LAKEVILLE, Conn. – It wasn’t pretty, but Kaden Honeycutt rallied after being involved in a restart crash to finish in third place in Saturday afternoon’s (July 11) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race at Lime Rock Park.
The event started off routinely for the most part with Honeycutt and points leader Layne Riggs both winning a stage as they continued their battle for the top seed in The Chase.
Riggs entered the race 65 points ahead of Honeycutt, and after their stage wins, both drivers officially clinched Chase spots.
However, during the final stage, both of their days took a wild turn as they were swept up in the same restart crash.
On a lap 75 restart, Riggs was launched into the back of Honeycutt, sending both of them around in the Turn 1 grass. There was also contact at the front of the field on that restart involving Stewart Friesen, Cole Butcher, and Gio Ruggiero that put Ruggiero out front.
Honeycutt was able to stay on the lead lap despite the spin while Riggs wasn’t as fortunate, getting heavy rear-end damage, putting him a lap down. Riggs ended up finishing the race in 23rd.
“Me and the No. 11 raced really hard, respectfully, against each other,” Riggs told Frontstretch after the race, “I knew starting the final stage with so many trucks staying out, it was probably going to be a mess. I just got absolutely clobbered from behind … it’s disappointing that we didn’t get to race it out.”
“[Riggs] had said that he got run over from behind, I know he definitely wouldn’t go in there and just wreck us for the fun of it,” Honeycutt told Frontstretch. “Not sure where it started or who to blame.”
With the help of multiple, chaotic restarts later in the race and other contenders wiping each other out, Honeycutt found himself back in the top five in the closing laps, battling with his TRICON Garage teammate Ruggiero.
Contact was made between the two drivers, sending Ruggiero around with two laps to go. Honeycutt went on to finish third while Ruggiero, after leading 21 laps, came home back in 20th.
Honeycutt felt bad about the contact after racing hard with his teammate, but Ruggiero brushed it aside as he was just frustrated post-race about not being able to hold on for the win.
“I was all four (tires) off, I was fully next to him, and he pretty much just drove me off in the grass … unfortunately, I just got into him and spun him out.” Honeycutt explained. Me and him will work it out internally, I hate that that happened, we’ll be alright.”
Honeycutt earned 34 points for the third place run to go with 19 stage points plus the fastest lap bonus, putting his total up to 54 points on the day. Riggs also earned 19 stage points which softened the blow of his disappointing finish as he was able to rack up 33 points in total.
With four races remaining in the regular season, Honeycutt now trails Riggs by 44 points as the series heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway next Saturday afternoon (July 18).
“Hopefully I can clinch seed number one in The Chase, that’s the most important to me,” Riggs said. “We got a few short tracks coming up … myself and him (Kaden Honeycutt) are probably going to be battling it out for the win in every single one of those races.”
“We’re going to focus on just winning,” Honeycutt said. “We’ll try to get that one seed. It is good having that extra 25 points in the back of your pocket.”
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.
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