Decades ago, my grandfather’s aunt and uncle owned a store in Arkansas County, Arkansas, called the “One Horse Store” because, of course, the little community of Bayou Meto where it sat was rarely placed on any map and probably couldn’t have fit more than a single horse inside its official boundaries.
If Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs were to visit said store, I reckon some John Wayne-esque music would start to play as one of them declared that the town isn’t big enough for both of them in their quest for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title.
The 2026 Truck Series is a two-horse race at the moment between Honeycutt and Riggs, who look to be the only two drivers in the series that can be trusted to be elite on a weekly basis.
There are other drivers who are near those two in the standings. Third-place Chandler Smith won the season opener at Daytona but has been mildly inconsistent in regard to speed, as evidenced by his 17th-place run at Charlotte. Gio Ruggiero is often fast, but at least in my opinion, lacks the experience to make a true title run.
Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes have all shown speed at various points but are not as consistent as Riggs or Honeycutt. Nor are they as trustworthy in their ability to roll off the hauler with top-five speed.
Riggs is second in the series standings despite only finishing top 10 in five of 10 races so far. Four finishes of 21st or worse have been offset by a series-leading 100 stage points. A flat tire at Daytona and 27th-place finish at Atlanta the next week make Riggs’ 2026 season look slightly worse than it has actually been.
In reality, the No. 34 has been quick on a weekly basis. Riggs dominated at St. Petersburg and won again at Charlotte on May 24, albeit in an odd race. Still, the third-year driver was the only man to truly take the fight to Corey Heim for much of 2025 and is doing the same to his successor in the No. 11 TRICON truck.
Honeycutt scored career win No. 1 at Watkins Glen on May 8 and leads Riggs by 38 points through 10 races. His campaign has been defined by otherworldly consistency; he has seven top fives in 10 events. His only finishes outside the top 10 came at a superspeedway in Atlanta (21st) and at Bristol, where he finished 31st after being involved in a crash while racing for the lead. Just like a season ago, there appear to be few weaknesses with the No. 11 team and its driver.
What makes 2026 a true two-horse race — and a more fun one than 2025 — is the fact that Honeycutt, unlike Heim, does not appear invincible. There are some small vulnerabilities. It was Riggs who beat Honeycutt at Charlotte on Sunday, after all, and you could argue that, come Chase time, Honeycutt has less experience than Heim did a season ago in high-pressure, championship-chasing environments.
Riggs, on the other hand, also has yet to chase a title down to the final race as it appears he will do this season.
Riggs and Honeycutt may be best in show right now in the Truck Series, but they are not reprising their roles from last season. This is uncharted territory for both drivers, but it should make for a thrilling show.
Is it impossible for Smith, Majeski, Rhodes, Eckes or Ruggiero to make a surprise appearance in the top two spots in the standings come fall? Not at all. The Chase allows drivers to make surprising runs (see Tony Stewart in 2011 for the best example).
But while any of those drivers, especially Smith, are capable of popping off a couple wins during the final seven-race run of the season, what they likely can’t do over seven races is run inside the top five every week while leading laps and earning stage points.
Honeycutt is the only driver so far with at least seven top-10 finishes. No driver aside from him has more than five top fives, and Riggs is one of only four drivers with four top-five efforts this year.
Right now, it’s hard to say it won’t be Riggs and Honeycutt duking it out for the championship at Homestead in November.
The One Horse Fire Station now sits at an intersection in Bayou Meto where the store once stood, and alarms may as well be going off for the rest of the Truck Series field, because Honeycutt and Riggs continue to look like the only two drivers capable of winning the championship as the 2026 Truck Series season nears its halfway mark.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.