Kaden Honeycutt outdueled Connor Zilisch in overtime and stormed to his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career victory in the Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen on Friday, May 8.
The 22-year-old Honeycutt from Willow Park, Texas, led the final two of 74 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in seventh place and spent the first half of the event racing within the top-10 mark despite sacrificing stage points to pit before each of the first two stages’ conclusion for track position for the ensuing restarts and start of new stage periods. Before the second stage’s conclusion, he received a penalty for pitting and crossing the commitment line just as pit road became inaccessible to the field to mark the conclusion of the stage period.
Despite the late penalty, Honeycutt methodically navigated his way back up the leaderboard. He was in 10th place when a late caution flew with 14 laps remaining. Through four additional restarts that followed suit amid a series of late-race incidents and carnages, Honeycutt navigated his way through all the carnages intact and restarted alongside Connor Zilisch on the front row during an overtime shootout. In overtime, he bumped and overtook Zilisch through the first turn to storm to the lead. Despite having Zilisch reeling in and pressuring for two laps, Honeycutt was not to be denied as he remained out in front and cycled through to notch his first victory in his 67th series start.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Brent Crews captured his first career pole position after he posted a pole-winning lap at 125.602 mph in 70.222 seconds. Ty Majeski started alongside Crews on the front row after the former posted the second-fastest lap at 125.043 mph in 70.536 seconds.
Prior to the event, Kris Wright and Dawson Sutton were sent to the rear of the field due to respective changes of a tire and transmission. Tyler Reif also dropped to the rear of the field after his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry underwent changes to brake rotors and pads.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Brent Crews jumped his No. 1 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry ahead through the frontstretch as he led the field through the first turn and past a set of barriers that marked the course’s newly installed track limits. He then navigated his way through the Esses, the Back Straight, the Inner Loop “Bus Stop” chicane and the Outer Loop. With the field scrambling and jostling for early spots, Crews proceeded to lead through the final set of turns before he navigated back to the frontstretch and led the first lap over Ty Majeski, Connor Mosack, Daniel Hemric, Giovanni Ruggiero and Connor Zilisch, respectively.
Over the next four laps, Crews stretched his early advantage to more than two seconds over Majeski while Zilisch navigated his way up to third place in front of Hemric and Kaden Honeycutt. Behind, Carson Hocevar, Connor Mosack, Giovanni Ruggiero, Shane van Gisbergen and Ben Rhodes were racing in the top 10 ahead of Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger, Layne Riggs, Christian Eckes and AJ Allmendinger while Tanner Gray, Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, Andres Perez De Lara and Adam Andretti trailed in the top 20, respectively.
Just past the Lap 10 mark, Crews continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over Majeski while Zilisch, Honeycutt and Hemric trailed in the top five ahead of Hocevar, van Gisbergen, Ruggiero, Chandler Smith and Grant Enfinger, respectively. With 34 of 36 starters scored on the lead lap, Crews proceeded to lead by six seconds over Majeski at the Lap 15 mark. Meanwhile, Ben Rhodes dropped out of contention due to a transmission issue.
During the Lap 15 mark, Enfinger strategically pitted his No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado RST entry under green flag conditions. Runner-up Majeski and third-place Zilisch pitted their entries two laps later along with Honeycutt, Hocevar, Chandler Smith, van Gisbergen and Adam Andretti before the leader Brent Crews pitted prior to the Lap 18 mark. By then, pit road became inaccessible to the field as the first stage period was nearing its conclusion. Amid the pit stops, Hemric cycled to the lead over Giovanni Ruggiero, Layne Riggs, AJ Allmendinger and Tyler Ankrum, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Hemric captured his first Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Ruggiero and Riggs trailed in second and third by more than six and nine seconds, respectively, while Allmendinger, Ankrum, Ross Chastain, Andres Perez De Lara, Tanner Gray, Corey LaJoie and Crews were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 32 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Christian Eckes, who spun in the first turn a few laps earlier and managed to continue without drawing a caution, was mired in 17th place.
Under the event’s first stage break period, a majority of the field led by the leader Hemric pitted while the rest, which included Crews, Zilisch, Cole Butcher, Honeycutt, Hocevar, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Enfinger and Adam Andretti, remained on the track. Not long after the pit stops, Majeski spent extra time in his pit stall due to a potential mechanical issue. Amid the issues, Majeski lost a lap to the leaders.
During the pit stops, a host of competitors were penalized for various reasons. Ruggiero was penalized for an uncontrolled tire and Timmy Hill was penalized for a safety violation. In addition, Dawson Sutton was penalized for having too many crew members over the pit wall while Corey LaJoie was penalized for a crew member jumping over the pit wall too soon.
The second stage period started on Lap 23 as Crews and Zilisch occupied the front row. At the start, the field scattered and fanned out through the frontstretch as Crews fended off Zilisch to lead through the first turn. Zilisch then made contact with Crews through the Esses as he stormed to the lead. Honeycutt and Hocevar both took advantage of the contact between Zilisch and Crews to move up to second and third while Crews dropped to fourth place in front of Chandler Smith.
Meanwhile, Cole Butcher was limping around the course with a damaged truck after Enfinger veered to the right, hit Butcher and sent the latter against the wall on the right side just as they were cycling through the frontstretch to restart with the field. Amid the on-track chaos from the restart, Zilisch led the next lap and he proceeded to lead the Lap 25 mark by eight-tenths of a second over Honeycutt while Hocevar, Crews and Chandler Smith pursued in the top five, respectively.
Through the Lap 30 mark, Zilisch extended his lead to nearly two seconds over Honeycutt while Crews trailed in third place by four seconds. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Chandler Smith occupied the remaining top-five spots over Chastain, van Gisbergen, Perez De Lara, Riggs and Hemric while Allmendinger, Andretti, Enfinger, Ankrum, Friesen, Tyler Reif, Tanner Gray, Ruggiero, Jake Garcia and Kris Wright were mired in the top 20 ahead of Connor Mosack, Mini Tyrrell, Corey LaJoie, Justin Haley and Nathan Nicholson, respectively.
Five laps later, Zilisch added another two seconds to his advantage as he led by more than three seconds over runner-up Honeycutt while third-place Crews trailed by more than five seconds. Meanwhile, Chastain carved his way up to fourth place ahead of Hocevar and Chandler Smith as van Gisbergen, Riggs, Perez De Lara and Hemric occupied the remaining top-10 spots, respectively.
Another lap later, which marked the event’s halfway mark, Ruggiero pitted under green. Crews and Chastain then both pitted from the top-five mark during the next lap along with Hemric, Allmendinger, Andretti and Stewart Friesen before Honeycutt pitted from the runner-up spot on Lap 38. With pit road becoming inaccessible to the field at the Lap 38 mark, Zilisch, who was among many competitor who elected not to pit under green and prior to the second stage’s conclusion, retained the lead.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 40, Zilisch, driving the No. 71 Trackhouse Labs Chevrolet Silverado RST entry, cruised to the stage victory over Hocevar. Chandler Smith, Riggs, Perez De Lara, Gisbergen, Enfinger, Ankrum, Tyler Reif and Mosack were scored in the top 10, respectively, while 26 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, nearly the entire field led by Zilisch pitted while the rest led by Ross Chastain and including Hemric, Stephen Mallozzi, Friesen, Andretti and Mini Tyrrell remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Honeycutt was sent to the rear of the field due to entering pit road while it was closed as the event struck Lap 38 to mark the near-conclusion of the second stage period.
With 28 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Chastain and Hemric occupied the front row. At the start, both briefly dueled until Chastain motored the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead of Hemric’s No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST entry through the first turn. As the field behind fanned out and jostled for spots, Chastain fended off Hemric for a full circuit around the Glen’s course before he led the next lap.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by half a second. Hemric, Crews, Zilisch and Ruggiero followed in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Hocevar, Perez De Lara, Layne Riggs and van Gisbergen. Meanwhile, Tyler Reif, Connor Mosack, Ankrum, Chandler Smith and Justin Haley were racing in the top 15. Honeycutt was mired in 17th place behind LaJoie and ahead of Enfinger, Garcia and Dawson Sutton.
Then, with 15 laps remaining, the caution flew when Enfinger came to a stop just past the first turn. By then, Chastain was leading ahead of a hard-charging Zilisch, Crews, Ruggiero and Hocevar. During the next restart with 12 laps remaining, Hocevar, who restarted in fifth place, had his event conclude entering the frontstretch. He got sideways, made contact with the front of Allmendinger’s car and wrecked against the inside wall. Chastain was sent to the tail end of the field after receiving a restart violation for jumping the initial restart.
With the event restarting with eight laps remaining, the field fanned out as Zilisch, who inherited the lead, maintained the lead over Crews, Ruggiero and Honeycutt entering the first turn. Then, as Ruggiero drew himself alongside Zilisch’s right side when Zilisch slid off the first turn, chaos ignited as Riggs spun while Kris Wright plowed into the tire barriers that marked the course’s off-zone mark. This ignited a stack-up with the midfield section as the caution flew. At the moment of caution, Ruggiero was leading over Zilisch.
The next restart came with four laps remaining and featured Ruggiero and Zilisch dueling for the lead entering the first turn. As Ruggiero nearly slid into Zilisch and forced the latter partially off the first turn, the duo continued to drag-race up until the Esses when they made side-by-side contact. This allowed Zilisch to motor ahead with the lead. Meanwhile, Ruggiero was being attacked by Crews, Honeycutt and Allmendinger for the runner-up spot. As the field behind jostled for late spots, Ruggiero maintained the runner-up spot over teammates Honeycutt and Crews while Zilisch led the next lap.
During the next lap, the caution returned when Chastain, who was trying to get beneath Nathan Nicholson’s right side entering Turn 5, came down and made contact with Majeski. As Chastain started to get loose amid a three-wide battle, Majeski made contact again with Chastain and sent the latter spinning and wrecking against the guardrails in Turn 5, which ended Chastain’s event amid his late restart violation that cost him a shot to win, while Hill plowed through the grass and sustained heavy front nose damage while trying to dodge Chastain’s incident. This latest incident sent the event into overtime. Meanwhile, Ruggiero’s hopes of contending for the victory evaporated as he pitted just before the event’s restart.
At the start of overtime, the field fanned out as Zilisch tried to motor away from Honeycutt entering the first turn. Then in Turn 1, Honeycutt gave Zilisch a slight bump on the right-rear side and got the latter briefly going off the course. This allowed Honeycutt to overtake Zilisch through the first turn and retain the lead through the Esses. As Zilisch tried to reel in Honeycutt through the Bus Stop chicane, Honeycutt maintained a steady advantage for a full circuit.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Honeycutt remained in the lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over Zilisch. From the first turn, the Esses, the backstretch and the Bus Stop chicane, Honeycutt retained the lead by a steady margin over a hard-charging Zilisch. With Zilisch unable to mount a final-lap charge to reel in Honeycutt’s rear bumper, Honeycutt cycled the No. 11 Safelite Foster Love Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry back to the frontstretch and claimed his first ever checkered flag by nine-tenths of a second over Zilisch.
With the victory, Honeycutt, who shotgunned a beer in front of the fans on the frontstretch, became the 128th competitor overall to win in the Truck Series division. In addition to becoming the first first-time winner of this year’s Truck season, he joins Ron Fellows as the only competitors to record a first Truck career victory at The Glen as he also recorded the third victory of this season for TRICON Garage and the fourth for Toyota.
“It’s amazing,” Honeycutt, who inherited the No. 11 TRICON Toyota entry from the reigning champion Corey Heim at the start of this season, said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Thank you, Toyota, this whole No. 11 crew…everyone that believed me to take this truck over after Corey [Heim] last year. That’s just amazing. I can’t believe I just won on a road course. That’s just unbelievable. That [last] restart, I think Zilisch missed the shift a little bit coming off of [Turn] 7 and I was just tight to him. The only option I had, we were three wide going into [Turn] 1 and I barely got to his right rear and touched him a little bit. It was just enough to scoot on by. As soon as I got the lead, I pulled my visor up and I was full-blown focused after that. ”
Zilisch led a race-high 28 laps, won the first stage period, and was in a position to win his first Truck career event in his ninth start. But he was left disappointed on pit road after a dominant performance was spoiled by Honeycutt’s late contact and charge in overtime. The runner-up result also spoiled Zilisch’s hopes of achieving a trifecta at The Glen, with the North Carolina native also competing in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event and Sunday’s Cup Series event at The Glen with JR Motorsports and Trackhouse Racing, respectively.
“In hindsight, [I needed] less cautions,” Zilisch said. “Just an unfortunate way to end that race. I chose the top [lane], hoping we could get through there without making contact. He continued, saying, “I knew that the bottom would be better if [Honeycutt’s contact] happened, but I didn’t want to be that guy. I wish I could go back and redo it and just pick the inside [lane] and do that. It is what it is. We got two more races this weekend. It was a lot of fun, but that’s sometimes how the cookie crumbles.”
Shane van Gisbergen, who was also attempting a trifecta sweep of the weekend but led zero laps, settled in third place in his second Truck career start. Daniel Hemric, who led five laps and won the first stage period, notched his first top-five result of the 2026 season in fourth place while Chandler Smith racked up his fourth top-five result in fifth place.
AJ Allmendinger, pole-sitter Brent Crews, Mini Tyrrell, Brenden Queen and Connor Mosack completed the top 10 in the final running order. Notably, Giovanni Ruggiero settled in 15th place following his late pit stop before overtime. Christian Eckes, Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, Layne Riggs, Justin Haley and Ty Majeski finished 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 23rd and 24th, respectively.
There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured six cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 24 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the eighth event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Kaden Honeycutt continues to lead the standings by 29 points over Chandler Smith, 43 over Layne Riggs, 55 over Giovanni Ruggiero and 71 over Christian Eckes.
Craftsman Truck Series Results at Watkins Glen:
- Kaden Honeycutt led two laps
- Connor Zilisch, 28 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Daniel Hemric, five laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Chandler Smith
- AJ Allmendinger
- Brent Crews led 19 laps
- Mini Tyrrell
- Brenden Queen
- Connor Mosack
- Jake Garcia
- Corey LaJoie
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Tyler Reif
- Giovanni Ruggiero led three laps
- Christian Eckes
- Tyler Ankrum
- Dawson Sutton
- Nathan Nicholson
- Layne Riggs
- Stephen Mallozzi
- Justin Haley
- Ty Majeski
- Adam Andretti – OUT, ACCIDENT
- Jackson Lee, four laps down
- Timmy Hill – OUT, Accident
- Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident, 17 laps led
- Kris Wright – OUT, Accident
- Tanner Gray, 10 laps down
- Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident
- Ben Rhodes, 14 laps down
- Grant Enfinger – OUT, Transmission
- Wesley Slimp – OUT, Accident
- Cole Butcher – OUT, DVP
- Natalie Decker – OUT, Too Slow
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware, for the ECOSAVE 200. The event is scheduled for next Friday, May 15. It will air at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
