Layne Riggs turned NASCAR’s first Truck Series race at Naval Base Coronado into a third win in four starts after a wild overtime finish blew the Navy 250 wide open.
Riggs won Friday night’s inaugural San Diego event on the 3.4-mile Qualcomm Circuit after late leaders Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt collided off Turn 1 in overtime, handing the Front Row Motorsports driver the chance to rescue a race that had looked ready to get away from him.
NASCAR’s official recap confirmed Riggs as the winner ahead of Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala, with Landen Lewis and Ty Majeski completing the top five. It was a sharp reversal from the closing laps, when Smith had moved past Riggs for the lead before the final caution sequence changed the shape of the race.
Riggs cashes in after San Diego late drama
The ending was messy even by street-course standards. Smith and Honeycutt’s contact in overtime removed two of the central contenders from the fight, before Tyler Reif briefly looked capable of turning the finish into a part-time Niece Motorsports upset.
Reif led the final lap into the last sector, only to cut through the course at Turn 14 and stop on corner exit. That opened the lane for Riggs, who had already entered the weekend as the Truck Series points leader and a major title factor in San Diego’s championship-heavy opener.
The result also turned Friday’s earlier uncertainty into something more consequential. Honeycutt had started from pole after giving the opener a title-fight edge in qualifying, while Smith had already put himself in position to define the finish before the late tangle.
Johnson’s homecoming ends behind the wall
Jimmie Johnson’s much-anticipated Truck Series return had its moments, but not the finish San Diego wanted. The seven-time Cup champion led two laps in front of a home-state crowd, yet spins and damage in the final stage left him behind the wall in 30th.
That made Riggs the driver who left Coronado with the result and the momentum. NASCAR’s debut on an active military base had already been billed as one of the most unusual events on the national-series calendar, and the Trucks delivered the kind of finish that will give Sunday’s Cup race another layer of tension.
The weekend had been building toward that point since drivers first warned about bumps, walls and narrow margins around the new temporary circuit. As ReadMotorsport noted before the opening race, San Diego’s bumps made the street-race debut a genuine test, not simply a scenic calendar experiment.
San Diego gives Riggs another title marker
For Riggs, the value goes beyond one dramatic trophy. Three wins in four Truck Series races is a statement run at any point of a season; doing it by surviving a new street course, overtime contact and a final-lap scramble strengthens his grip on the championship conversation.
The Truck Series now moves on to Lime Rock Park on July 11, but San Diego has already made its mark. Riggs arrived as the points leader, watched the race slip toward chaos, and still left Coronado with the win that mattered most, backed up by NASCAR’s final race result.
