Kaden Honeycutt Scores Huge Rain-Delayed Win at Richmond

Kaden Honeycutt won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, leading the vast majority of the race for his second career victory. The Tricon Garage No. 11 team looked as untouchable as they did for much of last season when it was Corey Heim behind the wheel for a series-record 12 wins.

“We’ve had a rough couple weeks,” Honeycutt said. “What a dominating day. I’ve never been able to do something like that before.”

The first two stages of the race were dominated by Honeycutt. He led all but two laps in Stage 1 and maintained his grip throughout Stage 2 for a race sweep. Honeycutt came to Richmond with 150 career laps led and more than doubled that total Saturday with 225.

Saturday’s race was initially supposed to start Friday evening. Despite the best efforts of track crews, rain and lightning forced organizers to postpone the event one day, creating a doubleheader with the evening’s Cup Series race.

Time Well-Bided

In the race’s final stage, two very different strategies emerged. Kaden Honeycutt pitted under the normal cycle, as did the majority of the race’s front-runners. Grant Enfinger stayed out, attempting to make it to the end of the race on fuel before being caught by Honeycutt and his fresher tires.

As fate would have it, all that planning was thrown into disarray by a caution on Lap 216. Stewart Friesen, who entered Richmond just eight points above the Chase cutoff line, slammed the wall after losing a tire. The field hit pit road again, with Enfinger maintaining his lead over Honeycutt. They were followed off by Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, and Shane van Gisbergen.

Final Restart

Honeycutt reclaimed the lead on the restart with Heim advancing to second. Grant Enfinger initially slotted into third place with van Gisbergen and Eckes commencing a battle for fourth. Eckes arrived at Richmond just five points ahead of Ruggiero for fourth in the Truck Series standings.

Despite logging some of the fastest times on-track in the final 20 laps, Corey Heim was far from being able to run down Honeycutt. Tricon Garage swept the top-two finishers, follwed by Eckes, van Gisbergen, and Enfinger.

16-year-old Tristan McKee made his NASCAR debut in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. The ARCA and late model phenom looked comfortable in the Craftsmant Truck Series, battling Ruggiero in the race’s final laps for the eighth position. He won that duel, earning a top-10 in his first ever truck race.

Points Outlook

One race separates the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field from their first ever Chase. Six drivers have clinched their place: Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Gio Ruggiero, and Ty Majeski.

11th-place finisher Tyler Ankrum vaulted ahead of Stewart Friesen to claim the tenth and final Chase slot. Coming into the day eight points back, Ankrum now has a 20-point cushion.

When the field takes to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next week, a few drivers will set their sights on Ankrum. Jake Garcia is 21 points outside of the Chase, followed by Brenden Queen at 48 points out. He would almost certainly need a win to give Kaulig Racing a Chase entry in their first year racing Ram trucks.

Race Results