San Diego Truck Preview: Riggs Leads a Street-Course Unknown

The Truck Series gets the first look at San Diego, and that matters. A new street course almost always starts as a grip hunt. The braking zones are not rubbered in, the walls are closer than they look on a map, and every driver is trying to learn which corners reward aggression and which ones punish it.

Layne Riggs is the first name on our FantasyJolt board. The No. 34 Front Row truck ranks first in our projections and carries a $14 salary, which is a real commitment in a 35-truck field. The case for Riggs is not complicated. He has enough pace to control clean air if qualifying goes well, and this layout should reward drivers who can keep the truck pointed under heavy braking without sliding the rear tires.

Christian Eckes is the cleanest alternative. He ranks second at a $12 salary, and that two-dollar gap matters. If practice shows the field is bunched up, Eckes gives players a way to stay near the top of the projection board without paying the full premium price. On a street circuit where one restart stack-up can change the entire race, that flexibility has real value.

Parker Kligerman is the profile that fits the track. Our projections slot him third at $11, and a technical street course should play into his experience and race-management style. Kligerman does not need to dominate the race to matter. He needs to avoid the early mistakes, qualify well enough to stay out of traffic, and be close when the final run turns tactical.

The salary value starts with Brenden Queen. He ranks eighth in our projections at only $5, which is the kind of number that changes lineup construction. Queen is not priced like a top-10 projection, so he gives players a path to pair Riggs with another upper-tier option without sacrificing every other roster spot.

Daniel Hemric and Jake Garcia are also useful mid-tier pieces. Hemric ranks sixth at $9, while Garcia sits just outside the top 10 at the same salary. Both make sense if the expensive trucks look vulnerable in practice or if qualifying creates place-differential lanes.

The trap is treating this like a normal road course. Street courses are less forgiving. A driver can be fast for 48 laps and still ruin the day with one missed braking marker. Lineups should lean toward drivers who can survive restarts, keep track position, and stay out of the impatient moves that usually show up when a new course still feels narrow.