Kaden Honeycutt executed a 14-lap dash to the finish with fresh tires to perfection that enabled him to earn his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and win the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday, November 6.
The 23-year-old Honeycutt from Willow Park, Texas, led three times for 15 of 134-scheduled laps in a finale where he managed through early concerns of having alternator issues and receiving strong mentorship and guidance from championship-winning crew chief Scott Zipadelli to preserve his entry while battling at the front. With his championship rival Layne Riggs having his title hopes evaporated early due to an on-track incident that cut Riggs’ right-rear tire and pinned him multiple laps down far from recovery, all Honeycutt had to do was steer his entry to the event’s distance.
After notching a pair of top-five results throughout the finale’s first two stage periods and steadily racing towards the front, Honeycutt pitted with nearly the entire field for fresh tires during a late-race caution with 24 laps remaining. After navigating his way into the runner-up spot during a brief restart with 21 laps remaining, Honeycutt turned up the notch during the final restart with 14 laps remaining to outduel Christian Eckes. With the lead in his possession, Honeycutt grew it by a second and maintained the top spot for the finale’s remainder as he proceeded to win the final Truck event of the 2026 season and etch his name as a first-time Truck Series champion.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Nick Sanchez secured the final Truck pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 164.855 mph in 32.756 seconds. Chandler Smith qualified in second place with a lap of 164.424 mph in 32.842 seconds. Championship contenders Layne Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt started fourth and fifth, respectively.
When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, early three-wide action commenced as Corey Heim, who started in third place, was one of a handful of competitors to dive to the left-side bottom of the track. He along with Chandler Smith pinned pole-sitter Nick Sanchez in the middle lane as the former two duked for the lead for nearly a full lap in front of a fanned-out field. As Sanchez reeled in and tried to get beneath both Heim and Smith with a run entering Turns 3 and 4, Smith used the outside lane to motor ahead from Turns 3 and 4, which enabled Smith to lead the first lap.
During the second lap, Layne Riggs briefly got loose entering the backstretch when he made right-side contact with Sanchez amid close-quarters racing. Amid the contact that occurred in the top-five mark, Riggs, who sustained slight right-side damage to his No. 34 Love’s Ford F-150 entry, managed to motor forward despite dropping to fifth place. By then, Kaden Honeycutt, his title rival, overtook him to move into to fourth place. Riggs would then be overtaken by Stewart Friesen for fifth place before the former was challenged by Ty Majeski for more. Amid Riggs’ early adversity, Sanchez, who regained the lead on the third lap, was leading ahead of a hard-charging Smith by a tenth of a second while Heim and Honeycutt followed suit by the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Sanchez was leading by two-tenths of a second over Heim while Smith dropped to third place. Meanwhile, Honeycutt, who trailed the lead by a second in fourth place, was two spots and two seconds ahead of Riggs, with Riggs mired in sixth place in front of Majeski, Daniel Hemric, Giovanni Ruggiero and Tanner Gray, respectively. Heim and Sanchez then duked and battled for the lead a lap later before the former outdueled the latter. As Heim proceeded to lead the Lap 15 mark, Honeycutt was in third place while Riggs dropped to eighth place.
On Lap 16, Riggs’ championship hopes took an early hit when he made an unscheduled pit stop under green to have a flat right-rear tire and damage to his right-rear fender, which was a result of the earlier contact with Sanchez that cut the tire, addressed. By the time Riggs returned to the track, he was down two laps to the leaders and mired at the rear of the field in 35th place. Meanwhile, Honeycutt retained third place on the track and first place in the championship battle while teammate Heim continued to lead the finale over Sanchez. With Honeycutt reeling in Sanchez for the runner-up spot, Heim led by one-and-a-half seconds at the Lap 25 mark.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Heim cruised to his fourth Truck stage victory of the 2026 season. Sanchez settled in second ahead of Honeycutt while Hemric, Chandler Smith, Majeski, Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, Stewart Friesen and Jake Garcia were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Riggs, who was trying to reel in Heim to regain one of his two lost laps back, was unable to do so as he remained mired in 34th place on the finale while Honeycutt notched eight stage points to his championship lead.
Under the finale’s first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Heim pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead by exiting pit road first while Sanchez, Honeycutt, Smith, Hemric, Majeski, Eckes, Ruggiero, Friesen and Connor Mosack followed suit, respectively. During the break, Riggs used the wave around to regain one of his two lost laps.
The second stage period started on Lap 37 as Heim and Sanchez occupied the front row. At the start, Honeycutt, who radioed a possible alternator issue to his entry and briefly pushed Heim ahead from the inside lane, made a left-handed move beneath Heim to motor his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry into the lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out and jostled for spots through the backstretch, Hemric, who restarted behind Heim and Honeycutt, motored his way into the runner-up spot. Behind, Heim and Sanchez, who stumbled at the second stage’s start from the outside lane, were mired in third and fourth in front of Majeski and a stacked field as Honeycutt led the next lap.
Hemric then used a bold charge from the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4 to overtake Honeycutt and assume the lead prior to Lap 39. As Hemric led the Lap 40 mark, Sanchez moved into the runner-up spot while Honeycutt settled in third place in front of Heim and Majeski. Meanwhile, Riggs was mired the third competitor a lap down in 34th place and Heim would overtake Honeycutt for third place while both Heim and Majeski overtook Honeycutt for third and fourth, respectively.
At the Lap 45 mark, Hemric continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Sanchez and Heim as the latter two battled against one another and reeled in Hemric for the lead. Behind, Majeski was up to fourth place while Honeycutt dropped to fifth place. Amid Honeycutt’s steady run at the front, Riggs, who was mired a lap down at the tail end of the field, pitted under green to have another flat right-rear tire and more damage to the right-rear area addressed.
Amid Riggs’ issues, which cost him an additional five laps and dwindled his hopes of winning his first championship, Heim reassumed the lead over Hemric by Lap 47 while Sanchez and Majeski followed suit, respectively. With Honeycutt retaining fifth place on the track, Heim led Hemric by four-tenths of a second on Lap 50 before the duo dueled dead even for the lead five laps later.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Heim, who prevailed in his battle with Hemric, earlier, captured his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the finale and his fifth of this season. Hemric settled in second ahead of Sanchez and Eckes while Majeski, Honeycutt, Smith, Friesen, Ruggiero and Tanner Gray were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then. Riggs was mired at the tail of the field, 37th, and seven laps behind while Honeycutt notched an additional five points to his championship lead.
During the finale’s second stage break period, the field led by Heim returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Heim retained the lead by exiting pit road first for a second consecutive break period. Heim was followed by Eckes, Sanchez, Smith, Majeski, Enfinger, Friesen, Honeycutt, Mosack and Landen Lewis, respectively. Following the pit stops, Majeski along with Matt Crafton and Spencer Davis were penalized for uncontrolled tire violations. Hemric was also sent to the tail end of the field as a penalty for speeding on pit road while Sanchez made an extra trip to pit road to have loose lug nuts addressed.
With 68 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Heim and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, a tight four-wide action occurred at the front as Chandler Smith aggressively navigated his way into the lead beneath Heim, Eckes and Grant Enfinger through the first two turns. As Smith led the next lap over a stacked field, Enfinger rocketed his way into the runner-up spot before he battled Smith for the lead. Eckes then bolted his way past Smith and Enfinger amid a tight, bold move in between the latter two starting through the exit of the backstretch to lead the next lap. As Eckes led, Smith, who threw a block on Eckes amid Eckes’ charge and three-wide move to the lead, tried to reel in the latter back from the runner-up spot while Enfinger, Honeycutt, Friesen, Heim and Hemric followed suit, respectively.
As the finale reached its final-60 mark, Eckes led Smith by seven-tenths of a second while Heim, Enfinger and Honeycutt, the latter of whom continued to lead the championship battle, followed suit in the top five, respectively. Behind, Friesen, Hemric, Mosack, Tanner Gray and Landen Lewis trailed in the top 10 on the track while Riggs was mired seven laps down in 35th place.
Ten laps later, Eckes added another tenth of a second to his lead, with the latter leading by eight-tenths of a second over Heim while Honeycutt trailed in third place by three-and-a-half seconds. Behind Honeycutt were Enfinger, Hemric, Smith, Friesen, Mosack, Garcia and Sanchez while Riggs was still mired seven laps down in 35th.
With 40 laps remaining, a late cycle of green flag pit stops slowly started to commence Chandler Smith pitted under green. More names like Jake Garcia, Corey LaJoie and Conner Hall pitted before Sanchez pitted a lap later. Friesen, Andres Perez De Lara, Tanner Gray and Crafton pitted before Hemric pitted. Amid the pit stops, Sanchez pitted before more names like Ben Rhodes, Heim, Honeycutt and Enfinger pitted over the next two laps.
Then with 37 laps remaining, the leader Eckes pitted from the lead. Amid Eckes’ pit stops and the leaderboard being shuffled with the occurrences of pit stops by the competitors and front-runners on the track, Eckes managed to cycle ahead of Heim and be the first competitor scored on the track with fresh tires on his entry. Eckes would then cycle back as the leader with nearly 30 laps remaining, with Heim trailing by a second and Honeycutt trailing by three seconds in third place.
Then with 30 laps remaining, the caution flew due to fluid on the course. This happened when Sanchez dropped off the pace, pulled his No. 77 Modo Super Gaming App Chevrolet Silverado RST entry off the track through the first two turns and stopped when his entry caught on fire, thus terminating his strong event from further contention. During this caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Heim pitted while Mosack, Justin Haley, Parker Kligerman and Leland Honeyman Jr. remained on the track.
The following restart with 21 laps remaining only lasted for nearly a lap when the caution returned for a multi-truck incident through Turns 3 and 4. The incident occurred when Tanner Gray, who was racing within the top-15 mark, got loose underneath Landen Lewis and slid sideways while barely clipping Lewis through the turns. Amid Gray’s spin, he was hit by Tyler Reif, Andres Perez de Lara and Tyler Ankrum, which left all four competitors with damaged trucks while the rest of the scattered field dodged the carnage. Meanwhile, Eckes used fresh tires to rocket past Mosack and fend off Honeycutt for the lead.
During the next restart with 14 laps remaining, the field fanned out and jostled for late spots as Eckes motored away from Honeycutt, Chandler Smith and Heim to retain the lead for half a lap. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Honeycutt threw his entry beneath Eckes and tried to motor ahead of the latter, but was unable to clear Eckes through the frontstretch as they dueled for the lead. Amid Eckes’ charge from the outside lane through the first two turns, Honeycutt made the inside lane prevail to draw even with Eckes through the backstretch and rocket ahead with the lead entering Turns 3 and 4. Honeycutt then slid in front of Eckes and had all lanes to his control by the next lap.
Down to the final 10 laps, Honeycutt continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Eckes with 10 laps remaining, with Heim, Hemric, Smith, Friesen, Majeski, LaJoie, Garcia and Enfinger trailing in the top 10, respectively. Over the next five laps, Heim scraped the wall and briefly dropped off the pace, but continued in the top-10 mark. By then, teammates Eckes and Hemric trailed in second and third ahead of Majeski, Friesen and Smith while Honeycutt stretched his late lead by more than a second over Eckes with five laps remaining. Honeycutt’s lead stabilized by more than a second over the next four laps.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Honeycutt remained in the lead by more than a second over Eckes. With no competition reeling in from behind, Honeycutt smoothly navigated around Homestead-Miami Speedway for a final circuit before he cycled back to the frontstretch and took home both the finale victory and the championship.
Overall, Honeycutt, who won the title by 83 points over Layne Riggs, became the 23rd competitor to win a championship in the Truck Series division and the first from Texas to achieve the feat since James Buescher made the first in 2012. Honeycutt, who notched the fifth victory of the 2026 season and of his Truck career by winning the finale at Homestead, recorded the second consecutive championship for TRICON Garage, the organization’s No. 11 Toyota team that won the title a year ago with Corey Heim and the third overall for veteran crew chief Scott Zipadelli. Speaking of the number 11, Honeycutt, driver of the No. 11 entry, delivered the 11th Truck driver’s title for Toyota and TRICON’s No. 11 team doubled down with both the driver’s and owner’s championship for a second consecutive year.
Honeycutt, who joined TRICON Garage at the start of this season and finished in third place in the 2025 standings after making the Championship 4 round amid a mid-season swap from Niece Motorsports to Halmar Friesen Racing, caps off his first championship-winning season with 16 top-five results, 19 to-10 results, 592 laps led and an average-finishing result of 7.6 through 25-scheduled events. He will remain at TRICON to defend his Truck Series title in 2027.
“We did it, mom and dad!” Honeycutt exclaimed on the frontstretch on FS1. “This [No. 11] team is a freakin’ Hall of Fame team. Scott Zipadelli is the best damn crew chief on that pit road and he’s the best man out there. He’s not just a Hall of Fame crew chief. He’s a Hall of Fame man and he has done nothing but mentor me and make me better every single week. Man, this is amazing. I worked so damn hard to be here. Thank you to every owner, thank you to everybody that’s let me drive their race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, it didn’t matter. That is because of you guys and I’m sitting here with this group behind me as champions…I was saving [my truck] the first half of the race. I didn’t want to push it too hard and then, [the finale] fell in our hands and I put my nuts on the dash and wanted to win the race.”
“This is for all the dirt track racers back at home in Texas that I raced with when I was 12 years old all the way til 17,” Honeycutt added while on the championship stage. “I worked with my daddy in the shop for so dang long to even be in the dirt track business. Running on Friday and Saturday, running a stock car, running a modified, anything I can hop in. I moved to North Carolina to work on the trucks and the only opportunity I had was to work on the vehicles I was going to drive. Man, I’m so fortunate. Last year, I’ve transitioned to the driver and man, we’re a champion. First time together with this No. 11 team…I was not a champion driver to start the season. I was very out of my comfort zone. I was caving into the pressure so much just from the team that had the success last year. I finally found my comfort zone halfway through the year and we racked up some amazing numbers. It’s not because of me, it’s because of this race team and the trucks they build that I’m so lucky to drive.”
As Honeycutt celebrated the 2026 championship, Layne Riggs was left disappointed on pit road after having his bid for his first championship evaporated right from the finale’s start amid his on-track contact with Nick Sanchez and two separate trips to pit road to have flat right-rear tires and damage assessed. Riggs, who finished six laps down in 32nd place, settles in a career-best runner-up result in the final standings and caps off his third full-time Truck campaign with a series-best seven victories, five poles, 13 top-five results, 15 top-10 results, 988 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.9.
Amid the disappointment, Riggs focused more towards the positives, the achievements and fight he exhibited both on and off the track that enabled him to contend for the title. Like Honeycutt, Riggs will remain in the Truck Series division and at Front Row Motorsports as he will strive for redemption next season.
“I had plenty of time to think about it when I tried [to rally] about 10 laps down out there,” Riggs said. “[I was] Just kind of thinking about the year that we had. The success that we had. Obviously, we weren’t able to put the consistency together to be champions tonight. We knew [that when] we were gonna have to come out here, we were gonna have to run an almost perfect race. That’s hard to do any time at any series and any level of [motorsports] division. I’m just proud of the entire team that we were even in the [championship] talk. We were in the mix. We even had a chance to become a champion. It was just disappointing to know, I really didn’t even know what my truck was gonna be because after that initial contact, I don’t know what happened with [Sanchez]. I thought I was good, the next thing I knew, we were really close together and I got super free up under him and the next thing I knew, we cut a tire down. The pressures weren’t even up yet and I already didn’t know what the balance was gonna be at the end of the race.”
“[Me and my team will] Regroup, be better, look at all the positives that we have,” Riggs added. “[We’re] Excited for next year. I have made solid progression every single year I’ve been in the Truck Series and I feel like I’m still progressing and maturing every single race as a driver. I’m just super thankful to even be on the racetrack and have top-notched equipment. Obviously, today was a disappointment, but I’m not gonna put a bad look on the entire year as a season just from this one race. We knew it was gonna be a Hail Mary to get it done anyways. Congrats to [Honeycutt]. They did a great job. They had a very consistent season. Hopefully, we can do it again next year.”
Christian Eckes and Daniel Hemric, both of whom inked contract extensions to remain at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing for the 2027 Truck season, finished second and third on the track behind Honeycutt while Ty Majeski and Stewart Friesen finished in the top five, respectively. Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia, Grant Enfinger and Corey LaJoie completed the top 10.
Notably, Chandler Smith finished in third place in the final standings and in his final event with Front Row Motorsports as Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes finished in the top-five mark in the final standings. Giovanni Ruggiero, Daniel Hemric, Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum, all of whom made the 2026 Chase along with Honeycutt, Riggs, Smith, Majeski and Eckes, completed the final top-10 mark in the driver’s standings, respectively.
Jake Garcia, who is replacing Smith in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford entry, emerged as the highest-finishing non-Chase contender in the 2026 final standings in 11th place over Stewart Friesen while Brenden Queen, driver of the No. 12 RAM 1500 entry for Kaulig Racing, wrapped up the 2026 Truck Series’ Rookie-of-the-Year title. While Toyota achieved the 2026 Truck driver’s title, Ford achieved the manufacturer’s title.
Lastly, the 2026 finale at Homestead marks the final time Craftsman will serve as the Truck Series’ title sponsor as FedEx Freight will assume the title in 2027.
The 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race generated 20 lead changes for nine different leaders, and four cautions for 25 laps. In addition, 27 of 35 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
- Kaden Honeycutt, 15 laps led
- Christian Eckes, 46 laps led
- Daniel Hemric, eight laps led
- Ty Majeski
- Stewart Friesen
- Corey Heim, 45 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Chandler Smith, three laps led
- Jake Garcia
- Grant Enfinger
- Corey LaJoie
- Giovanni Ruggiero, one lap led
- Mason Massey
- Ben Rhodes
- Landen Lewis
- Parker Kligerman
- Connor Mosack, five laps led
- Timmy Hill
- Connor Hall
- Justin Haley
- Brenden Queen
- Tyler Reif
- Cole Butcher, one lap led
- Mini Tyrrell
- Kris Wright
- Matt Crafton
- Spencer Davis
- Tanner Gray
- Frankie Muniz, one lap down
- Leland Honeyman Jr., one lap down
- Spencer Boyd, two laps down
- Clayton Green, three laps down
- Layne Riggs, six laps down
- Andres Perez De Lara – OUT, Accident
- Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Accident
- Nick Sanchez – OUT, Driveshaft, 10 laps led
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Final Chase Standings:
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Layne Riggs -83
- Chandler Smith -131
- Ty Majeski -152
- Christian Eckes -163
- Giovanni Ruggiero -219
- Daniel Hemric -222
- Ben Rhodes -230
- Grant Enfinger -261
- Tyler Ankrum -275
The NASCAR Truck Series’ teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2027, to commence a new season of competition.
