By David Morgan, Associate Editor
SAN DIEGO – “Layne van Riggsbergen came to play today.”
With a classic one-liner after climbing from his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford at the end of Friday’s Navy 250 at Naval Base Coronado, Layne Riggs summed up the wild overtime finish that saw him score his fourth win of the season and second on a street course in 2026.
The crazy chain of events that ended with Riggs victorious began in the waning laps of regulation with Riggs chasing his FRM teammate Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt lurking behind them as the three appeared to be ready to settle it amongst themselves.
Then with four laps to go, Tyler Ankrum plowed into the wall on the exit of Turn 16, breaking the wall in half and moving it out of place, forcing a red flag to clean up the mess.
That would set up a restart with three laps to go that saw Smith and Honeycutt jump out in front, while Riggs faded to fourth behind Niece Motorsports driver Tyler Reif, but by no means was it over with yet as another caution flag flew with two to go after a pileup in the straight between Turns 3 and 4.
The race would get pushed to overtime as a result of that caution, and in true Truck Series fashion, fireworks were sure to ensue.
Smith and Honeycutt would make contact in Turn 1, sending Smith into the wall and dropping Honeycutt back in the running order with a wounded truck, handing the lead over to Daniel Hemric, with Riggs all over his tailgate and Reif waiting in the wings for his opportunity to make a move.
Reif took his shot on the back side of the track, overtaking Hemric for the lead and putting his Al Niece owned Chevrolet out in front as they came back to the white flag, looking to deliver a win in only his seventh career start at the same base that his team owner trained at many moons ago.
Reif and Riggs separated themselves from the pack as it was coming down to a mano a mano fight between the two, Rief in his Chevrolet and Riggs in his Ford.
However, when the two made it to the chicane prior to the final turn in Turn 16, Reif dipped below the first tire barrier – a big no no – and would have to serve a stop and go penalty, driving a knife into the heart of Reif and everyone on the Niece pit box.
With Reif out of the running, the lead went to Riggs and he was able to keep it pointed in the right direction all the way to the finish to claim the win.
WHAT. A. FINISH! 😱 pic.twitter.com/bwZa0NX1XE
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 20, 2026
“Layne van Riggsbergen came to play today, man. I got my second street course win. We’re undefeated in street courses,” Riggs joked after climbing from his truck following the marathon race as he gave a nod to Cup Series driver and road course ace Shane van Gisbergen.
“Much love Shane, I wish I could be as good as you one day, man, but I’m going to take all my glory here in the Truck Series.
“Thank you to everybody at the end. I don’t even know what happened at the end. 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 Reif there. 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. I hate that Chandler got taken out there with 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. Amazing, historic win.”
Hemric would finish the race in second, followed by Kaz Grala, Landen Lewis, Ty Majeski, Justin Haley, Brendan Queen, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes, and Gio Ruggerio to round out the top-10 finishers.
Reif was credited with a 19th place finish on the day.
“Pushing 101 percent, obviously,” Reif said. “I was just way over the tire there and I heard one back with Lane and didn’t want him to have a chance to get to me. My mistake. I mean, 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 going to make sure to not make that mistake again.”
Smith and Honeycutt dropped all the way to 22nd and 23rd in the finishing order following their overtime skirmish.
The Truck Series stays on a road course streak as they head to Lime Rock Park on July 11 for the running of the LiUNA 250 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX Sports 1.
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