Honeycutt Manages Kansas Luck For Another Top 10

Kaden Honeycutt in action at Kansas Speedway. (Wyatt Tinsley/Race Face Digital photo)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Despite an up-and-down Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, Niece Motorsports’ Kaden Honeycutt still turned in another top-10 finish with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Honeycutt, who qualified a season-best seventh for the Heart of Health Care 200, showed very strong pace early on with the fastest lap in practice, along with five, 10, 20, 25, and 30-lap averages at the top of the board.

The No. 45 DQS Solutions & Staffing Chevrolet was very quick in the first two stages, finishing seventh in stage one and eighth in stage two.

Honeycutt’s No. 45 Chevrolet appeared to be on rails, but a mistimed caution during the green-flag pit cycle midway through the final stage trapped him a lap down and forced the No. 45 team to take the wave around before restartiing deep in the field.

From there, Honeycutt worked his way back forward to ninth by the checkered flag, holding off Truck Series veteran Grant Enfinger in the process. He was later elevated to eighth after the disqualification of original runner-up Layne Riggs for a truck bed cover violation.

“It wasn’t a bad night for us at all, considering everything we had to overcome,” Honeycutt said. “I put us in a bad spot late in the first stage, and that cost us some points, but we were able to hang tough and keep building through the race. We had a truck capable of running top five again, and just didn’t get the result to show it. That seems to be the story of our season so far.”

“We had a really good DQS Solutions & Staffing truck all night,” Honeycutt added. “After everything that’s happened to us earlier this year, it felt good to be up there battling with the leaders. We just didn’t catch the breaks we needed. It’s about the fifth race where that’s happened to us, but the effort from everyone at Niece Motorsports has been unbelievable.”

Kansas marked Honeycutt’s third top-10 finish of the season, solidifying him in the current top 10 in the regular season standings. He holds an 18-point edge over the playoff cut line after nine races.

Looking ahead, Honeycutt is optimistic that the team can carry momentum into historic North Wilkesboro Speedway, where he raced in the Truck Series in 2023 and clinched the CARS Pro Late Model Tour driver’s championship last fall.

“We’ll go to Wilkesboro and keep fighting,” he said. “This group deserves a win, and I believe it’s coming soon if we keep bringing trucks like this.”

Also of note, Honeycutt was asked about the 2026 NASCAR schedule changes, including about the championship finale rotation starting next year. He’s eager for the title race to return to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in 2026, a track where he’s had speed in the past.

“Homestead’s always been good to us,” he said. “We ran top five there in the spring before a penalty put us behind. We still finished top 10 after restarting like 35th, so I’m happy to see it back in the playoffs. But right now, the focus is on making it to Phoenix this year first.”

The road to Phoenix rolls through North Wilkesboro next, with more than half of the Truck Series season still to come for Honeycutt and company.

Broadcast coverage of the Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro is slated for Saturday, May 17 at 1:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.