Ford Racing Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Ford Proud To Honor Saturday, June 20, 2026
Earlier this week, Ford and NASCAR collaborated on an event aboard the USS Midway in downtown San Diego, where they announced the inaugural Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic. This event, which will take place on Nov. 11, will honor all six military branches and feature Ford Racing drivers competing in Mustang Dark Horse Rs. In addition, Zac Brown Band and other notable acts will perform with proceeds from the event going to support military families, continuing a Ford tradition that dates back to when the company was formed in 1903.
Nick Ford, Director of Corporate Strategy, Ford Motor Company, participated in the event along with Tim Clark, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer. Below are some of their comments regarding this new event.
NICK FORD, Director of Corporate Strategy, Ford Motor Company:
HOW DID THIS IDEA COME ABOUT? “First of all, supporting the military is core to who we are as a company and as a family company it’s core to our values. We’ve done it throughout our 123-year existence in a lot of different ways, whether that’s all throughout history with the Arsenal of Democracy, hiring disabled veterans throughout the decades, or showing up in times of crisis like COVID. Just a few months ago, we were named by Time Magazine the Most Iconic Company in America in a survey of over 10,000 Americans, and I think a big part of that is because we were recognized for the ways we show up for the military community. That manifests itself in a lot of different ways for our business, but it’s hugely aligned with who we are as a company and the values that our company and my family hold. So we thought about this summer trying to find a creative and different way to authentically show our support for the military. We thought about another really exciting aspect of our business in Ford Racing and how we could bridge those two worlds, and we reached out to our great longstanding partner in NASCAR and came up with this awesome idea. This will be the first-ever Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic. It will be a military tribute race honoring all six branches of the military, sort of like the Army-Navy Game, but now we’re throwing all six into the mix on the racetrack, so it’ll be an awesome event on Veterans Day.”
IS THE GOAL TO RAISE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MONEY? “More to come on the details, but it will directly benefit a lot of our great military service organizations. We’ve got some great partners in Blue Star Families, Disabled American Veterans, TAPS, Team Rubicon, so it’s a military tribute race that honors all six branches of the military. We’re going to have our NASCAR drivers there driving our Mustang Dark Horse Rs. It will be on Veterans Day. Zac Brown Band is going to be performing. It’s going to be a heck of an event and it will all be in support of our great partners.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL NASCAR DOES IN TERMS OF HONORING PATRIOTISM AND THE MILITARY? “I think incredibly well. There are probably no two brands in this country that represent what America and our military stand for more than Ford and NASCAR. We’ve got such a close decades long partnership with NASCAR and we’re so aligned in our values in supporting the military community. I think they do it authentically week in and week out, and that’s going to show up especially this weekend for what’s going to be an incredible event in Coronado.”
WHAT IS THE GOAL FOR THIS EVENT? “I certainly hope this becomes an annual event. We’re focused on getting the first one right, but we have great faith in our collaboration and our partnership with NASCAR, and I think as evidenced by the event they’re gonna put on this weekend at Coronado, they know how to do great events. So, we have a lot of faith in them to have a killer event on Veterans Day.”
TIM CLARK, Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer, NASCAR:
HOW RECEPTIVE WAS NASCAR TO THIS AND THEN IN WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE? “In terms of being receptive, I think I may have said yes before Nick finished the question. It’s a great idea and I think there are so many similarities between the two organizations. Ford Motor Company, Ford Racing and NASCAR are so symbolic of American culture and American spirit and always being supportive of the military. Just to have an event like this that is so unique and such a great showcase of the cars and the venues and the drivers, it was a very easy yes for us to be involved. We’ve got some work to do over the next couple of months to pull the details together, but the framework of a really great event is in place and we’re excited to be a part of it.”
HOW DID THIS IDEA START? “This is very much a Ford idea. I said earlier there are no-brainers and then there’s this level of no-brainer. There are parallels to the Army-Navy Game. There are parallels to what Macy’s has done with Thanksgiving Day. There are a lot of parallels here, but I think there are 100 reasons, if not more, that we were excited to work with Ford on this. One of them is that we have such a long season it’s difficult to do a race that is equal parts entertainment, fun and competition, and I think this is a great way to showcase the drivers and showcase the cars.”
YOU ARE A FORMER MILITARY MEMBER. DOES THIS RESONATE AS SOMETHING SPECIAL TO YOU? “It does. It’s a big part of my upbringing. I’m a third generation. I’m an army veteran. One of the reasons I appreciate working at NASCAR is it’s a league and a company that obviously supports the military. I know Ford does as well, so when I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of this, it was like if I’m checking the personal and the professional box, then you can consider both of them checked.”
Ford Racing Notes and Quotes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Navy 250 — Naval Base Coronado Friday, June 19, 2026
FORD F-150 AND LAYNE RIGGS CONTINUE HOT STREAK; WIN INAUGURAL NAVY 250 ON NAVAL BASE CORONADO
Layne Riggs won today’s Navy 250 on Naval Base Coronado, marking his ninth career victory.
This is Ford Racing’s fifth win of the season and fourth for Riggs, who won at St. Petersburg, Charlotte and Nashville. Chandler Smith won the season-opener in Daytona.
It’s also the third win in the last four races for Riggs, whose four wins this year is a career best.
In addition, Riggs moved into second-place on Ford’s all-time NCTS wins list with nine and trails only the late Greg Biffle, who had 16 career series victories.
Ford Racing has now won 134 all-time NCTS races while this is the 20th for Front Row Motorsports.
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 Mattermost Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW: “Layne van Riggsbergen came to play today, man. I got my second street course win. We’re undefeated in street courses. Much respect, Shane. I wish I could be as good as you one day, but I’m gonna take all my glory here in the Truck Series. Thank you to everybody. I don’t even know what happened at the end. Sparks flying. People wrecking. Staying the throttle. I was running out of fuel the entire last lap. It was like St. Pete all over again. A great job with Reif there. I faked 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 the 11. They definitely had it won. They beat us on strategy. We just didn’t have the tires and 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. It’s an amazing, historic win. We’ve got Mattermost on the truck this weekend. Thank you to everybody at Ford Racing. Joey Hand, you’re the man. We’re 2-for-2 on street courses. This is awesome. What a historic event, so thank you to everybody that is involved. Hopefully, we put on a great race for all the fans that have never seen NASTRUCKS before.”
HOW SPECIAL IS THIS GROUP OF GUYS ON YOUR TEAM? “It’s great. We’ve worked so hard. We were close last year and this year we’re just really hitting our stride. I mean, until the last lap when the 38 and the 11 wrecked I was gonna finish fourth or fifth and it just fell in our lap, which I feel like things rarely fall in our lap in a good way. It’s usually on a bad note, so we’re using our luck up now. We’ve got to keep it paced through the season to make sure we have just enough for those last few races.”
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Layne Riggs 5th – Ty Majeski 8th – Ben Rhodes 15th – Cole Butcher 17th – Austin Varco 20th – Frankie Muniz 22nd – Chandler Smith 27th – Jackson Lee 32nd – Jake Garcia
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 Hard Rock Casino Tejon/Hard Rock Cafe Ford F-150 – WHAT HAPPENED IN OVERTIME? “The 11 overshot the corner. I drove it off in there really deep and when I lifted I noticed that he kind of surged, so I was like, ‘He’s not gonna make the corner,’ so I backed it up to try to get a good shape to get a good exit and cross him back. When I did it was too far left and when he ricocheted it off the wall, there I was. It wasn’t in the Lord’s Will for today, truthfully. That’s the part that to a point is difficult to accept. It stings right now knowing how awesome of a Hard Rock Ford F-150 we had today. That thing was a rocket ship. It was so good. Lights out, especially after the first quarter of the race we were ridiculously good. Knowing how cool this event is and we’re probably not ever gonna come back to it – all of those things kind of sting and that’s when it’s gonna sting a little more.”
HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAY THIS COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENTLY AS OPPOSED TO THIS IS JUST A HIGH SPEED STREET COURSE INCIDENT? “The only thing I truthfully could have done is backed it up even more to make sure I was more further right, but then you risk if he does make it, well then I’m not gonna have a big enough run to cross him back over. At the end of the day, I do truly believe it wasn’t in God’s Will for me to win the race today and something was gonna happen, whether Kaden junks us or something else happens progressively throughout the entire lap there.”
DO YOU JUST ACCEPT THIS IS A STREET COURSE AND THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN? “No, not really. We’re in the top three series of NASCAR, so no, but you needed to damper your expectations for some situations I suppose, I guess, but I don’t know.”
DO YOU PUT THIS UNDER THE RACING DEAL CATEGORY OR SHOULD WE TALK TO KADEN ABOUT IT? “Kaden is a good race car driver. I think he really is. I don’t think he meant to do that intentionally. Emotions get high. There’s a win on the line. I get all that, but at what point do you draw the line in the sand when you know you’re gonna wreck yourself doing it, like with the new points format and all that, that stuff ain’t worth it and I just think he’s a smarter race car driver than that, truthfully.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 88 SPAM/Menards Ford F-150 – “I’m just glad to get on a plane and go home, I guess. This track is unique. It was challenging for us today. I really thought the race was pretty clean for most of it and then at the end sometimes these road courses get like that. Guys up front. Guys on different strategies. Guys up front who aren’t normally up front with different fuel and tires. There was a lot of parity in the race today and we didn’t have the best truck. I didn’t really do the best job either because I made some mistakes. I was just kind of on a knife edge all day long, but a solid run for our Menards Ford F-150 with Spam on the hood. We’ll take a top five and head to Lime Rock.”
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Campers Inn Ford F-150 – “This is pretty much the definition of survival. I don’t know how it could get any closer. We’ve got rubs on all four tires it seems like. I think the housing is bent. I think something on the left-front is bent and we still had a chance to potentially get a top five. It’s a survival day. It’s built Ford tough. Our Campers Inn RV had good pace, but just circumstances having to start in the back, the damage early on and going to the back again, I think we passed more people than anybody today, which shows why we picked up so much damage. I hate that. We need to start up front and just run up front and our days would be a lot easier.” WHAT ABOUT THIS EVENT OVERALL? “This place has been unbelievable. The turnout has been great. Everybody has been super kind and very welcoming for us to be here. It’s been a thriller. I hope we do some more one-off events like this in the future.”
KAZ GRALA BRINGS HOME THIRD-PLACE FINISH TO LEAD TEAM TOYOTA AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO Ruggerio places second Toyota Tundra TRD Pro inside the top 10 in accident filled race in San Diego
SAN DIEGO (June 19, 2026) – Kaz Grala capitalized on a flurry of late caution flags to earn a third-place finish and lead Team Toyota on Friday evening at Naval Base Coronado near San Diego. Driving for Halmar Friesen Racing, Grala recorded his seventh career top-five finish in his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start of the season.
Toyota Development Driver Kaden Honeycutt appeared poised to contend for the victory as the field entered Turn 1 on the final overtime restart, but an accident ended his bid for a second win of the season. His TRICON Garage teammate, Gio Ruggiero, finished 10th to collect his seventh top-10 result of the year.
Tanner Gray (12th) and Adam Andretti (14th) both rebounded from on-track incidents to secure top-15 finishes for TRICON Garage in a race that featured seven cautions for 13 laps.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) San Diego Street Race on Naval Base Coronado Race 13 of 23 – 170 Miles, 50 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Layne Riggs*
2nd, Daniel Hemric*
3rd, KAZ GRALA
4th, Landon Lewis*
5th, Ty Majeski*
10th, GIO RUGGIERO
12th, TANNER GRAY
14th, ADAM ANDRETTI
23rd, KADEN HONEYCUTT
30th, JIMMIE JOHNSON
33rd, STEWART FRIESEN
*non-Toyota driver
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 19: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 Mattermost Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Navy 250 at Naval Base Coronado on June 19, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images).
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 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.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 19: Layne Riggs, driver of the #34 Mattermost Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Navy 250 at Naval Base Coronado on June 19, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)
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 NASCAR Trucks 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, finished as the final competitor on the lead lap in 22nd place, while Kaden Honeycutt, who led 10 laps and was unable to finish, settled for 23rd. 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.
Ford Racing Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 Media Availability — Naval Base Coronado Friday, June 19, 2026
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DO YOU FEEL THAT PRACTICE SESSION WENT? “I don’t think it was too bad. Overall, it was a little different than the simulator, just from a couple tire bundle places, although we saw that on the track walk. The pit wall barrels kind of coming up head-on is not ideal there, but outside of that, it’s really not bad overall. It’s slick in some places and narrow in others and incredibly wide in others, so it’s a big challenge, which we knew it would be coming in.”
WHAT WAS MORE CHALLENGING, THIS PRACTICE OR DECIDING TO STAY AT RFK? “This was way more challenging. This is quite possibly the hardest thing we’ve done in a race car. It was very difficult to find your marks, figure out what’s doable and then you just really don’t have much room for error. We’ve seen probably six, seven, eight backup cars across the first two series to go out today and we certainly didn’t want to be in that grouping. We were just trying to build up to it and our last run was certainly our best. We got a lot better there, so I feel like we’re gonna be in a decent spot for qualifying. We’ve got to find some speed yet, but it will be hard to show up here off memory. We all have 12 or 15 laps around here now, off memory go put down your fast lap right from the get-go tomorrow, so it’s gonna be tricky like we knew it would. I’m glad to have a clean Body Guard Ford Mustang at the end of this thing. That makes us feel decent on that front, but we just have to keep hunting for some speed.”
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO STAY AT RFK? “There are lots of reasons that I have that have been formed from 15 years ago and it’s simply the opportunity that was afforded me by Jack Roush and everybody at RFK. Through that time period all the way to now to be able to keep it going, I feel like from a performance standpoint we’re in a good spot, but we have to be able to better it yet. I think we can get there, I do. Right now, we’re going to a lot of these mile-and-a-halves or Michigans or Poconos or wherever they may be and it’s fresh in my mind right now and we’re somewhere between a fourth to seventh place contender. I think we were a little better than that at Pocono, but everyone’s favorite phrase – dirty air – but with that the potential is really close to being in the hunt to win week in and week out, and I believe that we can get there, and I believe we have a ton of really talented people. With a new Ford coming next year I’m looking forward to getting the Dark Horse SC on track and seeing what that feels like and where that can carry us, so, again, some of it is history and having that appreciation and feeling like you have a home and the other part of it is truly feeling like the competition level is right there at the cusp of truly being great.”
Kaden Honeycutt won the pole position for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ inaugural running of the Navy 250 at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado on Friday, June 19.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a group qualifying session, where the field of 35 competitors were split into two qualifying groups. Each group was given 20 minutes to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the fastest lap between the groups would be awarded the pole position.
Honeycutt was the fastest competitor during Friday’s wild practice session in San Diego. The session had numerous competitors encounter on-track issues and incidents. Honeycutt, however, clocked in his fastest lap at 90.813 mph in 134.782 seconds. The lap was enough for the 22-year-old Honeycutt from Willow Park, Texas, and his No. 11 Safelite/TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry team to claim the top-starting spot for Friday’s inaugural street course event around the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California.
With the pole, Honeycutt notched his third Craftsman Truck Series career pole for his 72nd start in the series and third of the 2026 season (Darlington Raceway & Bristol Motor Speedway in April). Honeycutt, who notched his first career victory at Watkins Glen International in early May, will attempt to achieve his second consecutive victory on a street/road course venue this season as he also strives to build more on-track momentum towards his championship hopes when the Chase commences in mid-September.
Honeycutt will share the front row at San Diego with Layne Riggs, the latter of whom clocked in the second-fastest lap at 90.535 mph in 135.196 seconds. Riggs, who won the series’ inaugural street course event at St. Petersburg, Florida, in mid-February, will attempt to double down on street course venues this season and extend his lead in the regular-season standings prior to his second championship bid during the Chase.
Chandler Smith, Riggs’ teammate at Front Row Motorsports, will start in third place with a qualifying lap at 89.847 mph in 136.231 seconds. Smith will share the second row with Jimmie Johnson, the latter of whom is making his second Truck career start in the No. 1 Carvana Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry for TRICON Garage. Johnson posted his best lap at 89.736 mph in 136.400 seconds. Grant Enfinger and Giovanni Ruggiero will occupy the third-starting row (fifth and sixth, respectively). Andres Perez De Lara, Ty Majeski, Landen Lewis and Parker Kligerman will start in the top 10, respectively.
Notably, Justin Marks, Daniel Hemric, Adam Andretti, Brenden Queen and Tanner Gray all did not post a qualifying lap due to damaging and/or wrecking their entries during Friday’s two practice sessions. The latter five rounded out the starting lineup from 31st to 35th, respectively.
Christian Eckes also did not post a qualifying lap. He hit the tire barriers in Turn 12 and will start in 30th place. Stewart Friesen, who managed to post the 22nd-fastest lap, endured a hard incident. He slid into the wall while trying to prevent his entry from spinning through a tight set of turns from Turns 14 and 15. Friesen’s incident occurred after Marks endured a similar incident in practice that left the latter’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry on fire and heavily damaged, with a backup truck needed.
Veteran Brendan Gaughan is piloting the No. 20 South Point Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. He will start in 28th place after smacking the wall in Turn 16, damaging the right side of his entry while qualifying. Jamie McMurray, who is piloting the No. 25 RAM 1500 entry for Kaulig Racing, will start in 21st place.
With 35 competitors vying for 35 starting spots, all made the main event.
San Diego – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
Kaden Honeycutt, 90.813 mph, 134.782 seconds
Layne Riggs, 90.535 mph, 135.196 seconds
Chandler Smith, 89.847 mph, 136.231 seconds
Jimmie Johnson, 89.736 mph, 136.400 seconds
Grant Enfinger, 89.634 mph, 136.555 seconds
Giovanni Ruggiero, 89.592 mph, 136.620 seconds
Andres Perez De Lara, 89.520 mph, 136.729 seconds
Ty Majkesi, 89.518 mph, 136.732 seconds
Landen Lewis, 89.301 mph, 137.065 seconds
Parker Kligerman, 89.258 mph, 137.130 seconds
Connor Mosack, 89.209 mph, 137.206 seconds
Tyler Ankrum, 89.180 mph, 137.250 seconds
Ben Rhodes, 89.120 mph, 137.343 seconds
Tyler Reif, 89.081 mph, 137.403 seconds
Corey LaJoie, 88.590 mph, 138.165 seconds
Kaz Grala, 88.569 mph, 138.198 seconds
Justin Haley, 88.342 mph, 138.552 seconds
Dawson Sutton, 87.936 mph, 139.192 seconds
Jake Garcia, 87.847 mph, 139.333 seconds
Nathan Nicholson, 87.725 mph, 139.527 seconds
Jamie McMurray, 87.537 mph, 139.827 seconds
Stewart Friesen, 87.132 mph, 140.476 seconds
Mini Tyrrell, 86.937 mph, 140.791 seconds
Kris Wright, 86.738 mph, 141.115 seconds
Cole Butcher, 86.566 mph, 141.395 seconds
Jackson Lee, 85.977 mph, 142.363 seconds
Frankie Muniz, 85.522 mph, 143.121 seconds
Brendan Gaughan, 84.898 mph, 144.173 seconds
Austin Varco, 84.813 mph, 144.318 seconds
Christian Eckes, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
Justin Marks, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
Daniel Hemric, Owner Points
Adam Andretti, Owner Points
Brenden Queen, Owner Points
Tanner Gray, Owner Points
The inaugural Navy 250 at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado is scheduled to occur on Friday, June 19, at 7 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
TOYOTA RACING – Tyler Reddick NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
SAN DIEGO (June 19, 2026) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Friday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Pala Casino Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Tell us about your initial thoughts about being here at Naval Base Coronado
“It’s beautiful. Got to meet a lot of friendly people that are stationed here that are very excited to watch us race here on the base. It was earlier in the day at San Diego Zoo running into people over there that live here or are here on base. Just a lot of positivity. Excited to get on the race track and try and figure this out. So far, beautiful views and excited to be here.”
What is your initial reactions to what we’ve seen on track before you practice for the Cup Series?
“The approach was already going to be fairly conservative. You want to push the issues and learn, but I think it’s important to understand out there what areas you can push those issues without ending your practice early. I saw a number of trucks and O’Reilly cars catching the wall, and pretty much the end of your day. For those guys they may not have an opportunity to qualify later on. I would say the implications are big no matter the series. That’s going to be the biggest thing, it’s going to be super important to find the limits early. You have to go about it in a very smart and calculated way. There are a number of corners you don’t necessarily want to play around with, but it certainly seems like the surface in a number of areas is slick and grippy and some areas wore out, it will be very challenging in the race car what the limits are around the race track. Everyone is curious to see what the pace evolution is as we continue to rubber it in and how much it will pick up.”
How challenging will it be to be able to race Sunday without having the ideal line like during qualifying so you can navigate and make passes?
“I feel like a number of us who have had the opportunity to race at the Chicago Street Course have somewhat of an idea of that. I think that will be an ongoing process on Sunday. I would imagine the whole field will be careful to start and then more and more aggression will follow as we run. Just watching it seems like it’s easy to miss your marks and have a slip up as it is by yourself. That’s certainly been on my mind, what turn 1 and 2 is going to look like, even (turn) 3 side-by-side. That’s something I’ll be thinking about as we go through this practice, what all that would look like. I would imagine you will have to tip toe your way through there pretty carefully.”
With Denny (Hamlin) closing in on your in points and knowing you run well on road courses with two of those races in back-to-back weeks, what will be your approach for here and Sonoma?
“No matter the points day we had before now, we come into here setting ourselves up to try and win. Now we have to weigh those decisions, whether that’s when we get going in the race on Sunday or even make that decision tonight or depending on how qualifying goes. It’s something that we are going to be aware of. We have a car good enough and have the speed to continue to contend for the race win, we are going to do that. If we are not where we want to be, I think we can be honest with ourselves and change up our strategy for Sunday.”
What will it be like to drive past an aircraft carrier?
“That will be really cool. I would say the first lap we go out there and getting everything warmed up and feel the grip level before we start our first lap, I’ll probably be checking things out. But after that I will need to stay focused. That turn 3 braking zone is going to be difficult. Hopefully nobody gets distracted by the aircraft carrier during the race but it’s quite the sight in front of you, that’s for sure.”
Is there anything you would like to see NASCAR to change about the course from what you have seen so far?
“All I’ve done is really walk it. From my standpoint, I really haven’t had a chance to talk to any of the Truck or O’Reilly series drivers. I think just the nature of a street course, there’s only so much you can do. You move a little bit of this or a little bit of that. You’re probably going to have the same issue regardless. I will see if there’s anything after practice if there’s a spot or two that they might change it, but it’s hard to say at this point. Think we all understand that this is a street course, there’s not a lot of room for runoff. There are certain areas in the racetrack that has some room and others it’s just as much room as possible. It’s just the nature of it as a driver, you have to be smart and intentional with your risk versus reward.”
How much of your time in the SIM before this weekend be beneficial knowing the course wasn’t put together until this week?
“Certainly a benefit. I haven’t been able to watch timing and scoring from Trucks or O’Reilly, but I’ve heard some of the chatter that there’s a decent amount of falloff over the course of a tire right. Obviously Trucks and O’Reilly definitely have more than the Cup cars do. Definitely curious to see how it relates to our stuff. It’s part of it, when we would go to Chicago walls would be a little bit of a different place than we were expecting as well. It’s just something as a driver you understand coming into it, I certainly did, to tell myself the last couple of weeks getting ready for this event to just be ready for anything. You’re ready to change your mindset or your marks as the track speeds up and as things change during the weekend.”
Is it important to you to win a NASCAR race in your home state of California?
“It’s certainly important. Years ago, we would go to Fontana, that would really come to mind there. Unfortunately, we no longer get to race there. That’s one in particular that eats at me never getting the win there and not going back. Between here and in Sonoma with Sonoma being a bit closer, I would love to win in my home state. We got to figure out if we are going to have the speed to contend for the win or it’s going to be about getting points. That’s just the tricky thing about where we are at. Over the years we’ve gone to the Roval and would have loved to go for the race win, but have been in a spot where you have to go after points. We will see where land going into Sunday’s race and if we are close enough we will hopefully be racing for the race win.”
Will you have any extra friends and family attend Sonoma next week?
“Some members of my family on my dad’s side get a RV and hang out, so will get to see them, which is nice. Every time we go up there it’s beautiful, we get to see some people. These next two week being out here, we are going to soak it in the best we can.”
Is there some enjoyment about coming to races for the first time and doing something different?
“I certainly think so. Sometimes you get used to the routine. I think of a number of tracks we go to where you land and you go straight to the track whether you are with your family or not. There’s a number of tracks you go to where you take it for granted where you are at and what you are doing, so coming here for the first time and seeing everything that is San Diego and Coronado has been fun. You think, where do I start? What is there to do while we are here? I’m certainly enjoying that. I think leading into it with everyone there’s a little bit of stress about where to go and how we are going to get there, but now that we are here I’m just really enjoying it.”
How do you prepare for the whole front wheels coming off the ground in a spot here?
“Hold your breath, I don’t know. Maybe I will ask Riley (Herbst), he’s done some of that racing growing up. My dirt race growing up, it was never good to leave the ground so we’ll see. Hang on. I’m excited to see what that sensation is like. Hopefully our car does leave the ground at least once or twice”
What has it been like have Pala on your car this weekend?
“This is a big race for them, they are right down the road. It’s really an awesome opportunity to have them on the car and be working with them this weekend. I’ve seen the signage walking into the track and the displays they have in the fan zone. It’s a big weekend for them and I want to do everything I can do for them as a driver to bring them the best result possible. Got to go to the San Diego Zoo and spend some time down there and got to take the family there as well and see some cool animals and certain species that are endangered was a lot of fun. My son’s reactions to some of them and my youngest Rookie was a lot of fun.”
Are you planning on stopping at any of your old dirt tracks you raced out here in California before Sonoma weekend next week?
“That’s the tricky part, where we are in Sonoma as opposed to where I raced is a couple of hours further north. Will see how the weekend goes while we are there and if I have a day that ends up being free, but maybe we will take a road trip and check it all out. It is a bit difficult right now, it’s hard to expect Rookie to sit in the car for a couple of hours and not be upset. Maybe a few years down the road when he gets a bit older we will be able to take those long road trips.”
What is the role of spotters here?
“Me and Nick (Payne, spotter) got to see where some of the spotter locations were throughout the lap. It seems like the visibility in certain sections are going to be limited. We’ll essentially take it a lot at a time in practice and just kind of understand what the role of spotters are going to be. We’ll just take it one lap at a time and myself and Nick and the rest of the team will debrief about it afterwards.”
How challenging is it for a driver to not have as much help from spotters?
”It’s tricky to figure out sometimes. We’ll discuss how the weekend goes and the role might be just to see what’s up ahead, depending on what they have and what section they are in. It will be something we can figure out after we get through practice here.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
Ford Racing Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 Media Availability — Naval Base Coronado Friday, June 19, 2026
Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, held a press conference today at Naval Base Coronado before practice to talk about this weekend’s inaugural event.
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU GOT TO TAKE A TOUR OF A SUBMARINE YESTERDAY. WHAT DOES THAT SPONSORSHIP MEAN FOR THIS WEEKEND? “I’ve had a chance to work with the United States Navy off and on now for the last 18-19 years, and I got to come to this island in 2008 and went underway on the Asheville, which is a nuclear submarine. It’s a little bit full circle to be back here for a NASCAR race. It’s not something I would have had on my bingo card in 2008, but I’m still glad to be here for it. This year, our partnership isn’t directly with the Navy, but indirectly with Build Submarines, which is a huge initiative for the Navy to build the submarines that they need to keep up for the fighting force that’s required for tomorrow’s Navy. They gave me a chance to go on the Greeneville, which was great. I met the crew and the commanding officer and all those guys and had a chance to engage with them. Of course, they think it’s really neat that there’s a NASCAR race in their backyard, which is great. We think it’s really cool that they get to work on a nuclear submarine, so we’re trading some envies, but the weekend itself is just so unique. It means a lot to our military. I think what I see in this weekend is obviously a chance to race and do what we love to do, but also to celebrate our country and the military by being really integrated with them in ways that we’ve never, at least in my time in the sport, done before. So, a lot of opportunities this weekend to celebrate and to have a good time and do innovative things for our sport and for our military that hopefully leave a lasting impression for years to come.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY TO COMPETE ON A BASE LIKE THIS WHEN YOU HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO HAVE SERVED? “I had some family that served. My cousin served and was based very close to here, so that was a neat story to talk to him about when they announced the race. A lot of respect for our military and what they do. I will tell you that all of them have told me if there’s a place to be stationed, this is one of the best, so there’s that going for it. But I was very fortunate to make a career in motorsports and to be where I’m at and do the things I’ve gotten to do. There was a time where I wasn’t sure that was possible, and I certainly had some thoughts of being able to do some things with the military never knowing what that would be. I’m thankful my life and career turned out where it is, but certainly have a lot of respect for those that have made the choice to serve and are willing to do those things that our country needs to provide our freedoms to do events like this. I always think about our sport and its founding from 1948 and a lot of World War II veterans, people who have served and how deep that runs in the blood of our sport, and how there will always be a connection. You hear the moonshine connection all the time and not that that’s not accurate. There’s certainly a lot of truth to that, but I think of the military connection as being one and the same with those who had served and came back from combat and World War II and decided to create our sport and to professionalize it. So I really respect that heritage of our sport and I respect the fact that this sport hasn’t lost that, that it keeps that legacy going and in some ways has even, at least in my time, heightened its connection to the military and kind of that legend.”
THE LAST THREE WEEKENDS HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT FOR YOUR TEAM. HOW DO YOU GO INTO THIS WEEKEND KNOWING IT’S GOING TO BE HARD FOR EVERYONE? “The last four weeks have been kind of hell for the 6 team, for sure. Nothing has gone right. We’ve caught a lot of bad breaks and made some of our own along the way, so we’re eager to correct that cycle. I’m fully expecting this to be a very, very high attrition race weekend for all three series. You’ve probably already seen that with the trucks practicing and qualifying. We’re not immune to that if we’re not careful. We can only control certain aspects, but we need to control them and be running at the end for sure.”
CHRIS BUESCHER SIGNED AND EXTENSION THIS WEEK. WHAT DOES HE BRING TO THIS ORGANIZATION? “Chris right now is obviously a cornerstone of our company. He’s delivered results. He puts us in a position to win and compete that I’m really proud of. He’s doing all the work he needs to do to be successful. He’s taken his lumps, paid a lot of dues, and we just want to give him the best car we can give him so he can win races. There was a lot of competition for Chris and a lot of teams in the garage area that wanted him. It was not a layup for us to re-sign him, but we feel fortunate that he felt our commitment was strong enough to want to stay with us.”
YOU HAVE BEEN COMPLIMENTARY OF PRIME AND ITS COVERAGE. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE FOR NASCAR? “I think Amazon has come in with a fresh set of eyes and they’ve really brought something to our sport. Certainly, we can find any issues to pick them apart with, but I’m really proud of their flexibility and really proud of their professionalism and willingness to push our sport and the other broadcast partners to be better. I think they’ve been very good for our sport. I have a lot of empathy for them because I think when it was announced that NASCAR was gonna have a three-headed media rights deal between broadcast, cable and streaming, there were a number of people that came down on Amazon and there was a lot of negative sentiment, and I think they somewhat took that to heart and have made sure they delivered a product that was so fantastic that that sentiment has been quickly turned down and they deserve all the credit in the world for having that mentality and executing on it.”
DID YOU GO OUT TO BALLAST POINT YESTERDAY AND ACTUALLY GET ON THE GREENEVILLE? “I did, yes sir. I got on the Greeneville and did a nice little tour, which was fantastic. I met some of the crew members and learned more about nuclear submarines. There’s a lot to learn. I’ve done a few different trips with them and been on a few submarines and every time I learn something new and fresh. It’s just an amazing piece of machinery.”
THAT’S A TOUGHER BASE TO GET ON THAN THIS ONE. “The bases have their different levels. We were very fortunate to be able to do it.”
DO VETERANS HAVE AN ADVANTAGE COMING TO A TRACK FOR THE FIRST TIME LIKE THIS, OR DO ROAD COURSE DRIVERS HAVE AN EDGE? “You mean besides Shane? I think Shane’s background is the ideal background, which is V8 Supercars. This is kind of what they do. Similar cars. Similar types of tracks. That’s really what you look for is those experiences that gives them the best opportunity to be successful for sure. Short of that, I think Trans-Am experience is pretty good. That seems to be the go-to now for the younger drivers. We’re seeing a lot of success with that, but the experience being in Cup is good, but not as good as it is having time in either one of those two series.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT HAS SURPRISED YOU SO FAR FROM WALKING THE TRACK OR WATCHING THE TRUCK SERIES PRACTICE AND QUALIFY? “I think all of us knew from our simulator time how the track was gonna play out, or had a great feel for it, I think. I’d say it’s very similar to that. Simulators are good, but they’re never perfect. I think that the biggest challenge as a whole with this track are the different surfaces and the grip levels that are associated with them. It appears that the tarmac area of the track has a lot less grip than we anticipated and some of the older asphalt areas probably have a little more grip than we anticipated, so that’s probably the only significant surprises for me. Like I said, we expect it to be high attrition and that seems to be playing out. I would be surprised if it’s low attrition Sunday afternoon when this race is over, but, for right now, not a lot of big surprises.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE WITH NASCAR AND THE BALANCE BETWEEN RISK VS. REWARD ON SOME OF THE TRACK DECISIONS THEY’VE MADE IN RECENT YEARS? “I think NASCAR, when I started racing in the Cup Series, was very schedule risk averse. They’d pick a set of tracks, we ran at them, maybe a date changed year to year, but basically they were all the same tracks. Occasionally, we’d add a track or two, and now it feels like the culture has just flipped 180 and we’re just major schedule innovations. I welcome that. I think it’s important for our fans, important for our industry to keep it fresh, but I also say there’s a caveat to that with certain events. I think we learned some lessons as a sport on where not to innovate. The Daytona 500 always needs to be where it is. The Southern 500 needing to be on Labor Day. Our crown jewel events feel very fixed, as they should, and our opportunities lie outside of those, and I think the sport is doing a good job of recognizing that to be the case. My bigger struggle as a whole is that when we tend to take on new venues it seems to always be road courses. I would like to see us take on new venues that are ovals and more in line with this sport’s success. There are a number of opportunities to do that, but, as a whole, I’m really on board with the idea of the sport innovating the schedule and doing so in such a way that fixes our legacy crown jewel events or cements them in while looking at the rest of the weekends as opportunities.”
YOU TALK ABOUT SOME OVALS OUT THERE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE. WHAT REALISTICALLY IS OUT THERE ON THE OVAL SIDE THAT NASCAR CAN GO TO? “I think that the first answer that is underway or developing is clearly the Nashville Fairgrounds. There’s a lot of energy inside the industry to make that happen. There are some challenges with local governments to execute that. There are some other opportunities that, I have to be careful because I sit on the scheduling committee. There are some other opportunities that I think are really compelling and interesting, though, that are not public and probably don’t need to be at this time.”
IT SEEMS THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF OTHER EVENTS AROUND THIS WEEKEND. YOU CAN’T DO THIS KIND OF THING EVERY WEEK, BUT CAN YOU TAKE A TEMPLATE FROM THIS AN APPLY IT TO SOME OTHER RACES MORE FREQUENTLY THAN IT IS NOW? “The industry is just trying to find a balance. We could not do this every weekend. I think everybody knows that. It probably still needs to be stated, but as an industry if we had to pull off weekends like this all the time, we just couldn’t do it. The cost and the workload is extreme, which doesn’t mean we don’t like doing it, and I think there’s a lot of reasons to do events like this, we just have to be in balance and find that moderation to the tracks that we know are established, dates that we know are meaningful to our fans and the ones that give us some wiggle room. I always view that as a line that you walk and sometimes you get a little too far to the left and sometimes you get a little too far to the right. I think we’re walking it reasonably well right now, but we still need to be cognizant of it.”
LOOKING BIG PICTURE, YOU HAVE THIS RACE, YOU HAD CHICAGO AND MEXICO CITY. WHAT IS NEXT? “There’s other opportunities. Stay tuned. We’ll find them, but there will be more.”
FORD ANNOUNCED THE VETERANS DAY RACE. BEING PART OF THAT GROUP, HOW SPECIAL IS THAT AND IS THERE ANY PLANS FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT EVENT? “Honestly, I don’t know that much about it. I read the same press release and that’s probably the extent of my knowledge at the moment, but it does seem interesting and compelling. I know Ford has some fun ideas that they’re putting out there and that one hasn’t materialized enough for me to speak articulately about, but I do respect the idea of the industry coming together to do things of that nature.”
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Friday, June 19, 2026) – With five points separating the top three drivers in INDY NXT by Firestone entering the doubleheader this weekend at Road America, Max Taylor sent a powerful message during practice Friday – don’t forget about me.
Taylor led the only practice for both races in the INDYCAR development series, turning a top lap of 1 minute, 53.1419 seconds in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car as Andretti Global drivers took the first three spots in the 45-minute session. Taylor is fourth in the series standings, 27 points behind leader Nikita Johnson.
“It felt pretty good,” Taylor said. “First time on this track in an INDY NXT car but definitely not my first time here. There are a lot of things to get used to, a lot more than I thought, but I adapted pretty quickly, and the Andretti car was on rails. As you can see, we were 1-2-3, so a really good way to start a weekend.”
Andretti Global flexed with Lochie Hughes second at 1:53.2732 in the team’s No. 26 entry, with teammate Josh Pierson third at 1:53.3204 in the No. 29 Starchive Andretti machine.
Series leader Johnson was the quickest non-Andretti driver and top rookie, fourth at 1:53.3652 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car. Johnson leads HMD Motorsports rookie teammates Enzo Fittipaldi and Tymek Kucharczyk by two and five points, respectively, in the standings entering this event.
Matteo Nannini rounded out the top five at 1:53.6558 in the No. 20 Enve Motorsports car as Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR filled the bottom two spots of the top five.
Myles Rowe celebrated his 26th birthday today by ending up sixth at 1:54.1355 in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy machine. Rowe won the most recent event, June 7 on the World Wide Technology Raceway oval, after starting 24th and last in the longest climb to victory in the series’ 40-year history.
Among the closest championship contenders to leader Johnson, Fittipaldi was 10th today at 1:54.4460 in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car, with Kucharczyk 16th at 1:54.7796 in the team’s No. 71 machine.
Up next on the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course is qualifying at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, which will set the starting grid for both races. Race 1 (20 laps) starts at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, with Race 2 (18 laps) set for noon ET Sunday. Live coverage of all sessions is available on FS1, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.
GRANITE FALLS, N.C.: The change of scenery was exactly what the doctor ordered.
After a frustrating start to the season at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Hannah Bell and her Performance Vehicle Works Racing team elected to shake things up two weeks ago, hoping a trip to a different racetrack would provide a fresh start and spark the momentum they had been searching for.
It worked.
From the opening laps of practice through the checkered flag, Bell steadily regained her confidence, quickly reacclimated to the new surroundings, found speed, and made decisive passes that culminated in an encouraging eighth-place finish in the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts competition.
In the immediate aftermath, there was plenty to celebrate. The team loaded a clean race car back into the trailer, the result was a step in the right direction and, perhaps most importantly, Bell climbed from the cockpit with a smile on her face.
But once the excitement faded, everyone’s attention quickly shifted to Saturday night’s next opportunity, determined to build on the momentum rather than simply be satisfied with it.
The challenge now is proving the recent performance wasn’t a one-off, but rather the beginning of a trend.
Armed with renewed confidence and a better understanding of what the team needs behind the wheel, Bell enters Saturday night’s event optimistic that another clean, competitive outing can continue moving the program in the right direction.
“The biggest thing for me was getting my confidence back,” Bell said.
“We made progress every time we were on the track, and by the end of the night I felt comfortable racing around other cars and making moves when the opportunities were there. It wasn’t exactly where we want to be yet, but it definitely felt like a big step in the right direction.”
While the finishing position was encouraging, the biggest takeaway from the previous race wasn’t necessarily the result itself. It was the noticeable progress throughout the night — improved communication, increased comfort in traffic and the ability to race aggressively while maintaining composure.
Those are the building blocks the team has been working toward since the opening race of the season, and they provide plenty of reason for optimism heading into the weekend.
Every lap behind the wheel is another opportunity to gain experience and continue developing as both a driver and a team. With momentum finally on their side, Bell and the Performance Vehicle Works Racing crew are eager to capitalize on it and continue delivering results that matter.
If the last race was the reset they needed, Saturday night presents the perfect opportunity to show that the progress is real — and that the best is still ahead.
“We’re not putting any extra pressure on ourselves,” added Bell. “We just want to keep improving every time we unload and keep taking those small steps forward. If we do that, I really believe the results will take care of themselves. I’m excited to get back out there and see what we can accomplish.”
Like she has proven throughout her return to Late Model racing, Bell is intent on earning the respect of her competitors through her actions on the racetrack, not her words.
But make no mistake — she’s there to compete. Armed with a fast No. 05 Performance Vehicle Works Racing Chevrolet, Bell expects to be in the mix and isn’t afraid to race with confidence, make decisive moves and seize every opportunity to continue building her reputation.
“I want people to know they can race me clean and I’ll race them clean,” Bell said. “But at the same time, I’m not out there just to make laps. I’m here to compete, keep improving and put this team where it belongs. Every time I get in the car, I want to earn the respect of the people I’m racing against.”
The goal is still to return to Hickory (N.C.) eventually. Motor Speedway, but after finding renewed confidence and a much-needed spark elsewhere, Bell and the Performance Vehicle Works Racing team are content to continue building on their recent progress one race at a time.
“We’ve never lost confidence in Hannah or what she’s capable of behind the wheel,” said Performance Vehicle Works Racing owner and team manager Timmy McKichan.
“Our goal has always been to help her develop and put her in situations where she can be successful. Sometimes a change of scenery is exactly what you need, and I think the last race proved that. The biggest thing we saw wasn’t necessarily the finish—it was the confidence she showed throughout the night.
“She was comfortable, she was making smart decisions and she was racing the way we know she can. We’ll get back to Hickory eventually, but right now it’s about continuing to build confidence, gain experience and keep moving forward.”
As Bell prepares for another opportunity behind the wheel, she remains appreciative of every chance she gets to compete.
No matter what Saturday night holds, she is thankful for the opportunity to continue making laps, gaining experience and doing what she loves alongside the Performance Vehicle Works Racing team.
“At the end of the day, I’m just thankful to be here,” Bell said. “There are so many people who would love the opportunity to race, and I never take for granted the chance to get behind the wheel and do what I love. Racing is what I’ve always been passionate about, so every lap is a blessing.
“Of course, we want good finishes and we want to win races, but I also try to keep things in perspective. We’ve had our share of challenges this year, but I wouldn’t trade this journey for anything.
“I’m grateful for everyone who continues to believe in me, from my family and friends to our partners and the entire Performance Vehicle Works Racing team.
“They’ve all played a role in helping me chase this dream, and hopefully we can reward them with a strong run on Saturday night.”
Bell’s Limited Late Model schedule continues with support from her long-time partner, Alliance Packaging.
Racing begins at Tri-County Speedway on Saturday, June 20, 2026, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET with coverage available on FloRacing.com.
For more on Hannah Bell, please like her on Facebook, follow her on Instagram (@Hgbell) and TikTok (@HannahBell05).
