Layne Riggs made himself two-for-two on inaugural street courses in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division. His latest feat occurred in the inaugural Navy 250 at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado on Friday, June 19.
The 24-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, led five times for a race-high 21 of 53 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row, led for the first time on the third lap and proceeded to win the first stage period on Lap 12. Despite sacrificing another round of stage points to pit under green on Lap 22 and before the second stage’s conclusion, Riggs’ pit service was a strategic move that would play a crucial factor throughout the final stage period.
Despite carving his way back towards the front and leading 10 laps in the closing stages, Riggs endured through four caution periods amid on-track carnage and chaos while trying to stretch his fuel tank to the distance. With the event sent into overtime, Riggs seized an opportunity when teammate Chandler Smith and pole-sitter Kaden Honeycutt wrecked at the start of overtime. While battling Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reif for the lead, Riggs’ entry was slowly beginning to run out of fuel and stumble through every turn, but he managed to keep his entry running at full pace when the final lap started.
Then on the final lap, Riggs spent a majority of it trying to reel in Reif for the lead and victory. After getting close to his bumper with the finish in sight, Reif missed his mark and cut the course’s chicane. This allowed Riggs to duel, bump and motor past Reif with two corners remaining. Despite stumbling on fuel throughout the final lap, Riggs had enough to cycle back to the finish line under full pace and claim the checkered flag for a thrilling victory in San Diego, California.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Kaden Honeycutt secured his third Truck pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 90.813 mph in 134.782 seconds. Layne Riggs started alongside Honeycutt on the front row and in second place with a lap at 90.535 mph in 135.196 seconds.
Prior to the event, a bevy of names that included Adam Andretti, Brenden Queen, Daniel Hemric, Brendan Gaughan, Giovanni Ruggiero, Landen Lewis, Jamie McMurray and Ben Rhodes dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries. The following names, which included Justin Marks, Taner Gray, Christian Eckes and Stewart Friesen, also dropped to the rear of the field in backup trucks.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kaden Honeycutt managed to motor ahead and clear Layne Riggs through the first turn and the track surface’s bumps as he assumed command entering the second turn. Through Turns 3 and 4, however, Riggs fought back and dueled alongside Honeycutt before the latter motored back ahead in between a short straightaway of Turns 5 and 6. As Jimmie Johnson navigated his way into third place over Chandler Smith, Honeycutt retained the lead through a series of tight left- and right-hand turns of Turns 6 through 12. As the field navigated through the final set of turns, including a tight chicane in between Turns 15 and 16, Honeycutt led the first lap over Riggs.
Honeycutt led the second lap until Riggs made a move beneath Honeycutt and dueled with the latter from the second turn. By the time the leaders navigated through the third turn, Riggs assumed command for the first time. When Riggs cycled back to the frontstretch to lead his first lap of the event (Lap 3), his advantage over Honeycutt stood at more than a second. Behind, Jimmie Johnson trailed by more than two seconds in third place while Chandler Smith and Ty Majeski were racing in the top five ahead of Grant Enfinger, Parker Kligerman, Andres Perez De Lara, Connor Mosack and Corey LaJoie, respectively.
On the third lap, the event’s first caution flew when Dawson Sutton, who spun with Nathan Nicholson in Turn 13 after Nicholson tapped Sutton, stalled on the course. During the event’s first caution period, some, including Christian Eckes, Giovanni Ruggiero, Tanner Gray, Kris Wright, Stewart Friesen, Cole Butcher, Brenden Queen and Nathan Nicholson, pitted while the rest, led by Riggs remained on the track.
The following restart on the sixth lap featured Riggs muscling his No. 34 Mattermost Ford F-150 entry ahead of Honeycutt to retain the lead through the first turn while Smith and Johnson battled for third place in front of Grant Enfinger and a stacked field. As Riggs retained the lead over Honeycutt, Johnson fended off Smith to assume third place. Amid their battle, Enfinger joined the battle while Majeski wheel-hopped, got sideways and barely saved his entry from spinning and colliding into the trio in Turn 6. While the field scrambled and jostled for spots through the remaining 16 turns across the Navy Coronado Base, Riggs led the following lap.
On the ninth lap, Parker Kligerman, Majeski, Connor Mosack, Adam Andretti, Mini Tyrrell and Cole Butcher opted to strategically pit under green flag conditions. During the following lap, Riggs, who had stabilized his advantage since the Lap 6 restart, was leading by more than two seconds over Honeycutt while Johnson, Smith and Enfinger occupied the top-five spots in front of Perez De Lara, Tyler Ankrum, Ben Rhodes, Landen Lewis and Tyler Reif, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 12, Riggs cruised to his fifth Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Honeycutt trailed in second place by five-and-a-half seconds while Johnson settled in third place. Smith, Enfinger, Ankrum, Ben Rhodes, Perez De Lara, Laden Lewis and Tyler Reif were scored in the top 10, respectively. Under the event’s first stage break period, Riggs led a group of competitors to pit road while the rest, led by teammates Honeycutt and Johnson, remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 14 as Honeycutt and Johnson occupied the front row. At the start, Honeycutt launched his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry ahead and led Johnson and the field through the first two turns. As Honeycutt led the next two laps, trouble ignited through the chicane when Parker Kligerman bumped and sent Connor Mosack for a spin. As the field navigated past Mosack, he was hit by Corey LaJoie and LaJoie was the event’s first retiree.
Then on Lap 16, Honeycutt locked up his tires and overshot the second turn. This allowed Johnson to move his No. 1 Carvana Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry into the lead. While Honeycutt dropped to third place, Johnson proceeded to lead the next two laps over Chandler Smith.
On Lap 19, Johnson surrendered the lead to pit as Smith assumed the lead. Justin Haley and Justin Marks, the latter of whom sustained right-side damage after he hit the wall, also pitted with Johnson before the leader, Smith, Honeycutt, Hemric and Ruggiero all pitted under green during the next lap. Smith’s move cycled Kligerman to the lead. Kligerman, however, would be overtaken by Riggs as the latter returned atop the leaderboard by Lap 21. Meanwhile, more names like Landen Lewis, Kaz Grala, Stewart Friesen, Sutton and Butcher pitted under green before Riggs opted to strategically pit from the lead before the Lap 22 mark. With pit road becoming inaccessible to the field as the second stage period was nearing its conclusion, Kligerman reassumed the lead over Majeski.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 24, Kligerman fended off Majeski to capture the stage victory. Enfinger trailed in third place by two seconds while Ankrum, Perez De Lara, Reif, Smith, Honeycutt, Johnson and Eckes were scored in the top 10, respectively, as 31 of 35 competitors were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Jamie McMurray, who hit the Turn 16 wall hard and sustained heavy right-side damage two laps earlier while racing towards the rear of the field, retired from competition despite limping his wrecked entry for nearly a full lap. McMurray’s incident occurred after he had been dealing with braking issues.
During the event’s second stage break period, some led by Kligerman and including Majeski, Enfinger, Perez De Lara, Reif, Eckes, Tanner Gray, Ruggiero, Tyler Ankrum, Jackson Lee, Landen Lewis, Friesen, Gaughan, Queen, Butcher, Kris Wright, Garcia, Frankie Muniz and Nathan Nicholson pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.
With 22 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Smith and Honeycutt, both of whom were among nine competitors who did not pit, occupied the front row. At the start, Honeycutt was quick to respond by dueling and overtaking Smith to lead through the first two turns. As Honeycutt led the field through the base’s 16 turns, Johnson reeled in from third place along with Hemric while Riggs quickly bolted his way into the top-five mark. Meanwhile, Kaulig Racing’s RAM competitors Haley and Tyrrell were racing in sixth and eighth along with Grala, Ruggiero and Sutton as Honeycutt led the next lap.
Then with 20 laps remaining, Honeycutt slipped entering the second turn for a second time. This time, he made contact with the tire barriers on the right side. This allowed Smith to reassume the lead while Honeycutt, who managed to continue without drawing a caution, was drawing up smoke while trying to retain the runner-up spot in his damaged entry over Johnson. Honeycutt then pitted for repairs, fresh tires and fuel during the next lap as both Johnson and Riggs, both of whom trailed the leader Smith by more than five seconds, moved up the leaderboard. Riggs then overtook Johnson for the runner-up spot as Frankie Muniz wrecked on the course, but managed to continue without drawing a caution.
With 18 laps remaining, the caution flew due to debris spotted on the course. The caution occurred a lap after Frankie Muniz had wrecked and limped his heavily damaged entry to his pit stall. During this caution period, Enfinger stalled his entry while trying to leave his pit stall following an earlier battery change, while Brendan Gaughan made an early pit stop to have a flat right-front tire changed. When the front-runners pitted, some, including the leader Smith, Johnson, Hemric, Grala, Lewis, Reif, Perez De Lara, Grala and Kligerman, pitted while the rest, led by Riggs, remained on the track.
During the next restart with 15 laps remaining, Riggs and Majeski, both of whom occupied the front row, led the field through the frontstretch, but Riggs wasted no time rocketing away from the field through the first turn. As the field navigated through the second turn, Riggs maintained a steady lead while Majeski retained second place in front of Ruggiero, Ankrum and Nathan Nicholson. Meanwhile, Honeycutt bolted his way up to sixth place while Johnson barely clipped the rear end of Queen while locking up his tires and nearly colliding into the side of Jackson Lee while trying to carve his way within the top-10 mark. As the field continued to scramble and jostle for late spots for a full cycle around the 16-turn course, Riggs led the next lap by more than two seconds.
Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution returned due to Jake Garcia stalling in Turn 5. At the time of caution, Riggs, who last pitted on Lap 22 and was unsure if he would have enough fuel to reach the event’s scheduled distance, was leading by more than five seconds over Majeski. Meanwhile, Smith and Honeycutt, both of whom have enough fuel to reach the event’s scheduled distance, occupied third and fourth ahead of Ankrum while Ruggiero, Eckes, Grala, Nicholson and Hemric were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Johnson, who spun after contact from Nicholson, was mired back in 18th place and he elected to pit during this caution period.
Down to the final eight laps, the event restarted as Riggs motored ahead of Majeski through the frontstretch and the first turn. Behind, teammate Chandler Smith motored his way into the runner-up spot as the field jumbled up through the first four turns. Amid the action within the pack, Riggs maintained a steady lead over Smith while Honeycutt bumped and overtook Majeski for third place. While Honeycutt tried to reel in the two Front Row Motorsports entries at the front, Smith reeled in and intimated his teammate Riggs for a full lap before he took advantage of Riggs briefly slipping to overtake him through the frontstretch and the first turn during the next lap.
With five laps remaining, Smith retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Riggs while third-place Honeycutt trailed by nearly two seconds. Behind, Majeski and Ankrum trailed in the top five ahead of Hemric, Reif, Eckes, Grala and Lewis while Ben Rhodes, Ruggiero, Haley, Nicholson, Perez De Lara, Kligerman, Kris Wright, Queen, Tyrrell and Johnson, the latter of whom spun for a second time, his latest spin occurring in Turn 9 not long after the restart, were mired in the top 20, respectively.
A lap later, the caution returned when Ankrum, who was racing in fifth place and reeling in on Majeski for fourth place, wrecked hard against the wall in Turn 16 after he ran over a bump on the racing surface while approaching the frontstretch. The incident destroyed the right side of Ankrum’s No. 18 LiUNA! Chevrolet Silverado RST entry and the wall area in which Ankrum hit while the event was placed in a red flag period for eight minutes and 39 seconds.
When the red flag lifted and the event restarted with two laps remaining, Chandler Smith gained a strong launch from Riggs to motor ahead through the frontstetch and the first turn while Honeycutt, who briefly scuffed the wall through the first turn, battled with Riggs for the runner-up spot. As Smith led the field through the second turn, a stack-up ensued when Rhodes, who was battling within the top five, locked up his front tires and hit the tire barriers in the second turn. Rhodes’ incident ignited a chain reaction wreck that involved Nicholson, Kris Wright, Kligerman and Perez De Lara. The caution then returned and the event was sent into overtime due to the carnage and debris left scattered just past the second turn.
The start of overtime featured Smith and Honeycutt briefly dueling entering the first turn before Honeycutt motored ahead. Then, as Smith was preparing to execute a crossover move on Honeycutt, the latter slipped and hit the wall on the left side. In the ensuing carnage, Smith hit Honeycutt’s damaged entry and spun towards the right-side wall. With both Smith and Honeycutt taken out of contention, Riggs and Daniel Hemric battled for the lead until Hemric assumed command through the fifth turn. Riggs, however, responded through Turn 6 and he reassumed the lead while Tyler Reif reeled in on the two leaders.
Then through Turns 8, 9 and 10, Riggs was drawn back into a side-by-side battle with Hemric for the lead. With the latter two refusing to lift off the throttle and dueling dead even for the lead, they then bumped and made contact through Turn 11. This allowed Reif to throw a three-wide move as both he and Hemric stormed past Riggs in Turn 12. Reif and Hemric then battled dead even until Reif muscled ahead just past Turn 13. Despite getting nearly turned by Hemric entering the chicane, Reif kept his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry pointed straight and he led through and past the chicane while Riggs challenged Hemric for the runner-up spot.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Reif remained in the lead ahead of Hemric, Riggs, Landen Lewis and Kaz Grala, respectively. Riggs immediately wasted no time overtaking Hemric for the runner-up spot through the first turn and he spent the next 14 turns trying to reel in Reif for the lead. Through every turn and straightaway, Reif maintained his advantage and looked to establish a steady advantage until Riggs got close to Reif through Turn 12. Then in the chicane, Reif missed the chicane and cut the chicane’s first course turn. This allowed Riggs to draw even with Reif exiting the chicane and they made contact before Reif was forced to serve a stop-and-go penalty for missing the chicane. With Reif out of contention, Riggs had enough fuel to navigate through the final two turns and cross the finish line to win by over a second.
With the victory, Riggs, who added 39 points to his points lead, notched his ninth career win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division, his fourth of the 2026 season and his third victory over the previous four races this season, including San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado. Riggs’ San Diego victory also made him two-for-two on street venues after he won the inaugural Truck event at the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, in mid-February. He also delivered the fifth victory of this season for both Front Row Motorsports and the Ford nameplate.
“Layne van Riggsbergen came to play today,” Riggs, who took a shot at Shane van Gisbergen’s road course dominance, said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I got my second street course win. We’re undefeated at street courses. Much respect, Shane. I wish I could be as good as you one day, man, but I’m gonna take all my glory here in the Truck Series.”
“I don’t even know what happened at the end,” Riggs added. “Sparks flying, people wrecking, staying in the throttle. I was running out of fuel the entire last lap. It was like St. Pete all over again. Great job with [Tyler] Reif there. He continued, saying, “I was gonna fake left to scare him, and he missed the corner. I wasn’t really gonna dive it in there and it worked for me. I hate that Chandler got taken out there and [Honeycutt]/ They definitely had [the race] won. They beat us on strategy. We just didn’t have the tires. When we stayed out because we could make it to the end on fuel, the tires prevailed. What a crazy race today with the strategy and everything else…What a historic event. Hopefully, we put on a great race for all the fans that have never seen NASTrucks before.”
Meanwhile, Tyler Reif, a two-time ARCA Menards Series West championship runner-up from Las Vegas, Nevada, who made his seventh Truck Series career start at San Diego, was left disappointed on pit road after having a first victory slip from his grasp following his tire lock-up and missing the chicane with the finish in sight. Despite coming to a brief stop after missing the chicane, Reif ended up in 19th place.
“Pushing 101%,” Reif said. “I was just way over the tire there. I heard one [truck length] back with Layne, and I just didn’t want him to have a chance to get to me. My mistake. It’s very unfortunate that I did that. I don’t know how many more chances I’ll have like this, but I’m sure there will be more. I’m gonna make sure to not make that mistake again.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Hemric fended off Kaz Grala and Landen Lewis to claim the runner-up spot despite hitting the Turn 16 wall with the finish in sight. Ty Majeski settled in fifth place while Justin Haley, Brenden Queen, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and Giovanni Ruggiero finished in the top 10, respectively.
Notably, Chandler Smith, who led 13 laps, ended up as the final competitor on the lead lap in 22nd place while Kaden Honeycutt, who led 10 laps and was unable to finish, settled in 23rd place. Brendan Gaughan came home in 16th place, Justin Marks ended up two laps down in 25th place, and Jimmie Johnson retired in 30th place due to an electrical issue.
There were 16 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured seven cautions for 16 laps. In addition, 22 of 35 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 13th event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs leads the standings by 65 points over Kaden Honeycutt, 128 over Chandler Smith, 152 over Giovanni Ruggiero and 154 over Christian Eckes.
Results:
- Layne Riggs, 21 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Daniel Hemric
- Kaz Grala
- Landen Lewis
- Ty Majeski
- Justin Haley
- Brenden Queen
- Ben Rhodes
- Christian Eckes
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Mini Tyrrell
- Tanner Gray
- Kris Wright
- Adam Andretti
- Cole Butcher
- Brendan Gaughan
- Austin Varco
- Parker Kligerman, six laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Tyler Reif, one lap led
- Frankie Muniz
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Chandler Smith, 13 laps led
- Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led
- Connor Mosack, one lap down
- Justin Marks, two laps down
- Dawson Sutton, two laps down
- Jackson Lee, three laps down
- Nathan Nicholson – OUT, Accident
- Grant Enfinger, five laps down
- Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Electrical, two laps led
- Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident
- Jake Garcia – OUT, Transmission
- Stewart Friesen – OUT, Power
- Jamie McMurray – OUT, Accident
- Corey LaJoie – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the series’ second annual LiUNA 150 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. The event is scheduled to occur on July 11 and air at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
