Honeycutt Has Career Day with Dominant Win at Richmond!

Kaden Honeycutt celebrates 2nd career victory with a burnout at Richmond Raceway. (Eddie Kalegi | Motorsports Today)

RICHMOND, V.A. - The Craftsman Truck Series returned to action after a three-week break Saturday, August 15, for the Black's Tire 250 presented by BTS Rewards at Richmond Raceway. Due to a wild mix of rain, lightning, and technical issues due to a fire, the race was postponed. Shane Van Gisbergen started on the pole, but as the field learned quickly, Kaden Honeycutt was an unstoppable force on the track. Honeycutt led 225 of the 250 laps in route to his second victory of 2026.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Honeycutt started on the inside and battled Van Gisbergen early, prevailing finally with the lead on lap three. Van Gisbergen attempted to make a close charge in the closing laps of the stage but simply didn't have enough car to get to the bumper of the #11.

For Van Gisbergen, that would be the last true chance his team also had at the lead. He found himself in the top five all of stage two but was derailed by an uncontrolled tire penalty in pit road after the conclusion of the second stage.

Shane played strategy in the third stage and was fortunate to get a caution, but was unfortunate in pit road as his team lost three positions. Van Gisbergen ultimately finished 4th.

As for the race itself, it was relatively uneventful. It took until lap 216 for the first true caution for incident where misfortune happened to borderline Chase contender Stewart Friesen. Friesen after contact a few laps earlier suffered a tire failure causing significant damage to his truck. Friesen finished 36th, and leaves Richmond -20 points to the cutline.

With losers, there are big winners and that went to two drivers, Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum. Enfinger played bold strategy again, opting to stay out during green flag pit stops in attempt of running long to hopefully get a caution. Enfinger got that wish and got to control the final restart of the race.

Enfinger didn't have the best truck, but the track position allowed him to finish 5th, +65 over the cutline heading to the final race of the regular season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend.

As for Ankrum, he was plagued with penalty during the stage one break as hit pit crew went over the wall to early. Ankrum earned three crucial stage points in the opening stage, but had to be on the offense the rest of the day to get himself a decent finish.

Though it resulted in an 11th place effort for Ankrum, his 29 points scored to Friesen's 1 point scored, was the difference maker in the gap to the cutline. Ankrum leaves as the last truck above the cutline +20.

As for the final restart, Honeycutt took control immediately and simply never got pressured. Teammate Corey Heim was behind, but finished 1.313 seconds behind securing a Tricon Garage 1-2 finish.

OTHER NOTES:

Tristan McKee's debut in the Craftsman Truck Series was successful as the 16-year-old finished 8th on the lead lap. McKee was challenged throughout the day on restarts, but had great long run pace, and didn't have major issues in pit road attempting his first ever sequence of live pit stops. It's a promising start for the prospect as he will get another chance to improve on the great finish at New Hampshire next weekend.

Despite some bad luck due to a flat tire in stage two, Ty Majeski's 19th place result, was enough to clinch him into The Chase field for 2026. He becomes the 6th driver to clinch a spot in the 10-truck run to the championship, joining Layne Riggs, Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, and Gio Ruggiero.

That means the final four spots will be decided next weekend.

UP NEXT:

The Craftsman Truck Series will end its regular season campaign, Saturday, August 22, as for the second straight season the series takes on the Magic Mile known as New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Last season, the race found itself in the playoffs but will serve as the regular season finale. Coverage of the race can be found on FS1 and is slated for a 1:30 P.M. ET green flag time.

Motorsports Today will have coverage at New Hampshire all weekend long so stay tuned on our socials on X, Instagram, Tikok, Youtube, and here at MotorsportsToday.net