Kaden Honeycutt capped off a dominant run from the drop of the green flag with a rain-postponed victory in the Black’s Tire 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, August 15.
The 2024 CARS Pro Late Model champion from Willow Park, Texas, led three times for a race-high 225 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he quickly assumed the lead from pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen on the third lap and proceeded to sweep the event’s first two stage periods.
Amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops, Honeycutt utilized a late caution that flew with 35 laps remaining to pit and line up next to Grant Enfinger for an upcoming restart with 28 laps remaining. During the restart, Honeycutt reassumed the lead and used the event’s duration to fend off teammate Corey Heim before he captured his second career Truck Series victory and his first series win in three months.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 14, Shane van Gisbergen secured his first career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 116.540 mph in 23.168 seconds. Kaden Honeycutt qualified in second place and shared the front row with van Gisbergen with a lap at 116.470 mph in 23.182 seconds.
Prior to the event, Leland Honeyman Jr. dropped to the rear of the field due to replacing Christopher Bell in the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota entry. Bell, who was initially scheduled to compete on Friday, was unable to do so on Saturday due to a conflict.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the field quickly fanned out through the frontstretch as pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen dueled with Kaden Honeycutt from the outside lane entering the first two turns. Amid his continuous side-by-side duel with Honeycutt, van Gisbergen managed to lead the first lap. Both van Gisbergen and Honeycutt continued to duel against one another for the second lap, which was led by the former before the latter used the inside lane from the backstretch to motor ahead and clear van Gisbergen entering Turns 3 and 4. With the lead in his possession, Honeycutt led by three-tenths of a second by the fifth lap mark.
Through the Lap 10 mark, Honeycutt was leading by half a second over van Gisbergen while Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Nick Leitz, Layne Riggs, Parker Eatmon, Tyler Ankrum and Andres Perez De Lara were racing in the top-10, respectively. By then, Christian Eckes was mired in 11th place ahead of Stewart Friesen, newcomer Tristan McKee, Justin Haley and Corey Heim while Jake Garcia, Ben Rhodes, Giovanni Ruggiero, Tanner Gray and Daniel Hemric occupied the top-20 spots, respectively, as Elliott Sadler was mired in 35th place of the 36-truck field.
At the Lap 20 mark, Honeycutt slightly stretched his early advantage to eight-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen while Chandler Smith, Majeski and Enfinger trailed by as far back as two seconds in the top-five mark. Honeycutt’s advantage grew to more than a second by Lap 30 mark, and it stabilized to the exact mark by the Laps 40 and 50 marks before it slightly shrunk to eight-tenths of a second on Lap 60, in which van Gisbergen retained the runner-up spot over Enfinger, Majeski, Riggs, Chandler Smith, Eckes, Nick Leitz, Ankrum and McKee, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Honeycutt cruised to his third Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Van Gisbergen trailed in the runner-up spot by seven-tenths of a second while Enfinger, Majeski, Riggs, Chandler Smith, Eckes, Ankrum, McKee and Leitz were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 18 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Honeycutt pitted for the first time. Following the pit stops, Honeycutt retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of van Gisbergen while Riggs jumped to third place in front of Enfinger and Chandler Smith. During the pit stops, Ankrum and Mason Massey were penalized after their crew members jumped over the pit wall too early.
The second stage period started on Lap 80 as Honeycutt and van Gisbergen occupied the front row. At the start, Honeycutt used the inside lane to fend off van Gisbergen through the first two turns before the former used his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry to clear the field through the backstretch. As the field cycled back to the frontstretch while jostling for spots, Honeycutt led the next lap over van Gisbergen while Riggs, Enfinger and Chandler Smith were scored in the top five ahead of Eckes, Majeski, Heim, Hemric and McKee. While Honeycutt proceeded to lead to the Lap 85 mark, Majeski and Heim made contact through the frontstretch on Lap 83 while both battled fiercely for seventh place.
On Lap 87, Majeski pitted his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entry with a flat left-front tire after contact from Heim, as the two made contact for a second time on Lap 85. With Majeski dropping out of the lead lap category in the process, Honeycutt continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over van Gisbergen just past the Lap 90 mark. Honeycutt grew his lead back up to a second over van Gisbergen when the 100th lap occurred as Riggs, Enfinger, Eckes, Chandler Smith, Heim, Leitz, Hemric and Garcia pursued in the top-10 mark.
At the Lap 110 mark, half of the 36 competitors racing in the field were scored on the lead lap as Honeycutt extended his advantage to two seconds over van Gisbergen. As Honeycutt stabilized his lead to more than two seconds over van Gisbergen by the event’s halfway mark on Lap 125, Majeski was the fourth competitor a lap down in 22nd place while Riggs, Enfinger, Eckes, Chandler Smith, Heim, Leitz, Hemric and Jake Garcia trailed in the top 10.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 140, Honeycutt cruised to his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the event and his fourth of the 2026 season. Riggs carved his way into the runner-up spot ahead of Enfinger, Eckes and van Gisbergen while Chandler Smith, Leitz, Hemric, Heim and Garcia were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, Leland Honeyman Jr. was ahead of Majeski as the first competitor to score a lap down while racing in 19th place and earning the free pass spot.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Honeycutt returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Honeycutt retained the lead by exiting pit road first ahead of Enfinger, van Gisbergen, Eckes and Smith while Riggs, who had a slow pit service, dropped to sixth place. Amid the pit stops, van Gisbergen was sent to the tail end of the field after being penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.
With 100 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Honeycutt and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out as Honeycutt used the first two turns to fend off Enfinger prior to entering the backstretch. As Honeycutt led the next lap, he then proceeded to lead by seven-tenths of a second with 90 laps remaining while Enfinger, Eckes, Chandler Smith and Riggs pursued in the top-five mark.
Down to the final 75 laps, Honeycutt continued to lead by more than a second over Enfinger while Eckes, Riggs and Chandler Smith raced in the top five ahead of Heim, Hemric, Ankrum, Garcia and Leitz. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was mired in 17th place behind Landen Lewis while Friesen occupied 11th place in front of McKee, Ruggiero, Ben Rhodes and Tanner Gray. With fuel strategy arising as a topic while the laps dwindled, Honeycutt stretched his lead to two seconds over Enfinger with 60 laps remaining.
Then with 58 laps remaining, pit strategies started to occur as Chandler Smith pitted from ninth place. More names, including Leland Honeyman Jr., Landen Lewis, Ruggiero, McKee, Riggs, Andres Perez De Lara, Kris Wright, Eckes and Heim, pitted over the next five laps before the leader Honeycutt pitted with 53 laps remaining. By then, Enfinger, who had decided to stretch his fuel tank to the event’s scheduled distance, cycled to the lead. Amid the pit stops, Riggs made another pit stop to have a left-front wheel tightened.
With 45 laps remaining and with most of the field pitting under green, the top-seven competitors were scored on the lead lap as Enfinger continued to lead by a second over Hemric. Behind, Ankrum, Friesen and van Gisbergen were in the top five while Honeycutt was mired in sixth place. Enfinger retained the lead by a healthy margin over the next 10 laps before the caution flew due to Friesen wrecking in the first turn. During this latest caution, Enfinger, along with van Gisbergen and Honeycutt, pitted, with Enfinger retaining the lead ahead of Honeycutt, Heim, Eckes, van Gisbergen, and Chandler Smith.
The next restart with 28 laps remaining featured Honeycutt dueling with Enfinger for half a lap before the former, who restarted on the outside lane, motored ahead and returned atop the leaderboard through Turns 3 and 4. As Honeycutt led the next lap, teammate Heim used the outside lane to duel and overtake Enfinger through the frontstretch for the runner-up spot while van Gisbergen trailed in fourth place. Amid Heim’s late charge, Honeycutt led by a second with 25 laps remaining. Honeycutt stabilized his lead to a second with 20 laps remaining before he added another second to it over the following five laps over Heim.
Down to the final 10 laps, Honeycutt had his lead shrink back down to a second over teammate Heim, but the former maintained the top spot as Eckes, van Gisbergen and Enfinger pursued in the top five ahead of Garcia, Chandler Smith, McKee, Ruggiero and Hemric. Honeycutt continued to lead by a second over Heim with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Honeycutt remained in the lead by a second over Heim. Amid lapped traffic, Honeycutt smoothly cycled his way around Richmond for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch victorious for his second career checkered flag in the series and of the 2026 season.
With the victory, Honeycutt became the 86th competitor overall to achieve multiple wins in the Truck Series division, and he became the fifth competitor to record multiple victories in 2026. Honeycutt also became the 15th competitor to win a Truck event at Richmond, though the series will not return to the venue in 2027.
Honeycutt’s Richmond victory was also the fifth of this season for TRICON Garage, the sixth for Toyota and the second consecutive year where TRICON’s No. 11 Toyota team won at Richmond.
“We never give up,” Honeycutt said on the frontstretch on FS2. “We’ve had a rough last couple of weeks. We just wondered what the heck was going on. We’re not a seventh-place, 10th-place team. It’s all thanks to [crew chief] Scott Zipadelli, everyone on this Safelite 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.”
Heim, who outdueled Honeycutt at Rockingham Speedway and Michigan International Speedway for race victories in April and June, respectively, settled in second place for his fifth top-five result in his seventh Truck start of the 2026 season. Christian Eckes, Shane van Gisbergen and Grant Enfinger finished in the top five.
Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Tristan McKee, Giovanni Ruggiero and Daniel Hemric completed the top 10 in the final running order.
This event featured six lead changes for four different leaders, and three cautions for 24 laps. In addition, 16 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 17th event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Layne Riggs continues to lead the regular-season standings by 61 points over Kaden Honeycutt.
Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Giovanni Ruggiero and Ty Majeski have clinched berths to this year’s Chase. Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Daniel Hemric and Tyler Ankrum retain the final four vacant spots to the Chase, with Ankrum being 20 points ahead of Stewart Friesen, 21 over Jake Garcia, 47 over Brenden Queen, 49 over Andres Perez De Lara and 59 over Tanner Gray entering next Saturday’s regular-season finale event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Results:
- Kaden Honeycutt, 225 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Corey Heim
- Christian Eckes
- Shane van Gisbergen, two laps led
- Grant Enfinger, 22 laps led
- Jake Garcia
- Chandler Smith
- Tristan McKee
- Giovanni Ruggiero, one lap led
- Daniel Hemric
- Tyler Ankrum
- Nick Leitz
- Tanner Gray
- Landen Lewis
- Layne Riggs
- Parker Eatmon
- Leland Honeyman Jr., one lap down
- Ben Rhodes, one lap down
- Ty Majeski, one lap down
- Brenden Queen, two laps down
- Corey LaJoie, two laps down
- Cole Butcher, three laps down
- Andres Perez De Lara, three laps down
- Derek Lemke, three laps down
- Mason Massey, three laps down
- Dawson Sutton, three laps down
- Justin Haley, three laps down
- Connor Hall, three laps down
- Mini Tyrrell, three laps down
- Frankie Muniz, four laps down
- Kris Wright, four laps down
- Elliott Sadler, four laps down
- Timmy Hill, four laps down
- Spencer Boyd, six laps down
- Dystany Spurlock, 11 laps down
- Stewart Friesen – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, which is this year’s regular-season finale event and will officially determine this year’s Chase field. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 22, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM.
