By Cameron Bebeau, Staff Writer
Tyler Reif was mere corners away from his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in just his seventh start.
Instead, a late mistake opened the door for Layne Riggs, who capitalized in the final turns to win Friday’s Navy 250 at Naval Base Coronado. The victory gave the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team its fourth win of the season and was Riggs’ ninth career Truck Series victory.
“It’s great. We’ve worked so hard. We were close last year and this year we’re just really hitting our stride,” Riggs said. “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.”
Daniel Hemric finished second after starting 32nd, while Kaz Grala finished third. Landen Lewis earned a career-best fourth-place finish in just his sixth start, with Ty Majeski rounding out the top five.
Justin Haley finished sixth, followed by Brenden Queen, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes and Giovanni Ruggiero.
Riggs led a race-high 21 laps and won Stage 1, but his path to victory came together in a wild overtime finish. Heading into the final restart, Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt led the field to green after combining to lead 23 of the race’s 53 laps.
Their bids for the victory, however, would end after Honeycutt made contact with the left-side wall. Smith, on Honeycutt’s right side, would end up spinning off his right-rear quarter panel and into the right-side wall, ruining both drivers’ chances.
The incident opened the door for Riggs, Reif and Hemric to go back-and-forth for the lead with less than two laps to go. Reif cleared both drivers coming to the white flag and appeared to be in the preferred position.
That changed when Reif missed the chicane before the final turn, allowing Riggs to slip by and take the win by 1.332 seconds over Hemric. Despite stopping to forfeit any gains, Reif was later assessed a 30-second penalty for short-cutting the course, dropping him to 19th in the final running order.
The penalty erased what would have been his first career Truck Series top-five and his overall best finish in the series. Still, the 19-year-old showed race-winning pace on a night where small mistakes and outside forces ruined contenders’ chances.
The race featured 16 lead changes among six drivers. Aside from Honeycutt, Riggs and Smith, Parker Kligerman also spent time out front, winning Stage 2 and leading six laps before finishing 18th. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson led two laps in his second career Craftsman Truck Series start before an electrical issue ended his night after 47 laps and left him 30th.
The race was slowed by seven cautions for 13 laps, including a late red flag for Tyler Ankrum’s incident in Turn 16. Ankrum hit the right-side wall and moved it, destroying the right side of his racetruck in the process.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns July 11 at Lime Rock Park.
