To the dismay of Craftsman Truck driver Layne Riggs, NASCAR continued to employ PJ1 trackbite, a synthetic glue designed to boost traction, at the Bristol Motor Speedway. On Friday, Riggs finished in sixth position in a race that Chandler Smith won by a slim margin over Cup Series standout Kyle Larson (by just 0.934). After the race, he said, “They really know how to screw a racetrack up by putting PJ1 at the bottom.” “I think the racing tonight was awful; there was only one file at the bottom and no one could pass.” “The top finally got rolling there the last few laps, but man sucks when it takes all race to just run the bottom and hold where you’re at,” Riggs said. Under the same circumstances, Riggs won at Bristol last autumn.
In the most recent episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde explained why the circuit decided to employ the chemical, despite the fact that NASCAR had mostly avoided PJ1 track bite for a number of years. “For the teams (last year), it was a pretty big curveball,” Forde remarked. “We did it because we said to the garage, ‘Hey, here’s what we’re looking at.'” “So that is the reason why we are doing it again this weekend, because of how little the track took rubber,” he said. “With the speeds, banking, concrete, and those factors together, it appears to be solely a Bristol problem.
We’ve seen that the PJ1 performs marginally better. Riggs, who is only 22 years old, has already finished in the top 10 three times in the 2025 Craftsman Truck Series, including second in the Baptist Health 200 in Homestead-Miami. Last season, he placed 11th overall, which helped him win the 2024 Craftsman Rookie of the Year award. On a Bristol track that was packed with PJ1, he won his second race on the circuit in the 2024 UNOH 200, sponsored by Ohio Logistics.
