HONEYCUTT HOLDS POINTS LEAD WITH RUNNER-UP FINISH
TRICON Garage puts all five of their Tundras in the top-10 for the second time in team history
CHARLOTTE, NC (May 24, 2026) – Kaden Honeycutt battled for the lead late before finishing second in a shortened NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon. The race, which was delayed four times from its original starting time of Friday evening, completed 110 of 134 laps before it was called. Honeycutt continues to hold the points lead.
TRICON Garage had a stellar team day as they placed their five Tundras in the top-10 for the second time in team history (COTA 2024). Honeycutt (second) was followed to the line by Gio Ruggiero (fifth), Brandon Jones (seventh), Tanner Gray (eighth) and William Sawalich (10th). For Jones, it is his third top-10 in as many Truck starts this season.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Race 10 of 23 – 201 Miles, 134 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Layne Riggs*
2nd, KADEN HONEYCUTT
3rd, Connor Zilisch*
4th, Ben Rhodes*
5th, GIO RUGGIERO
7th, BRANDON JONES
8th, TANNER GRAY
10th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
18th, TIMMY HILL
23rd, LELAND HONEYMAN JR.
26th, STEWART FRIESEN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
KADEN HONEYCUTT, No. 11 Safelite + Foster Love Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 2nd
What would have one more restart done for you?
“I don’t know. Maybe would have won the race. We will never know. I thought that with Ben (Rhodes) behind me, I would have had a really good pusher to go and mix it up for the win, but unfortunately, we had the time clock. What else could you do. We couldn’t go more than five or six laps green today, really just a bad race for all of us. Really egregious, but thank you to Safelite, Foster Love, the whole 11 team, TRICON Garage, TOYOTA RACING, Mobil 1 – everyone that supports us, it is very much appreciated. Definitely could be worse. I definitely wanted to be the guy that gave Kyle (Busch) the bow there, because he definitely deserved it. If I had won, I was planning on giving Brexton (Busch) the flag, because he probably would have laid another butt whopping on us if he was here. Just a bad week for all of us; a tough weekend for the whole community. Hug your loved ones, appreciate them, tell your mom and dad that you love them even if you don’t have a great relationship with them. Life means more than racing for sure. Second is good, still have a points lead and we will fight in Nashville next week.”
GIO RUGGIERO, No. 17 First Auto Group Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 5th
How do you feel about the run?
“I feel good about the truck. Our Tundra drove really good. Just unfortunate that we ran out of time there at the end of the race, but just looking forward to going to Nashville and continuing to have speed and the handling we have had the last few weeks.”
TANNER GRAY, No. 15 Black’s Tire Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 8th
Solid top-10 and helped TRICON get all of their Tundras in the top-10. Can you tell us about your race?
“Yeah, just not a very clean day for our Black’s Tire Tundra. I feel like this is one of our better race tracks for qualifying, so I was bummed out when it got rained out. Just starting 19th, 20th made it kind of tough on us. We fired off – I was too tight, so we tried to come down and make a small adjustment and just kind of got on the other side of it, and really just hopped around on either side of the balance most of the day. There at the end, we just went back to how we started the race and was able to get back through there with a good call by Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) putting tires on when he did, just a couple of good restarts. Not a super clean day, but hopefully we can build on it as we go into Nashville. We are in a little bit of a points hole, so hopefully this is a start of digging us out of that.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
