed in the third-tier NASCAR series, where he dominates when he gets the chance, but there is no stepping stone from Ford's side coming to him soon in the NOAPS. 

Ford’s NASCAR Future Dependent on New Mustang?

Ford will be introducing a new Mustang Dark Horse SC next year for its Cup campaign. From a marketing standpoint, the NOAPS doesn’t make sense because the platform it has to market is Mustang; it does a decent job running those in the Cup Series.

NOAPS has higher operational costs but a lower sponsorship draw than the Cup Series. When you get better sponsorship and a better platform to showcase your car, you’re likely to choose the higher platform. Just like AM Racing did when it chose to close down its NOAPS operation. 

Team Penske last ran in NOAPS before Austin Cindric was promoted to the Cup series. Both Penske and RFK have found it difficult to find pace and performance this year. Other than a win by Ryan Blaney, Ford hasn’t had much to show in the form of results in the Cup series. 

The issues with performance may end up being sorted with the new Mustang, but Ford could lose one car in the Cup series, with RFK having an LMC-bound charter. Though the team has shown a strong intention to field Ryan Preece regardless of a charter, a confirmation is awaited.

Nonetheless, dwindling numbers for Ford across the three NASCAR series are concerning. And their lack of drivers to develop is speaking even more clearly to the growing concerns about the Detroit-based manufacturer’s NASCAR future.

Follow the RFK Racing Digest for more updates!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Yask Kotak