After winning the ARCA Menards Series race earlier today (May 8), Kaden Honeycutt completes the Friday sweep at Watkins Glen International with a win in the Bully Hill Vineyards 176.
It is Honeycutt’s first victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, coming in his 67th start.
Honeycutt was second with two laps to go, getting past Connor Zilisch after getting a good restart. Once the No. 11 got clear, there was no stopping.
“I can’t believe I just won on a road course! It’s unbelievable!” Honeycutt told Fox Sports 1 after the race.
“I think Zilisch missed a shift a little bit coming off of (turn) seven and I was just tight to him. We were three-wide going into one and I barely got to his right rear and touched him a little bit, and it was just enough to scoot on by.”
After leading the most laps (28), Zilisch came up short. He led the field coming to the final restart, but lost the lead heading into the first turn.
“I wish I could go back and redo it and just pick the inside (lane),” the nineteen-year-old told FS1. “It is what it is. We got two more races this weekend.”
Zilisch is one of three drivers competing in each of the three NASCAR races this weekend, along with Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen.
Zilisch finished second, with van Gisbergen rallying to a third-place finish after taking tires during a late caution, along with fourth-place finisher Daniel Hemric. Chandler Smith rounded out the top five.
A.J. Allmendinger finished sixth, the best finish so far in Kaulig Ram’s No. 25 Truck. After leading for a large portion of the race, Brent Crews came home in seventh.
A pair of Kaulig Rams, Mini Tyrell and Brendan Queen, finished eighth and ninth, respectively. Connor Mosack rounded out the top 10.
Crews lead early, but traded paint with Zilisch during a restart and could not get back to the front.
With most of the frontrunners pitting with a few laps remaining in each stage, Hemric won stage one, along with the ten championship points that come with, while Zilisch won stage two. Due to pit strategy, Chastain lead from the drop of the green in the final stage, but was sent to the rear after a restart violation later on in the race. The penalty proved to be costly, as Chastain was caught up in an incident with Ty Majeski, ending his day.
Gio Ruggiero found himself in the lead late, but was also sent to the back due to a restart violation, handing the lead to Zilisch.
The new “track limits” added a unique element to the race. Drivers avoided the barriers for most of the day, but aggressive moves heading into turn one saw the barriers claim their first victims.
Honeycutt extends his lead over Smith in the standings to 29 points. Layne Riggs, Ruggiero, and Christian Eckes round out the top five in the standings.
Truck Series Watkins Glen Results
The Craftsman Truck Series season continues next week at Dover Motor Speedway, with coverage beginning Friday, May 15, at 5:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
BS, the greatest driver that has ever lived won that race by at least 5 laps, but NASCAR couldn’t allow it. So far Mini Tyrell is unbeaten but for whatever reason they won’t allow Mini to win, probably because he is always several laps ahead of the field. Look for an upcoming announcement, Mini to F1 to immediately replace Norris or Piastri and FIA to award a super license immediately.