Kaden Honeycutt rebounds late for fourth win at Phoenix; Extends Chase lead over Layne Riggs to 39-points
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Avondale, AZ- With the right adjustment at the right time, Kaden Honeycutt stole the win from Ty Majeski with a late race resurgence in the Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by Poet at Phoenix Raceway on Friday night. He led 52 laps en route to his fourth win of the season and his second in The Chase.
Honeycutt couldn't earn this victory alone, as it was his pit crew who put him in position late. On the final set of pit stops after stage two. his pit crew got him ahead of then race leader Ty Majeski, driver of the No.88 ThorSports Ford F-150. Once out front, he didn't look back.
“My pit crew did a great job getting me out front and doing a good job on the restart to execute and to put it out front and not look back in the mirror like I did last week,” Honeycutt said.
Honeycutt’s struggled to find lateral grip in the race’s opening green flag, falling to fourth and nursing his car to the end of the stage to make adjustments. Even with the adjustments made after stage one, it wasn’t until his pit crew got him in clean that the Toyota driver was able to find speed.
“It was definitely eventful for me,” Honeycutt said. “We went through first stage and we fought lateral grip quite a bit, and I wasn't panicking, but I was also pretty worried because I knew the track was going to get freer, and we were possibly going to lose that drive.”
For the first time in six years, a champion wasn’t crowned at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' annual stop at Phoenix Raceway, which marked the halfway point of the series’ inaugural chase.
Instead of the usual chaotic championship dynamic, the race saw one caution for an incident, involving Chase contender Ben Rhodes, driver of the No.99 ThorSport Ford F-150, who popped a tire on Lap 90. Rhodes wasn't able to rebound after the incident, finishing 21st.
For runner-up finisher Christian Eckes, driver of the No.91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet, he credited the change of postseason format for a cleaner race, then there historically is, at Phoenix Raceway.
"When you're not the best truck, really, like in the series, you kind of want the old format," Eckes said. "Like this year in particular, it'd be nice to have the old format. But you know, it's more of a purity of racing thing."
Layne Riggs, driver of the No.34 Front Row Motorsports F-150, entered the weekend 17-points behind Kaden Honeycutt after winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, after gaining 20 points last weekend, a third-place at Phoenix Raceway erased that advantage.
Riggs sits 39-points behind Honeycutt with the rest of the ten Chase drivers over 100-points behind.
Even with his significant advantage on the field third on back in the Chase, Honeycutt was adamant that he isn’t solely focused on Riggs, who is trailing him for the championship. He's still focused on finishing ahead of everyone over the next three weeks.
"Right now, we're really just focused on beating 35 other vehicles out there on that racetrack, and that is the obstacle to pass, other than just one vehicle,” Honeycutt said. “So, we're going to go to Talladega, go to Martinsville, and just focus on what we have to do to achieve our goal, and that is to win the race. If we can't do that, we maximize our points, and then we evaluate after the race what everyone else did.”
Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by Poet Results:
Kaden Honeycutt #11 - (WINNER)
Christian Eckes #91 -1.556
Layne Riggs #34 -1.957s
Ty Majeski #88 -2.339s
Jake Garcia #98 -3.687s
William Sawalich #5 -12.581s
Daniel Hemric #19 -14.272s
Giovanni Ruggiero #17 -14.388s
Grant Enfinger #9 -15.022s
Brent Crews #1 -17.349.768s
Connor Mosack #7 -17.731s
Andres Perez De Lara #44 -22.768s
Tyler Ankrum #18 -22.960s
Tristan McKee #77 -23.586s
Chandler Smith #38 -24.136s
Landen Lewis #45 -26.507s
Corey LaJoie #10 -27.208s
Cole Butcher #13 -27.859s
Stewart Friesen #52 -29.715s
Justin Haley #16 -1 lap down
Ben Rhodes #99 -1 lap down
Dawson Sutton #26 -2 laps down
Brendan Queen #12 -2 laps down
Donovan Strauss #4 -3 laps down
Ben Maier #76 -3 laps down
Kris Wright #81 -3 laps down
Tyler Reif #42 -3 laps down
Tanner Gray #15 -3 laps down
Mini Tyrell #14 -3 laps down
Conor Daly #25 -3 laps down
Toni Breidinger #20 -3 laps down
Monty Tipton #2 -3 laps down
Frankie Muniz #33 -3 laps down
Leland Honeyman #62 -5 laps down
Clayton Green #22 -5 laps down
Jackson Lee #23 -8 laps down
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Chase continues at Talladega Superspeedway for the Love’s RV Stop 225. Fans can tune in to the action on Friday, Oct. 13, on FS1.
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