Longhorn Chassis co-owner Steve Arpin shared his thoughts on the split with Riggs Motorsports and the team no longer being the Longhorn Factory Team.

It was originally last month by Justin Fiedler at Dirtrackr that Riggs Motorsports would no longer be the Longhorn Factory Team. He shared, ““I’m told the split is amicable, but that both sides, Longhorn with Steve Arpin and Riggs with team owner Scott Riggs realized that a change was necessary,” he added. “As for what happens next with a Longhorn Factory Team or house car still up in the air. I wouldn’t expect anything Longhorn owned to materialize at least in the near term. … But will we see another Longhorn factory team branded car come Speed Weeks? I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but I don’t think that I would expect it.”

He added that Overton plans to continue with Riggs for the Dome “and then plans for 2026 are still TBD. I think both national tours are potentially on the table and then maybe a pick-and-choose slate.”

Speaking to DirtonDirt.com’s Kevin Kovac, Arpin confirmed the split was amicable, “There is like zero animosity. Overton is a hell of a driver and Scott Riggs is just a phenomenal owner and phenomenal partner.”

Riggs made similar comments to Kovac at the end of last month when he confirmed the split, “Let me start up by saying (Longhorn’s) Steve (Arpin) and I are still good friends, so nothing happened there. It’s not a blow up. It’s simply that they want to go a different route on their (chassis) development program instead of using a team that goes on the road and tries to win races, which is probably the right way to do it and I totally get it.”

“And for us, we’re racers, we’re going to race, and we’re going to keep our Riggs Motorsports brand going,” he continued. “We’re going to continue to buy their (Longhorn) product and race their stuff and hopefully get help from them, which they said, ‘No problem.’ But we kind of want to be on our own.”

Riggs elaborated on that in new comments, “Nobody’s mad, screaming. … They’re still friends. I  mean, they talked, and it just felt like, you know, it just wasn’t going to work. And really, there’s no other story. Nobody left mad. There’s no hard feelings. [Crew chief Anthony Burroughs] told me [departing] was the hardest thing he ever did because him and I are pretty close, and I said, ‘Look, I want you to be happy. Don’t worry about it. Let’s be happy in life because it’s too hard. I wish them the best.”

As for why the pairing of Overton at Riggs Motorsports with crew chief Anthony Burroughs and the financial backing of Longhorn Chassis did not work, Arpin said, “Brandon Overton, obviously, there’s no questioning his talent, right. It’s just the package they had, the group they had this year, just obviously didn’t click, right. And that’s OK. That happens. That happens in all aspects of life, but that doesn’t take away from Brandon’s talent whatsoever.”

Riggs added, “We’re all disappointed with the year we had, and I just think sometimes things just don’t work out for whatever reason. I don’t go out the road a bunch, but I’m at maybe 20 of ’em, and I know when you don’t have that chemistry, it is really hard to be in that truck, in that enclosed space, and race the amount of races those guys race.”

Additionally, he pointed to Overton not working on the car on a day-to-day basis, “It was a big adjustment for him to not work on the car. We told him at the time [of his hiring] he didn’t have to be at the shop if he didn’t want to be, whatever, and he had a baby so he was able to be home. But I think Brandon’s ready to dig in, and we’re as excited as we were last year when they all came in. Brandon, he’s probably going to be his own crew chief but with really good help behind him.”

Overton said as much while talking to FloRacing’s Derek Kessinger. When asked what his excitement level was, he said, “10, for sure. Just ready to get back going. I don’t know why it didn’t work. We had the best crew guys, the best crew chief, the best everything in the pits. Just sometimes [expletive] doesn’t work. It’s one of those instances. We’re going to get our head down and get to work and we’ll see them in Arizona.”

Brandon Overton talks about team changes, burying the hatchet with Bobby Pierce and what he expects in 2025 at The Dome. 💪 #GatewayDirt pic.twitter.com/QjeZy92tCj

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) December 5, 2025

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