Kaden Honeycutt grabs his first NASCAR Truck Sequence victory at Watkins Glen Worldwide on Friday night time within the Bully Hills Vineyards 176.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—Every week after chastising himself at Texas for repeated failure to win NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Sequence races, Kaden Honeycutt pulled off his first profession victory over the 2 drivers who’ve dominated NASCAR street programs over the previous two years.
Kaden Honeycutt: First Victory within the NASCAR Truck Sequence
Honeycutt grabbed the lead from Connor Zilisch by means of a decent first activate the primary lap of additional time and pulled away for his first victory within the sequence in Friday’s Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen.
Just a few hours earlier, Honeycutt had gained the ARCA Menards Sequence race on the two.45-mile Watkins Glen Worldwide circuit. With the Truck Sequence win, he grew to become the second driver to win each an ARCA race and Truck Sequence occasion on the identical day, becoming a member of Sam Mayer (2020 at Bristol) in that distinction.
“It’s simply superb,” stated Honeycutt, who bought to the end line 0.902 seconds forward of Zilisch. “I can’t imagine I simply gained on a street course. It’s simply unbelievable.”
Honeycutt proceeded to shotgun a beer beneath the flag stand, reveling within the liquid pouring throughout his face.
The victory was no straightforward accomplishment for the driving force of the No. 11 TRICON Storage Toyota, which went to Victory Lane final yr at The Glen with Corey Heim behind the wheel.
Honeycutt drew a penalty close to the tip of the second stage for pitting when pit street was closed and was compelled to restart the ultimate 32-lap stage from the rear of the sphere. A sequence of cautions and restart violations by each Ross Chastain and Gio Ruggiero, nonetheless, helped Honeycutt on his march again to the entrance.
Ruggiero’s infraction whereas main on lap 69 put Honeycutt on the entrance row subsequent to then-leader Zilisch for the additional time restart. Zilisch selected the surface lane for the two-lap shootout however misplaced the highest spot to Honeycutt as they navigated the right-hand first flip.
After the race, Zilisch rued his lane selection for the additional time.
“It was simply an unlucky option to finish that race,” stated Zilisch, who was denied his first Truck Sequence victory in his ninth begin. “I selected the highest, hoping we might get by means of there with out making contact. I knew that the underside can be higher if that occurred, however I didn’t wish to be that man.
“Yeah, I simply want I might return and redo it and choose the within, however we’ve bought two extra races this weekend (O’Reilly Auto Components Sequence and NASCAR Cup Sequence). I respect Spire Motorsports for giving me a extremely quick truck.”
5-time 2025 NASCAR Cup Sequence street course winner Shane van Gisbergen completed third, due to the New Zealander’s capability to choose off vehicles in the course of the sequence of late restarts.
Daniel Hemric was fourth and Chandler Smith fifth, adopted by Ram Free Agent driver AJ Allmendinger, pole winner Brent Crews, Mini Tyrrell, Brenden Queen, and Connor Mosack. The race marked the primary time a number of Ram drivers (Allmendinger, Tyrrell, and Queen) completed within the prime ten within the model’s return to NASCAR racing this yr.
Honeycutt led solely the 2 additional time laps. Zilisch led a race-high 28 laps and gained the second stage. Crews led 17 laps from the beginning (19 total) earlier than pitting and handing the stage win to Daniel Hemric.
Honeycutt leaves The Glen with the sequence lead by 29 factors over Chandler Smith. Layne Riggs holds the third-place spot whereas Gio Ruggiero and Christian Eckes spherical out the highest 5.
Misfortune for Chastain and Hocevar
Chastain held the lead over Zilisch for a restart with eight laps left in regulation, however powered his Niece Motorsports Chevrolet earlier than he reached the restart zone.
“What?!” exclaimed Chastain over his radio. “You possibly can’t get a penalty whenever you’re the management automotive.”
Video, nonetheless, confirmed the automotive launching early. Despatched to the again, Chastain fell sufferer to a wreck within the fifth activate lap 70 and completed twenty eighth. That incident compelled additional time.
Connor Hocevar, final week’s Truck Sequence race winner at Texas, ran within the prime ten for many of the afternoon earlier than checking up on a lap 62 restart and nosing into the within frontstretch wall off Allmendinger’s bumper.
“I’m positive AJ didn’t plan on me lifting,” stated Hocevar, who will race within the NASCAR Cup Sequence’ Go Bowing on the Glen on Sunday. “I simply loved getting my butt kicked by the youngsters.”
Hocevar is 23 years outdated.
Subsequent Up
The NASCAR Truck Sequence will transfer to subsequent week’s race at Dover Worldwide Speedway on Friday, Could fifteenth. The Ecosave 200 begins at 5 pm ET on FS1, NASCAR Radio Community, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
