The first time NASCAR's national series had ever raced on an active U.S. military base turned into exactly the kind of demolition derby you'd expect when you drop a full field onto a brand-new 16-turn street course nobody had ever seen. Cautions everywhere. Race stoppages. Accidents that, by Kaulig Racing's own count, collected nearly every truck on the property.
And when the dust settled at Naval Base Coronado, Justin Haley, the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Ram, had the best finish of his season.
Haley came home sixth in the Navy 250 on a green-white-checkered finish, matching the best result any Ram truck has posted all year. It did not come easy. He started 17th, fought a truck he didn't love from the drop of the green, and ground his way forward: 16th at the end of Stage 1, 14th in Stage 2, and then a steady hand through the chaos of the closing laps.
"Obviously, not the truck that we wanted, but we worked on it all day, and really proud of the finish," Haley said in a Kaulig Racing release. "I think the best finish for us this year, and I think tied the best finish for the Ram overall. So, yeah, heck of a day. Wish, obviously, you want to be in the top five, but yeah, long day, and just kept after it, and got a decent finish."
That sixth matched the best a Ram had managed all season, a mark set by AJ Allmendinger at Watkins Glen.
And Haley wasn't even the only Ram in the top 10. Brenden "Butterbean" Queen made it two, charging from 32nd, after missing qualifying with a practice crash, all the way to seventh in overtime for his fourth top-10 of the season.
"I fought all day and was in position to have a solid day, and I think every truck out there hit me," Queen said. "So (Crew Chief) Eddie Pardue made a great call putting tires back on, and you know, I had a great restart."
It wasn't a clean day for the whole program, the way street courses rarely are. Mini Tyrrell rode a fuel strategy from the back to an 11th-place finish, the second-best of his career. But Ram free agents Jamie McMurray and Corey LaJoie both got swept up in early accidents and wound up 34th and 35th. (One small consolation for the brand: a Ram 1500 Rumble Bee SRT served as the pace truck, the first time a Ram has led a field to green.)
Two trucks in the top 10 out of a race that tried to wreck everybody. On a weekend like this one, you take it.
The Truck Series is back July 11 at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.