Layne Riggs (AKA Layne Van Riggsbergen) pulled off a miracle in Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event at Naval Base Coronado, stretching the fuel tank on his No. 34 Mattermost Ford F-150 an incredible 26 laps to take the victory in the inaugural Navy 250 in San Diego.
The Bahama, North Carolina-native, who entered the series in 2024 having never competed on road courses, is now undefeated through two street course events in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, after securing a victory on The Streets of St. Petersburg in February.
This one, though, was a little bit more chaotic.
Riggs was one of the strongest drivers in the field, leading a race-high 21 laps, but towards the end of the race, looked to be down for the count when the strategy flipped against him, and into the favor of Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt (who pitted six laps later than the No. 34). Without several cautions to stretch the fuel tank, Riggs was going to have to pit again.
There were four cautions after Riggs’ pit stop at Lap 27, and while the last one did add three laps (10 miles) to the race distance, it was just enough for the Front Row Motorsports driver to get his blue-and-yellow Ford F-150 to the checkered flag.
Now, those extra three laps, those were something else…
Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt shared the front row for NASCAR Overtime, and Honeycutt, who was running second at the time, got a fantastic restart, driving hard into Turn 1 to clear Smith before smacking the wall at driver’s left and contacting the No. 38, sending the Hard Rock Ford F-150 spinning.
Left to battle for the victory in the final lap-and-a-half around Naval Base Coronado were Layne Riggs, Daniel Hemric, and rookie driver Tyler Reif, all of whom took turns engaging in a full-contact battle for the victory on one of NASCAR’s most historic days – and at one point nearly avoiding disaster entering Turn 12 with a fantastic save by Hemric and Reif.
After the smoke cleared (from the right-front fender of the No. 42 who had a tire rub), it came down to Reif and Riggs battling for the victory as the field maneuvered the final corners of NASCAR’s first-ever race on an active Navy base. Coming to the final chicane in Turn 15, Riggs faked inside, and Reif locked up the brakes, driving through the chicane and losing the race to the No. 34.
With fuel still (somehow) in the tank, Riggs crossed the finish line to win the Navy 250.
“Thank you to everybody at the end – I don’t even know what happened at the end,” Riggs said on the frontstretch. “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, I wasn’t going to, I faked left to scare him, and he missed the corner, I wasn’t really going to dive it in there, and it worked for me.”
Daniel Hemric was able to drive his wounded No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet home to a runner-up finish, his best result since last September at Darlington Raceway. Kaz Grala, in a one-off for Halmar Friesen Racing, finished third, with Landen Lewis and Ty Majeski rounding out the top five.
Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley and Brenden Queen came home in sixth and seventh, with Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes, and Gio Ruggiero rounding out the top 10. After driving through the final chicane without stopping, Tyler Reif was assessed a 30-second penalty by NASCAR, dropping him from seventh (where he crossed the line) to 19th.
Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt were leading at NASCAR Overtime, but after their incident finished a disappointing 22nd and 23rd, which will cost them an incredible amount of points heading to the final five races of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season.
Leaving Naval Base Coronado, Riggs holds a 65-point lead over Kaden Honeycutt, with Chandler Smith, Gio Ruggiero, and Christian Eckes rounding out the top-five. The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series heads to Lime Rock Park for the next event of 2026, taking place on Saturday, July 11 at 1:00 PM ET oN FS1.
