CONCORD, N.C. — “That might be our strongest effort that I’ve ever been a part of for all three trucks.”
Those were the words of Ross Chastain after finishing second at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Friday’s (May 23) North Carolina Education Lottery 200, and he would be right.
The 32-year-old veteran kickstarted Niece Motorsports’ rise from a startup to a championship contending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team back in 2019, and six years, he helped lead Niece to its first-ever race with three trucks in the top 10.
Even Corey Heim’s utter domination — denying Chastain and Kaden Honeycutt a chance at the win — wasn’t enough to dampen the mood.
“It is amazing,” Chastain said. “For Matt Mills and the J.F. Electric team, that’s awesome. And for Kaden to be right there with me, that’s great.”
Honeycutt followed Chastain to score a career-best finish in third. After spending the majority of the season hovering around the playoff cut line, Honeycutt’s 50-point night at Charlotte now puts him 51 points — nearly an entire race — above the current cut.
“We’re getting better, man,” Honeycutt said. “That was a brand-new truck tonight, and it just shows how our fab shop’s putting fast trucks together and Chevrolet’s helping us. All my guys, they’ve been really dang good for me. It’s just insane that it’s our first top five [of 2025] because we have been running plenty good plenty good to run top five every week. …
“I’m just glad tonight that we are fighting for the win. We finished top three, and my teammate Ross finished second. That’s really freaking cool.”
Completing the trifecta was Matt Mills, who recovered from an early pit road penalty to record his first top 10 of the year in seventh.
“It just showed the kind of trucks that Niece really brings here to Charlotte,” Mills said. This has always been a good one for us, and I wish I could have been up there with my teammate, and if I had enough fuel and none of us had to pit, we were actually catching them there before the green flag stops [with 30 to go]. But all in all, it’s a good day.”
Niece hopes to keep the good days going next Friday (May 30) at Nashville Superspeedway, another track they’ve excelled at.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf