Honeycutt: Charlotte Truck Race Is ‘One That Got Away’

Kaden Honeycutt (Jacob Seelman photo)

CONCORD, N.C. – With a truck that Kaden Honeycutt called the best he’s ever driven, a roller-coaster night at Charlotte Motor Speedway led to an eventual seventh-place finish.

The day began with a jolt after the Willow Park, Texas, native made contact with Christian Eckes in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice. Thankfully, Honeycutt avoided any major damage and was able to post a top-10 starting spot in ninth.

Honeycutt then contended for the lead most of the night, earning points in both stages and ultimately being credited with the stage one victory after original stage winner Corey Heim was disqualified during post-race inspection.

His path forward in the final stage was chaotic, however, after a penalty for removing equipment from the pit box dropped Honeycutt to the tail end of the lead lap and left him scrambling to find track position again.

Honeycutt raced his way up to 11th in two laps following a restart with 58 to go, then benefited from a well-timed choose rule to line up ninth after Matt Crafton cut a tire and hit the wall to bring out another caution.

From there, Honeycutt reached the top five on lap 96 and found himself battling Eckes and Chase Purdy for the race lead when the final yellow flag of the night waved with 15 laps left.

The 20-year-old led a train of lead-lap trucks down pit lane for service, but a broken air gun that led to an excruciatingly slow final stop left Honeycutt 26th in the order and out of contention for his first Truck Series win.

Kaden Honeycutt (45) battles Layne Riggs Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

Despite that challenge, Honeycutt still carved his way through traffic on fresh tires in the final nine green-flag laps, passing 18 trucks and crossing the finish line eighth among the leaders.

He was elevated to seventh after Heim’s disqualification, but Honeycutt was left shaking his head after a race he felt “was ours for the taking but got away at the end.”

“Man … this is a whole team effort, so I’m not going to point fingers at anybody despite the luck we had,” he said. “There are still some things I need to clean up, like figuring out how to pass people more efficiently. We’re just going to take this, go and review stuff and get better from it. What a shame, though. I really don’t know what to say because that truck was capable of winning this race.

“I was here last year with this team; it was my first ever race working [with Niece Motorsports] … and man, we came here and just ended up with another heartbreaker,” Honeycutt added. “There’s nothing much we can do but try to come back next year and claim what’s ours.”

Even as gutted as he was in the moments following the final pit stop, Honeycutt was determined to rally for his team and find a way to earn them a representative finish.

“I was pissed in the moment,” he admitted with a shake of his head. “But I knew we had to make something of it. This is an owner’s title [capable] team right here. That’s what we’re going for. I couldn’t just hold my head down and putt around the racetrack and get what I’d get; I wanted to go forward and we did … just not far enough.”

Team owner Al Niece rued what might have been for his young driver, but in the same breath praised Honeycutt for his career effort all night long.

“He’s the real deal,” said Niece of Honeycutt. “All around, our team did very well in this one. Matt [Mills] came all the way up and finished fifth. So, it was a good night for our trucks, but I can’t say enough about what Kaden showed me in this race. Having the fuel can stick and then just a horrible [final] pit stop … but he came all the way back to [seventh].

“You can’t ask any more from a driver. He never gave up.”

Friday night marked the eighth top-10 finish of Honeycutt’s Truck Series career and his fourth in five races this year. His year-to-date average finish of 7.6 is second-best among drivers with five or more starts and outranks every full-time driver with the exception of Charlotte winner Nick Sanchez.

Honeycutt will return to the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway during the Rackley Roofing 200.

Coverage of that event is slated for Friday night, June 28 at 7 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

About Kaden Honeycutt

Kaden Honeycutt is a 20-year-old, multi-discipline racer from Willow Park, Texas, who competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Niece Motorsports. He also races in the zMAX CARS Tour in both the Pro Late Model and Late Model Stock Car divisions, driving for Mavrick Page Motorsports and Tom Usry Racing, respectively.

On the dirt side, Honeycutt cut his teeth in the Gulf South region of the United States, both in his home state of Texas and the surrounding areas. He first ran factory stocks and dirt modifieds before more recently branching out into dirt late model racing, attending premier events like the Wild West Shootout and in select races with the World of Outlaws Case Construction Late Model Series.

Proving his extreme versatility, Honeycutt also raced at the prestigious Chili Bowl Midget Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink in 2023, earning a B-main finish on Championship Saturday among a field of nearly 400 entries inside Tulsa, Oklahoma’s SageNet Center.

Honeycutt has been a persistent worker on his own race vehicles, routinely helping his various teams at the racetrack, as well as in the Niece Motorsports shop through the week. He continues to push up the NASCAR ladder as a prospect to eventually reach the premier NASCAR Cup Series.

Off the racetrack, Honeycutt is passionately involved with the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, where he supports children battling pediatric brain tumors and other childhood cancers. He runs the FOJ logo on both his car and uniform, including a tribute to his adopted child Jackson, who passed away in 2020.

For more information on Kaden Honeycutt, visit his website at https://kadenhoneycuttracing.com/.