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Truckin’ Wednesday: Niece Motorsports’ Not-So-Hidden Gem

There are several full-time entries this season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series that you could classify as an “all-star truck,” or a truck that features a rotation of drivers throughout the season.

These trucks are more so opportunities for drivers to make one-offs and gain experience in the Truck Series, all while going out to compete for good finishes and helping that truck number finish the best it can in the owner’s points.

These trucks include the TRICON Garage No. 1, the Spire Motorsports No. 7, the Reaume Brothers Racing No. 22, the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 91 and the Niece Motorsports No. 45.

Despite these rotational rides featuring as many as eight drivers, some of those rides still have one driver who serves as the truck’s primary driver.

See also
Corey Day Running 4 Truck Races for MHR

For example, by season’s end, MHR’s No. 91 will have had five different drivers sit in its seat. That doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that Jack Wood will have been in the truck for 14 of the 23 races on the year. That leaves four drivers with nine races to split between them. Zane Smith got the most with four, while Corey Day will get two. Vicente Salas and Connor Hall got one start apiece.

The same can be said for Niece’s No. 45 truck. Four drivers will have contested the 23-race season in the truck. However, Johnny Sauter only got two races in the truck, while Connor Mosack got three and Ross Chastain five.

So who got the other 13 races?

That would be Niece Motorsports’ next big talent. At least, he should be.

Kaden Honeycutt has seemingly found a home with Niece after spending the first two seasons of his Truck Series career jumping between several different teams (including a one-off with Niece in 2023). He joined forces with Niece this season for a part-time campaign, in which it was announced he would share the No. 45 with the aforementioned Sauter, Mosack and Chastain.

However, I don’t think anyone saw a scenario in which he would compete in over half the season with the team, but here we are.

Maybe it was always supposed to be that way. Niece has announced its No. 45 driver on a race-by-race basis, so we never really got any schedule for any of the drivers. All we knew entering the season was that Sauter would open the season at Daytona International Speedway and Chastain could contest no more than five races since he’s a NASCAR Cup Series driver.

Honeycutt may also have a higher ceiling than Mosack, which is why he’s gotten more starts than him. But Mosack has also earned some starts in Spire’s No. 7 (and will also drive a fourth truck for Niece at Bristol Motor Speedway), so Honeycutt hasn’t completely shorted him of opportunities.

Then again, maybe he wasn’t supposed to have this many starts. But a look at his performance this season might give an answer for why he’s the truck’s primary steering wheel holder.

In his first start of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Honeycutt brought home a sixth-place finish. He proceeded to back that up with three top 10s in his next four races; the one race he didn’t finish top 10 in that span was still a respectable 12th at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Honeycutt has been in contention to win several races this season, but none probably stings more than Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. After playing a little bit of pit strategy late in the race, Honeycutt found himself as the fastest truck on the track and would have likely won the race if it weren’t for then-second-place Chase Purdy crashing and bringing out a late-race caution.

After a slow final pit stop, Honeycutt was only able to muster a seventh-place finish. A solid showing to be sure, but one that Honeycutt feels like got away from him.

The momentum seemed like it would trend in the wrong direction for the 21-year-old, as in his next start at Nashville Superspeedway, he found mechanical trouble and failed to finish the race in 33rd.

However, Honeycutt has rebounded fairly well in the most recent two races at Richmond Raceway and the Milwaukee Mile, finishing inside the top 15 in both. He’s scheduled to be in the truck for every remaining race aside from the season finale at Phoenix Raceway (Mosack will instead drive the truck).

That gives him five more chances, beginning this Thursday (Sept. 19) at Bristol, to prove he’s worthy of a full-time ride for 2025.

But I don’t see why he shouldn’t already be considered for one.

Honeycutt has been a standout in the Truck Series since last season, when he earned top 10s with teams like Roper Racing and Young’s Motorsports when those teams were struggling to even earn top 20s.

He’s made the most of every opportunity he has gotten and has shown that he is more than deserving of an opportunity to run full time in 2025. And Niece is the perfect place to do it.

Admittedly, the season has not gone to plan for the team following the departure of its star driver Carson Hocevar. The full-time duo of Bayley Currey and Matt Mills haven’t exactly lit the world on fire like Hocevar or Chastain did, but that’s not to say either driver has had a season from hell.

Adding Honeycutt to the full-time stable could possibly give Niece its best chance at its first championship. Victory is just on the horizon for Honeycutt, and Niece can absolutely give him the resources to go out and dominate.

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Counting CARS: 3 Takeaways From Carson Kvapil's Triumph at South Boston

And it’s not like Honeycutt won’t have experience chasing a championship either. He’s currently a full-time driver in the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model division, where he’s been in a fierce title bout with Spencer Davis, a former Truck Series driver in his own right, for almost the entire season to this point.

As it stands, Davis currently holds an 11-point lead over Honeycutt with two races to go in the season. Honeycutt has also won a race in the PLM division, proving that he is capable of reaching victory lane. The fact that he’s been able to run well in a truck on top of chasing the CARS Tour PLM championship shows the level of talent he can bring.

If Niece doesn’t give Honeycutt a full-time opportunity to chase a championship come 2025, it would be sorely missing out. Plus, that would leave the door open for another team to come in and swoop him away for a full-time campaign. It would make the most sense for both parties. Honeycutt has more than proved himself, and Niece could use another Hocevar- or Chastain-like star.

I’m sure the biggest issue, as is with everything in motorsports these days, is funding. Honeycutt likely doesn’t have a big sponsor who would be willing to back him for most of the year (like his teammate Mills, who relies on JF Electric adorning his truck every week).

But if team owner Al Niece decides to pick up Honeycutt and wants him full time that bad, he can easily find partners who will want to back the youngster. Once those sponsors see just what he can really do, that will lead to more opportunities with other partners surely.

It seems like a perfect match. The talent is there from Honeycutt. The resources are there from Niece.

Now just make it happen.

Truckin’ Tidbits

  • Day will officially make four Truck Series starts with MHR, beginning at Bristol. He will drive a fifth truck, the No. 81, at Bristol and Martinsville Speedway, as Wood is scheduled to drive the No. 91 at both of those races. Day will then take over the No. 91 for his other two starts at Kansas Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  • Niece has made a slight change in its driver lineup for Bristol. Currey will drive the team’s part-time fourth truck, the No. 44, instead of the No. 41. Currey has driven the No. 41 all year to this point in his full-time campaign. Replacing him in the No. 41 is Mosack, making his third start of the year for Niece. No reason has been publicly given for the change. However, an extra truck was entered to accommodate Mosack because Honeycutt is driving the No. 45 truck. Of note, Currey’s No. 44 must qualify on speed, which could throw a wrench in his full-time endeavor.
  • According to the Bristol entry list, Tyler Tomassi will drive the No. 46 for Young’s Motorsports. it will be Tomassi’s second career start and second of the year (his first came at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park with Reaume Brothers Racing, where he finished 31st). Tomassi replaces Rookie of the Year contender Thad Moffitt, who has driven the No. 46 in all but one race this season for Faction46 and Young’s. This comes just one race after Mason Massey announced he would not drive the team’s other full-time truck for the rest of the season beginning at Milwaukee. Justin Mondeik will drive the No. 02 at Bristol after Dexter Bean drove the truck at Milwaukee.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and secondary short track writer. He also serves as an at-track reporter and assists with social media when he can. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.

You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.

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