The 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) will race at Naval Base Coronado this weekend, marking the first NASCAR race held on a military base. Due to the pedigree of this event, and the rule limiting full time drivers from competing in series they’re not running for points in, some special drivers have shown up on the entry list.
Toyota’s Ringers
Multi-time Trans Am winner Adam Andretti will make his fifth start of the season in the Tricon Garage No. 5 Toyota Tundra TDR Pro. The 47-year-old is the nephew of racing legend Mario Andretti, and the younger brother of NASCAR Cup Series winner John Andretti. Adam Andretti has run four races in the No. 5, including the two road course races at St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen, but earned his best result of 12th-place at EchoPark Speedway.
Joining Adam Andretti at Tricon is seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. This will be Johnson’s second career NCTS start, and looks to surpass his career best 34th-place in the 2008 race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnson will pilot the No. 1 truck, and will make his penultimate Cup Series start in the No. 84 for his own team, Legacy Motor Club, later in the weekend.
On the topic of Legacy Motor Club, their sim driver, Kaz Grala, will get behind the wheel of a race car for the first time since a top-5 in the 2025 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the Charlotte Roval. Grala, the 2017 winner at Daytona International Speedway, will get behind the wheel of the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing truck. Despite his only win coming on an oval, Grala is no slouch on road courses. His most impressive results include a 6th-place in his Cup Series debut in the 2020 Daytona Road Course race and a runner up in the 2021 NCTS race at COTA for Young’s Motorsports.
Former Winners Return
Jimmie Johnson is not the only Cup Series owner running this race, as Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks will pilot the No. 77 truck for Spire Motorsports. Marks is not a winner in the Truck Series, but has a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win in the 2016 race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Marks has earned two poles and four top-10s in 39 truck starts, the latest of which came with Niece Motorsports in 2022 at the same Mid-Ohio.
Fellow Mid-Ohio winner (in the 2022 running in the Truck Series) Parker Kligerman will reunite with Henderson Motorsports’ No. 75. Kligerman has driven two races in the Kaulig Racing No. 25 Ram-1500 “Free Agent Truck” and finished in the top-20 both times. Kligerman is a three-time NCTS winner, a pair of Talladega Superspeedway wins accompany his Mid-Ohio win.
When not racing, Kligerman commentates NOAPS Races with Jamie McMurray, who will also appear in this race. McMurray, ironically enough, takes over the No. 25 after Kligerman drove it at Michigan International Speedway. McMurray will make his first NCTS start since 2008, and his first NASCAR start at all since the 2021 Daytona 500. While never winning at a road course in NASCAR, McMurray is the 2015 Rolex 24 overall winner.
A veteran of the Truck Series will also return this weekend, as Brendan Gaughan will make his first NASCAR start since 2020 in the McAnally-Hilgerman Racing No. 20 Chevrolet Silverado. Gaughan is an eight-time NCTS winner, won the 2014 NOAPS race at Road America, and is the 2025 Baja 1000 Class 1 winner.
Small Teams
Freedom Racing Enterprises will bring their road course ringer, Mazda MX-5 driver Nathan Nicholson, back to their No. 76 for this race. Nicholson has driven both road courses, scoring an impressive 20th-place at Watkins Glen.
Team Reaume has a road ringer of their own, as Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America driver Jackson Lee returns to the team in the No.2 Ford F150. Lee has finished top-30 in both road courses so far, and looks to improve from a career best 26th-place at Watkins Glen.
Reaume’s No. 22 will also feature a ringer, as Austin Varco will make his NCTS debut. Varco drove the ARCA Menards Series West race at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway for the team, and has a 13th-place finish in ARCA West competition at Portland in 2025.
Series Regulars
With all the talk of ringers and returning drivers, the series regulars deserve a nod too. The two road course winners this season, Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs, will be in their usual No. 11 and No. 34 rides. Gio Ruggerio and Ty Majeski have been threats to win the road courses this season, Ben Rhodes has a road course win in 2021, and Christian Eckes broke out on road courses in the 2025 NOAPS season for Kaulig Racing.
The third Reaume driver, Frankie Muniz is not technically fulltime in the NCTS but is fulltime in GT4; and Connor Mosack, anchor driver of the Spire No. 7, comes from a Trans Am background and has had several impressive runs in NOAPS and NCTS competition on road courses.
If any of the ringers and returnees want to win, they have to go through this stacked field of regulars. Tune into FS1 on Friday, June 19, at 5 p.m to see who can get it done.
