Honeycutt Dominates Orange County CARS PLM Field

Kaden Honeycutt in CARS Pro Late Model Tour victory lane Saturday at Orange County Speedway. (CARS Tour photo)

ROUGEMONT, N.C. – Kaden Honeycutt nearly had a perfect double-duty night with the zMAX CARS Tour Saturday at Orange County Speedway.

Honeycutt led all but two laps en route to the CARS Pro Late Model Tour victory with Mavrick Page Motorsports, while he came up one spot short of a trophy in the 125-lap CARS Late Model Stock Tour main event, finishing second to Brent Crews in the Tom Usry Racing No. 17.

The 20-year-old from Willow Park, Texas, left no doubt that he was the fastest man on the property among the pro late model field, qualifying second to Conner Jones by .005 of a second but immediately dashing out to the lead on the initial green flag.

From there, the only time Honeycutt lost control at the front was on a lap-61 restart, when Jones chose the inside of the front row and muscled his way to the point in a physical battle where the duo leaned on one another and pulled several cross-over moves in the process.

On lap 64, however, Honeycutt cleared Jones on the outside lane of the three-eighths-mile oval and slowly pulled away after that, eventually taking the checkers by 2.137 seconds over Nick Loden.

It marked his second career CARS Pro Late Model Tour win in just his third start in the division.

“Admittedly, I was wondering how to get back to him [Jones] when he hit me on that restart, but what a job by the entire MPM team; they built a rocket ship for this race,” said Honeycutt after the victory.

“This feels so good,” he added. “I was not about to lose that one, and especially not in that fashion. This is one of my favorite tracks to drive at, and this is a special team. We do this [pro late model] deal with two full-time people and a really old race car, so that makes it sweet. We work so hard for success.”

Past NASCAR modified and Craftsman Truck Series racer Spencer Davis was third in the pro late model rundown, while Jones faded to fourth by the checkered flag.

The late model stock race was more of a challenge for Honeycutt, who started fifth for the 125-lapper and spent three quarters of the distance fighting in the middle of the top 10.

But Honeycutt was the beneficiary of a multi-car crash on lap 90 that saw Connor Zilisch and Bobby McCarty tangle in turn four while battling for the lead.

Kaden Honeycutt in action with the CARS Late Model Stock Tour Saturday at Orange County Speedway. (CARS Tour photo)

Honeycutt masterfully picked his way through the spinning cars to go from seventh to second in an instant, gaining much-needed track position for the remaining 35 laps.

After that, Honeycutt gave chase to Crews’ Kevin Harvick Inc.-prepared No. 29, but didn’t have enough to mount a proper challenge over the final run to the finish. He ultimately finished 1.147 seconds back as the runner-up, fending off a late challenge from two-time defending series champion Carson Kvapil.

“Man, I hate that we couldn’t pull off the sweep,” Honeycutt admitted. “[Crews] gave me the top for that restart after the caution, but I got into Mini [Tyrell] a bit on the backstretch and it just knocked the toe-in so far that we were a bit too tight to be able to stay with Brent there late.

“Still a great race car. I was trying really hard to get to the lead and control [the pace] there, but it would have been really hard to hold him off with our handling. Good night overall and we’ll keep pushing forward.”

Saturday night marked Honeycutt’s 40th CARS Late Model Stock Tour start and the 20th top-five finish of his career in the series’ premier class.

The next CARS Tour event on Honeycutt’s calendar will be May 3 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C., where he’ll again run double duty in both pro late model and late model stock car competition.

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 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/.