Kaden Honeycutt took a critical step towards his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship quest by winning the 2026 Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, on Friday, October 16.
The 23-year-old Honeycutt from Willow Park, Texas, led a race-high 53 of 150-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified on the front row and raced upfront from the drop of the green flag to the drop of the checkered flag. Despite not having the early pace to contend for the lead throughout the first two stage periods, he notched respective finishes of fourth and second to remain in contention.
Then at the start of the event’s third and final stage period, Honeycutt, who restarted on the front row, used four fresh tires to storm to the lead over the field. Despite navigating his way through lapped traffic as the event progressed and the laps dwindled under the lights, Honeycutt, whose handling improved, had enough power and tires to fend off Christian Eckes and title rival Layne Riggs to win in the desert state for a fourth time this season and extend his points lead with a first championship within sight.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Layne Riggs won the pole position with a lap of 133.141 mph in 27.039 seconds. Kaden Honeycutt qualified in second place with a lap of 132.382 mph in 27.194 seconds.
Prior to the event, Frankie Muniz and Ben Maier dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg and the first two turns as pole-sitter Layne Riggs muscled his No. 34 Love’s Ford F-150 entry ahead with an early lead. As the field cycled through the backstretch, the final two sets of turns (Turns 3 and 4) and back to the frontstretch, Riggs led the first lap while Landen Lewis motored his way into the runner-up spot. Seconds later, Dawson Sutton was penalized for a restart violation.
Over the next four laps, Riggs stretched his early advantage up as high as more than a second over Lewis while the latter fended off Kaden Honeycutt to retain the runner-up spot. By then, Ty Majeski started to challenge Honeycutt for third place while Chandler Smith trailed by more than three seconds in fifth place. Behind, Tanner Gray, Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes, Tristan McKee and William Sawalich occupied the remaining top-10 spots, respectively, as Riggs led by more than two seconds at the Lap 10 mark.
Just past the Lap 15 mark, Riggs added another second to his advantage as he led by three seconds over Majeski while Lewis, Honeycutt and Chandler Smith occupied the top-five spots. Behind, Eckes, Tanner Gray, Rhodes, Giovanni Ruggiero and Sawalich were in the top 10 ahead of Stewart Friesen, McKee, Connor Mosack, Daniel Hemric and Jake Garcia while Cole Butcher, Leland Honeyman Jr., Brent Crews, Tyler Ankrum, Justin Haley, Andres Perez De Lara and Grant Enfinger pursued in the top-22 mark, respectively.
Through the Lap 20 mark, Majeski shaved off a second of Riggs’ advantage as Riggs was navigating his way through lapped traffic. By then, third-place Lewis trailed the lead by three seconds and fourth-place Honeycutt trailed by four seconds. While a variety of on-track battles ensued within the field both inside and outside of the top-10 mark, Riggs maintained his early advantage by more than a second over Majeski by Lap 30.
At the Lap 35 mark, Riggs’ advantage stood at just above one-and-a-half seconds over Majeski while third-place Lewis and fourth-place Honeycutt trailed the lead by seven seconds apiece. Meanwhile, fifth-place Chandler Smith trailed by eight seconds in fifth place while Eckes, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Ruggiero and Sawalich continued to race in the top 10, respectively. With Riggs continuing to navigate his way through lapped traffic, Majeski reeled in and reduced the latter’s advantage by half a second on Lap 40.
Then on Lap 43, Majeski capitalized on Riggs getting stalled behind Justin Haley entering the frontstretch to overtake Riggs for the lead. After overtaking Haley, Riggs then used the outside lane through the first two turns to draw even with Majeski and tried to overtake the latter. Riggs then pushed up the track through Turns 3 and 4, which allowed Majeski to motor his No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 entry back ahead by the next lap. Amid Riggs’ charge, Majeski captured his second Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Riggs settled in second ahead of Lewis, Honeycutt and Chandler Smith while Eckes, Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Ruggiero and Jake Garcia were scored in the top 10, respectively. With seven Chase contenders (Majeski, Riggs, Honeycutt, Smith, Eckes, Rhodes and Ruggiero) racking up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Chasers that include Hemric, Ankrum and Enfinger were mired in 13th, 18th and 20th, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for the first time of the event. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead by exiting pit road first over Honeycutt, Riggs, Eckes and Lewis while Ruggiero, Smith, Gray, Hemric and Garcia followed suit, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Majeski and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, the field dived through the frontstretch’s dogleg and fanned out through the first two turns. At the front, Majeski and Honeycutt dueled for the lead through the backstretch until Majeski used the outside lane to fend off Honeycutt and lead the next lap. Shortly after, Riggs used the dogleg and reeled in on Honeycutt in a battle for the runner-up spot. By Lap 56, Honeycutt forced Riggs up the track through the first two turns, which allowed the former to retain the spot over the latter as Eckes tried to reel in from fourth place. As Tanner Gray started to drift backwards with a tire rub amid on-track contact, Eckes battled Riggs for third place while Majeski led by four-tenths of a second on Lap 60.
At the Lap 65 mark, Majeski stretched his advantage by more than a second over Honeycutt while Eckes, who outdueled Riggs for third place, trailed by three-and-a-half seconds. Meanwhile, Ruggiero was in fifth ahead of Lewis while Hemric, Chandler Smith, Rhodes and Garcia were racing in the top 10 ahead of Sawalich, Perez De Lara, Cole Butcher, Stewart Friesen, McKee, Crews, Mosack, Honeyman, Enfinger and Ankrum, respectively.
Just past the Lap 70 mark, Majeski continued to extend his advantage as he led by more than two seconds over Honeycutt while third-place Eckes, fourth-place Riggs and fifth-place Ruggiero trailed by three, four and six seconds, respectively. Majeski stabilized his two-second advantage by the event’s halfway mark on Lap 75 before his lead slightly decreased by just over one-and-a-half seconds by Lap 80.
Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew due to a right-rear tire carcass coming off of Ben Rhodes’ entry that was spotted on the track as Rhodes, who was racing in the top-10 mark, was forced to pit. This caution period was enough for the second stage period to conclude under caution as Majeski cruised to his second consecutive Truck stage victory of Friday’s event at Phoenix and his third of the 2026 season. Honeycutt trailed in the runner-up spot while Eckes, Riggs, Garcia, Ruggiero, Smith, Hemric, Lewis and Sawalich were scored in the top 10, respectively. With seven Chasers (Majeski, Honeycutt, Eckes, Riggs, Ruggiero, Smith and Hemric) notching up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Chasers that include Enfinger, Ankrum and Rhodes were mired in 17th, 18th and 24th, respectively, with Rhodes losing a lap from his pit stop.
During the event’s second stage break period, Lewis pitted before pit road became accessible for the field due to a mechanical issue. Once pit road became accessible for the lead, Majeski led the lead lap field to pit road. Following the pit stops, Stewart Friesen exited pit road first after he only opted for a two-tire pit service. Honeycutt, Majeski, Eckes, Riggs, Garcia, Ruggiero, Sawalich, Perez De Lara and Hemric, all of whom pitted for four tires, followed suit, respectively. During the pit stops, Smith was penalized for having too many pit crew members over the pit wall.
With 52 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Friesen and Honeycutt occupied the front row. At the start, Honeycutt rocketed to the lead and Friesen quickly plummeted to just above the top-10 mark as the field fanned out and jostled for late spots for a full lap. As Honeycutt led with 50 laps remaining, Eckes trailed in the runner-up spot by seven-tenths of a second while Riggs reeled in on Majeski for third place.
Down to the final 46 laps of the event, Riggs outdueled Majeski amid his attempts over the previous four laps for third place. By then, he trailed the leader Honeycutt by two seconds while Eckes was more than a second behind in the runner-up spot. Behind, Garcia occupied fifth place, Ruggiero and Hemric battled for sixth place and Friesen maintained 10th place despite being on only two fresh tires. As Lewis and Chandler Smith were mired in 18th and 20th, respectively, Honeycutt led by more than a second over Eckes with 40 laps remaining while Riggs continued to trail in third place by more than two seconds.
As the event reached its final 35-lap mark, Honeycutt continued to lead by more than a second over Eckes while third-place Riggs trailed by nearly three seconds. Meanwhile, Majeski was strapped more than three seconds behind in fourth place as Garcia, Hemric, Ruggiero, Sawalich, Perez De Lara and Crews occupied spots in the top-10 mark over Enfinger, Mosack, Friesen, Haley and Ankrum, respectively. Back at the front, Honeycutt slightly increased his late advantage by more than one-and-a-half seconds with 30 laps remaining before his advantage then slightly decreased to just above a second five laps later.
Down to the final 20 laps, Honeycutt stabilized his late advantage by more than a second over Eckes while Riggs trailed by more than two-and-a-half seconds in third place. Majeski retained fourth place as he tried to reel in Riggs for third place and Garcia trailed by more than three seconds in fifth place while the rest of the lead lap field comprising 20 competitors trailed by double digits.
Five laps later, Honeycutt maintained the lead by a second over Eckes as the latter tried to reel in Honeycutt for the lead. Riggs also started to reel in the latter two as he commenced his challenge on Eckes for the runner-up spot shortly after. Eckes trailed Honeycutt by nine-tenths of a second and Riggs trailed by more than a second with 10 laps remaining, with the latter two mounting late efforts to try and reel in Honeycutt for the lead. While navigating through lapped traffic, Honeycutt continued to lead by a second over Eckes and Riggs with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Honeycutt remained in the lead by more than a second over Eckes and Riggs. With the latter two unable to reel in for a final circuit, Honeycutt smoothly steered his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry around Phoenix Raceway for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag.
With the victory, Honeycutt notched the fourth career Craftsman Truck Series win of his career and of the 2026 season. He recorded the seventh victory of the 2026 Truck season for TRICON Garage, the eighth for Toyota and the fourth of this season for TRICON’s No. 11 Toyota team led by crew chief Scott Zipadelli, with the No. 11 team winning at Phoenix for a second consecutive season.
Above all, Honeycutt, who entered Phoenix with a 17-point advantage after being outdueled by Layne Riggs a week ago at Charlotte, increased his points lead in the Chase standings up to 39 as he is three events away from being in position of achieving his first Truck Series championship and the second in a row for TRICON’s No. 11 team.
“Man, pit crew, they did a great job!” Honeycutt said on the frontstretch on FS1. “I give so much credit to them because they’re so damn good. This is so amazing. Phoenix, we finally got one, baby! I just can’t say enough about [crew chief] Scott [Zipadelli]…everyone that works so dang hard on these race trucks. I’m so fortunate to be able to drive these things. They spend all their hours of the day just for me to drive them and I can’t be more grateful for them and so grateful for the opportunity at Toyota Racing. Everyone at TRICON Garage, just so awesome.”
“I just didn’t have good rear grip to start that first stage and Scott went to work for me,” Honeycutt added. “He was never concerned. He just got me locked in the whole time and man, I just can’t thank him enough. They had such great adjustments. Pit crew did their job. I can’t thank them enough.”
Eckes, who led two laps, settled in the runner-up spot for a third consecutive week and for his ninth top-five result of the 2026 season while Riggs, who led 43 laps, finished in third place for his 11th top-five result of this season. Eckes’ runner-up spot vaulted him from fourth to third in the standings, though he was disappointed on falling short of winning for the first time this season, while Riggs had his points deficit to Honeycutt increase by 22 points.
“It’s always great to contend [for wins], but man, it sucks, for sure,” Eckes said. “I came back here [in the Truck Series] to win and we haven’t done that yet. It’s frustrating. I feel like our guys deserve a lot more to go win. We’re bringing race trucks that are just close enough to contend, but just kind of missing one or two things for [Honeycutt] and [Riggs] right now.”
“[Me and Honeycutt]’re running upfront every single race,” Riggs, who remained optimistic, said. “Kind of a back-and-forth battle right now. Tonight wasn’t our night, but I’m not gonna hang my head on it. I’m very proud of the effort by the team. I’m glad that we executed a race. If we could’ve executed like that at Bristol and I not make my mistake at Kansas, we’d be sitting pretty right now…We got Talladega next week. You don’t know what’s gonna happen there.”
Ty Majeski, who led 49 laps and swept the event’s first two stage periods before he struggled throughout the final stage period, settled in fourth place for his sixth top-five result of this season. Jake Garcia, William Sawalich, Daniel Hemric, Giovanni Ruggiero, Grant Enfinger and Brent Crews completed the top 10 in the final running order.
With seven of 10 Chasers (Honeycutt, Eckes, Riggs, Majeski, Hemric, Ruggiero and Enfinger) finishing in the top 10 at Phoenix, the remaining Chasers that include Tyler Ankrum, Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes finished 13th, 15th and 21st, respectively.
The fourth Craftsman Truck Series Chase event of the 2026 season at Phoenix saw six lead changes among five leaders, and two cautions over 16 laps. In addition, 19 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
- Kaden Honeycutt, 53 laps led
- Christian Eckes, two laps led
- Layne Riggs, 43 laps led
- Ty Majeski, 49 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Jake Garcia
- William Sawalich
- Daniel Hemric
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Grant Enfinger
- Brent Crews
- Connor Mosack
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Tyler Ankrum
- Tristan McKee
- Chandler Smith
- Landen Lewis
- Corey LaJoie
- Cole Butcher
- Stewart Friesen, three laps led
- Justin Haley, one lap down
- Ben Rhodes, one lap down
- Dawson Sutton, two laps down
- Brenden Queen, two laps down
- Donovan Strauss, three laps down
- Ben Maier, three laps down
- Kris Wright, three laps down
- Tyler Reif, three laps down
- Tanner Gray, three laps down
- Mini Tyrrell, three laps down
- Conor Daly, three laps down
- Toni Breidinger, three laps down
- Monty Tipton, three laps down
- Frankie Muniz, three laps down
- Leland Honeyman Jr., five laps down
- Clayton Green, five laps down
- Jackson Lee, eight laps down
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
After the fourth Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, Kaden Honeycutt leads the standings by 39 points over Layne Riggs. The rest of the 10-Truck Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
1 Kaden Honeycutt
2. Layne Riggs -39
3. Christian Eckes -112
4. Chandler Smith -117
5. Ty Majeski -135
6. Daniel Hemric -148
7. Giovanni Ruggiero -151
8. Grant Enfinger -184
9. Ben Rhodes -188
10. Tyler Ankrum -201
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Chase schedule is Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, for the Love’s RV Stop 225. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, October 23, and air at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
