There was no stopping Kaden Honeycutt and the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota at Richmond Raceway. After starting on the front row with pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen, Honeycutt went on to lead 225 of 250 laps in a truly sensational showing for the championship conteder.
This is Honeycutt’s second career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, with his first coming at Watkins Glen earlier in the year.
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“We never give up,” said Honeycutt after giving the checkered flag to a young fan. “We’ve had a rough last couple of weeks, and we just wondered what the heck was going on. We’re not a seventh to tenth place team, and it’s all thanks to Scott Zipadelli (crew chief) and everyone on this No. 11 team. We just stay on it, we just don’t give up, and I just can’t thank them enough. What a dominant day. I’ve never been able to do something like that before. Really good confidence for me, and hopefully we go out to Loudon and do the same thing next week. Thanks to all my friends and family back home – I love you guys, I love you Mom and Dad. Just really cool. Hopefully we can go into this Chase and win this championship.”
Corey Heim finished second in a 1-2 finish for TRICON, with Christian Eckes third, Van Gisbergen fourth, and Grand Enfinger fifth.
Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Tristan McKee (making his debut at 16 years old), Gio Ruggiero, and Daniel Hemric filled out the remainder of the top ten.
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Stages 1 and 2
Kaden Honeycutt, No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota
Kaden Honeycutt, No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota
Van Gisbergen led the first lap from pole, which was the first time he had ever led any laps in the Truck Series. However, Honeycutt remained alongside, and worked his way into the lead soon after.
Near the end of the stage, Van Gisbergen kept pace with Honeycutt as they lapped up to 19th place, but he couldn’t quite get back to him.
Honeycutt won Stage 1 ahead of Van Gisbergen, Enfinger, Majeski, Riggs, Smith, Eckes, Ankrum, McKee, and Leitz.
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At the stage break, Ankrum got sent to the rear of the field after his crew went over the wall too soon during his pit stop.
On the restart, Majeski tried to aggressively block Heim to the bottom of the track and the two trucks made contact. Heim continued to use Majeski up, frustrated with the block. Not longer after, Majeski slowed with a flat tire and lost two laps under green.
Majeski did get back to one lap down as the run went on, and nearly reached Honeyman for the free pass before time ran out.
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Honeycutt won Stage 2 as well, with Riggs moving up to second. They were followed by Enfinger, Eckes, Van Gisbergen, Smith, Leitz, Hemric, Heim, and Garcia.
Stage 3
During the stage break, Riggs lose three spots on pit road due to a slow stop. Van Gisbergen had an even bigger problem, as an uncontrolled tire resulted in a penalty that put him to the rear of the field.
Honeycutt continued to dominate the race, with Enfinger now running as the driver in second.
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Smith was one of the first drivers to kick off green-flag pit stops with 57 laps to go in the race. Riggs had yet another slow stop as the crew struggled with the right-front and he actually had to pit a second time under green.
Honeycutt pitted from the lead with 52 laps to go. In an interesting wrinkle, Enfinger’s team informed him that he is going to try and run the distance.
A caution flew with around 35 laps to go after Friesen slammed the wall, upending his Chase hopes. Honeycutt had unlapped himself at that point while Enfinger and Van Gisbergen (who were both going long) led the way.
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Enfinger held the lead off pit road while Honeycutt jumped up to second. Honeycutt quickly took the lead back on the restart and never looked back. Not even Heim could catch him as Honeycutt navigated heavy lapped traffic.
At the checkered flag, Honeycutt was 1.3 seconds ahead of Heim as he secured the victory.
Richmond NASCAR Truck results
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