Kaden Honeycutt has found victory lane for the first time in his ARCA Menards Series career, taking home the checkered flag at Watkins Glen.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular dropped down to ARCA, to gain more track time, with Cook Racing Technologies and led much of the second half of the race, taking home the victory.
“Car was phenomenal all day,” Honeycutt told FOX Sports post-race. “There was some things I needed to work on for the Truck race, and I put that all out there in the ARCA race.”
Carson Brown came home in second, leading the first portion of the race before Honeycutt got around him. Thomas Annunziata crossed the line in third, with Gavan Boschele in fourth and Sam Corry rounding out the top five in fifth.
“I felt like we had a really good race car, felt like we had something but got shuffled back on the restart,” Brown told FOX Sports. “This place is pretty wide, but feels pretty narrow and just doing what I could to make up ground,”
The Nitro Motorsports train continued into sixth, where Isabella Robusto finished. Andrew Ranger, Max Reaves, Ryan Gemmell and Jake Bollman rounded out the top 10 in seventh through 10th, respectively.
With the starting lineup being set by owners’ points, the initial start was a bit chaotic. A lot of slower cars were up front, and a lot of faster cars were in the back. However, it was Brown who was able to capitalize, taking the lead from Reaves through the esses on lap 1.
That trend continued throughout the first run. Tristan McKee, last year’s winner, and Honeycutt got around Reaves, and Brown continued to pull away to an early lead.
As the first run of the race continued, it was Honeycutt who proved to be the strongest car of the race. He took the lead from Brown on lap 13, working his way from 15th on the initial start.
A handful of expected contenders, including Patrick Staropoli and Isaac Kitzmiller, found themselves in the garage in the early going with mechanical issues. Both drivers saw their days end early.
When the lap 21 halfway break caution flew, Honeycutt was still out front. Brown, however, did not let the current Truck Series points leader get away. The two were within a half-second of each other when the field was frozen.
During the caution, Reaves had transmission issues after making contact with the turn 1 tire barriers. The pole sitter was forced to restart at the back half of the field, the last car on the lead lap.
That restart would not come with much action, however, as the caution flew immediately as the green fell. Corey Aiken appeared to have a mechanical issue in the final turn, coming to the restart. Aiken made hard contact with the outside wall, bouncing back into traffic, right in the path of Jason Kitzmiller. The elder Kitzmiller had nowhere to go, making hard contact with the No. 19.
After the extra round of cleanup, the race finally restarted. It was Annunziata who made the biggest move on the restart, gaining three positions after making an aggressive move into turn 1. However, after batting up the esses with McKee, Honeycutt quickly pulled out to a lead of nearly two seconds.
The action in the first few laps of this particular green flag run was not for the lead, but for second place. Pinnacle Racing Group teammates Brown and McKee battled for the third position for a number of laps, leaning on each other. Honeycutt and Annunziata were able to pull away while the duo battled, and Brown cleared McKee for the position with 10 laps to go.
Losing the third position was hardly the end of the story for McKee. His No. 77 stalled on the backstretch with eight laps to go, but no caution flew. McKee pitted from his top-five position, nearly falling outside the top 20 by the end of the race.
Brown was able to get around Annunziata for second, but without a late race caution flying, Honeycutt’s lead was just too large to overcome. Brown got as close as three and a half seconds, but overall settled for a runner-up finish.
ARCA Race Results from Watkins Glen
The next time the ARCA cars take to the track will be next Saturday, May 16, at the Toledo Speedway. The race will be a combination event with the ARCA Menards Series East. The green flag for that race, the Owens Corning 200, is slated to fly at 7 p.m. ET with the race airing on FOX Sports 1.
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University
That’s because Kyle Busch and Shave Van Gisbergen caused 17 wrecks. Oh wait, I’m not the Fox broadcast team or Mark Martin, who used to be a nice man and now he is just bitter because he is old.