As we settled in for the final stage of the race, it was clear who the favorites were as the laps wound down in the Navy 250 in San Diego. In terms of sheer speed, Layne Riggs seemed to be head and shoulders above the rest of the contenders. Just shy of riggs were his teammate, Chandler Smith, and the Tricon duo of Kaden Honeycutt and 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. Prior to the race restarting with 22 laps to go, Layne Riggs pitted under caution. Meanwhile, the top 9, including Smith, Johnson, and Honeycutt, stayed out. One more pit stop was needed in order to make it to the end.
Kaden Honeycutt led over Chandler Smith and Jimmie Johnson but Layne Riggs was coming after them in a hurry, snaking his way through the top 10. With 20 laps to go, in the same spot where he had issues earlier in the race, Kaden Honeycutt blew a corner and smacked into the sidewall. As he did that, Chandler Smith took the race lead and Jimmie Johnson slid into second. As a result of the damage, Honeycutt had to make an unscheduled pit stop. As they continued to run, Riggs ran down Jimmie Johnson and took away the runner-up position.
On Lap 33, the caution flew once again as some debris from Frankie Muniz after hard contact was found on the track. A number of drivers came down pit road during this caution break, including Smith and Johnson. A handful of drivers stayed out, including Layne Riggs who was seemingly opting to make it to the end of the race on a tank of fuel. The race restarted and Layne Riggs retook the race lead. Ty Majeski and Chandler Smith closed out the podium. During this run, Jimmie Johnson spun around, dropping from 9th to 14th in the running order.
On Lap 40, the caution flew once again as Jake Garcia stalled on track with power issues. This was huge for Riggs as it allowed him a little extra time to conserve fuel. Jimmie Johnson pitted during the caution for fresh tires. He was hoping to make a late race charge on fresh rubber in the closing laps. But that was better said than done as he now found himself deep in traffic.
The race restarted with 8 laps to go. Layne Riggs got another great restart as Majeski was slow to jump heading into Turn 1. In the next corner, Chandler Smith snatched second away from Majeski. Riggs was questionable on fuel, but Smith got the clear to run hard. After taking seven laps to go, Chandler Smith made the move and took the race lead from his teammate.
As the laps wound down and the leaders took four laps to go, we got yet another caution after Tyler Ankrum slammed hard into the concrete pit barrier, destroying his No. 18 machine and the wall in the process. Due to the damage to the wall, the field was red flagged. It also most likely meant that we were going into NASCAR Overtime.
We got another caution on Lap 49 as Ben Rhodes got into the wall and Andres Perez spun around, blocking the track. One more Overtime attempt. Heading into the first corner, leader Chandler Smith got dumped. Daniel Hemric and Layne Riggs went to the race lead. Rookie Tyler Reif bodied the No. 19 truck to get by for the race lead. Layne Riggs was all over in on the white flag lap but Reif was holding his own. On Turn 15, Tyler Reif cut the course and had to come to a stop, handing the race lead over to Layne Riggs. Riggs went on to win the race, his fourth win of the season and the ninth of his career.
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