SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – The 15th rendition of the Virginia Triple Crown Series got off to a stormy start at South Boston Speedway (June 27) — both literally and figuratively.
With rain in the area, track officials moved the start time up two hours to 5 p.m. ET to avoid the threat of thunderstorms in the forecast. And in an effort to make sure the main race was complete, they shifted the 200-lap feature to the opening race of the evening.
The call worked out perfectly in the end. Despite a storm drenching the track about an hour before the event and causing a slight delay, the weather cooperated for the race, allowing fans to enjoy a complete race.
Saturday’s Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 kicked off the three-race Virginia Triple Crown Series, featuring some of the country’s best late model racers battling for a $20,000 prize granted to the overall winner when the challenge concludes in the fall. The champion is the driver with the best average finish across the three events, which also include Hampton Heat at Larry King Law’s Langley Speedway and Martinsville Speedway’s annual ValleyStar Credit Union 300.
Throw 43 drivers on a green, 4/10-mile SoBo short track with those stakes and you’re likely to see the gloves drop rapidly. That proved true on Saturday night. But while there was plenty of melee to go around mid-pack, it was all Kaden Honeycutt up front.
The Craftsman Truck Series regular was dominant throughout the race en route to his first Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 win.
It only took the Tom Usry Racing driver 13 laps to get past polesitter and defending CARS Tour Late Model Stock champion Landen Lewis for the lead. From there – with the exception of a late challenge from Trevor Ward – Honeycutt was untouchable, landing the iconic colors of his No. 17 in victory lane.
Between Honeycutt’s dominance and some hot tempers behind him, here are three takeaways from the 20th running of the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200.
Honeycutt Finally Adds A SoBo Triple Crown Win to His Growing Resume
Honeycutt is no stranger to victory lane at South Boston. He’s stood in victory lane after winning both the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation’s showcase event and a CARS Tour race there.
Yet the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200, arguably the granddaddy of them all at the famed short track, had eluded Honeycutt in the past.
Not anymore.
Much like in 2024, when Honeycutt dominated early before fading late, it didn’t take long for the 23-year-old to find the front. The critical difference this time, however, was there were no signs of fall off from the late model ace, even with Ward closing the gap.
“Just really tough there that last 100 [laps] for sure,” Honeycutt told Frontstretch after his win. “Trevor [Ward] was definitely hunting me down. Just respect to him, I love racing against him so much, and I appreciate the way he races very much.”
A week off for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series allowed Honeycutt, who is second in Truck points, to focus on piecing the whole weekend together. But if he’s going to pursue the $20,000 prize by winning the Triple Crown Series, it might take some arm-twisting on the NASCAR side to do so.
The next leg of the Triple Crown is at Langley on July 25. While Honeycutt would be tied to his Truck that Friday (July 24) at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, there is a possibility he could run Saturday’s main event, though at a disadvantage for track time. As Honeycutt alluded to, the final leg at Martinsville Speedway is the same day as the Truck race at Kansas Speedway (Sept. 26), which is also a Chase race. That event is slated for 1 p.m. ET, while the Triple Crown race has historically commenced at 7 p.m.
The logistics aren’t working in Honeycutt’s favor, but the Texan isn’t ruling a Triple Crown run out if the circumstances work in his favor.
“I don’t know, we’ve got to decide on Langley [Speedway],” Honeycutt answered about the possibility of running the remainder of the Triple Crown. “I can do the double, but right now we’re definitely focused on [Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. I want to run Martinsville, but it’s on the same day as Kansas, so the Truck comes first, but if we have some favors in the day to help us out, we’ll be able to.”
Quick turnarounds haven’t phased Honeycutt in the past. The 2024 Snowball Derby winner swept a pair of CARS Tour races at Ace Speedway a day after winning an ARCA Menards Series race and his first Truck race at Watkins Glen International.
Honeycutt marked his win at South Boston with the late Kyle Busch‘s signature bow. And like Busch when he was a young racer, Honeycutt’s resume is getting all the more impressive.
Connor Hall Falls Short of Three-Peat
In order to win his first Triple Crown race at South Boston, Honeycutt had to unseat the two-time defending winner, Connor Hall.
However, while several drivers hurled their best shots at Honeycutt, Hall never mounted a serious charge for the win, only challenging for the lead on one occasion.
Starting from seventh, Hall looked as though he would take the same path to victory as the previous two efforts, mounting a methodical climb to the front to compete for the win.
But despite getting inside the top five by the halfway point of the race, Hall was unable to rise into true contention. The veteran slid down the pylon as the second half wore on, ultimately finishing seventh at night’s end.
In the end, his car was just too free.
“The first run, we were just a touch free,” Hall said. “[We] came in and put the two tires on it, which usually tightens my stuff up, and I even dropped the track bar a little bit trying to help it even more.
“I don’t know what happened as far as balance-wise, it just kept getting freer and freer. I knocked wheels with Kaden and for whatever reason, I don’t know if it got the toe or something, but it just drove a little different.”
South Boston presents a deceptive, yet grueling challenge for drivers, and when cars continue to get looser like Hall’s car, the slide can feel eternal. However, a seventh-place run still salvaged a decent weekend for the Hampton, Va., native to provide a spark moving forward.
To Give or Not To Give Room
While things are constantly changing in the motorsports world, you can always count on a discussion of racing etiquette whenever a major short track race arrives.
From the NASCAR Cup Series to your local short track, the gap between cars and margin for error has shrunk significantly around the country, widening the approach of aggression between veterans and rising talent as the discipline’s young stars fight to earn their place.
That’s often exacerbated on short tracks. And unsurprisingly, a hot, humid day at SoBo was the perfect mix to cause the conversation of race craft to flare up again on Saturday.
Shortly before the first stage concluded on lap 50, Landon Pembelton made contact with Peyton Sellers in turn 1, triggering a multi-car crash that included Andrew Grady and fan favorite Lee Pulliam, who was driving the No. 8 for JR Motorsports.
Grady’s car came to rest against the outside wall. The veteran quickly hopped out to express his displeasure with Pembelton as he drove by.
The argument afterward centered around patience versus aggression. Pembelton felt it was time to go.
“I was on the inside of [Sellers] there for about three laps and he just kept on chopping me,” Pembelton said. “I tried to go high on him and he just threw the car right on my nose. It’s kind of a tough racing situation. Very unfortunate.
“I hate that it took out some cars. Just wish we could have made it through without that happening, definitely didn’t want that to happen at all. I was there, and you’ve got to go in these races and can’t give up any time.”
Pembelton, who won the final race of last year’s Triple Crown Series at Martinsville, was unfazed by the contact. He surged to third in the race’s second half with a car that may have had something for Honeycutt had a caution come out.
Technical issues unfortunately canned Grady’s interview with Frontstretch, but his anger towards Pembelton was clear. Grady questioned why the young talent forced the issue so early before lashing out against younger racers for a lack of respect on-track.
Pulliam took a more reserved approach to the situation, raising the point of the thin margin for error between cars.
“The cars are more equal than ever,” Pulliam told Frontstretch. “I feel like a lot of these guys feel like they’ve got a lot of pressure to prove themselves every lap, and I think they’re going about it the wrong way. I can’t really comment because I haven’t seen all the videos, but the racing is definitely a little bit different than what it used to be. It’s good hard racing at times, and at times they just don’t use any common sense.”
Despite having his day cut short, Pulliam will compete in the other two legs of the Triple Crown for JRM.
The incident wasn’t the only one to see tempers flare on the night. Drivers such as Truck regular and fan favorite Brenden Queen were also left frustrated afterward.
Etiquette among younger racers has been at the forefront of racing discussion for the past few years, both when they act aggressively and when veterans decide enough is enough.
That debate will rage on for years to come, particularly at short track facilities like South Boston where balancing aggression with patience is paramount to success at night’s end.
2026 Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 Results
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Trevor Ward
- Landon Pembelton
- Carson Brown
- Landen Lewis
- Caden Kvapil
- Connor Hall
- Trey Crews
- Doug Barnes Jr.
- Blake Stallings
- Michael Bumgarner
- Woody Howard
- Carson Loftin
- Brandon Lopez
- Sam Yarbrough
- Tristan McKee
- Peyton Sellers
- Chase Burrow
- Bobby McCarty
- Parker Eatmon
- Ayden Millette
- Jason Myers
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Chase Johnson
- Brandon Pierce
- Mason Bailey
- Donovan Strauss
- Kyle Dudley
- Landon Huffman
- Andrew Grady
- Chase Murphy
- Brenden Queen
- Conner Waddell
- Tate Fogleman
- Ryan Millington
- Lee Pulliam
- Zach Peregoy
- Thomas Beane
- Conner Jones
- Mini Tyrrell
- Tyler Matthews
- Ryley Music
- Devin George
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a news writer before elevating to a columnist, where he served as the longtime writer for The Underdog House. Currently, he is an editor for the site and conducts feature interviews. Glover has covered several forms of racing for the site including NASCAR, CARS Tour, and SRX events.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a promotional writer, elementary athletic director, and basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.