Kaden Honeycutt becomes 23rd champion of NASCAR Truck Series
Kaden Honeycutt became the 23rd NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Honeycutt won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race to secure his first series title.
In his first full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series campaign, Kaden Honeycutt captured the series’ highest honor with the same organization that guided Corey Heim to the championship in 2025.
Honeycutt entered the 2026 season searching for his first career series victory, and the pressure of reaching that milestone appeared to be mounting early in the year.
A top-five finish on the streets of St. Petersburg, 59 laps led at Darlington before falling short of victory, and a nail-biting runner-up finish to Heim at Rockingham showed just how close he was to breaking through.
The breakthrough finally came at one of the least expected venues. Honeycutt captured his first career victory at Watkins Glen in May, proving his versatility on the road course and setting the tone for the rest of his season.
He carried that momentum through the regular season, collecting seven top-five finishes and adding a second career victory at Richmond to strengthen his position heading into the Chase.
Honeycutt’s Chase
Honeycutt found another gear once the Chase began.
Entering the postseason as the second seed, he opened with an eighth-place finish that propelled him into the championship lead.
From there, he added victories at Kansas and Phoenix, putting himself in a strong position to claim the title. However, his penultimate race of the season at Martinsville nearly unraveled his championship bid.
A disappointing 14th-place finish left the 23-year-old with just a 20-point advantage over Layne Riggs heading into the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Riggs was his only remaining mathematically eligible championship rival.
But the championship picture shifted early at Homestead when Riggs suffered a flat right-rear tire, effectively ending his hopes of catching Honeycutt.
In the end Riggs’ problems would not matter, Kaden Honeycutt set sail on the final restart of the Craftsman 200 to win the race and the title.
Honeycutt ultimately capped off his championship season with three poles, five victories, 16 top-five finishes, and 19 top-10s across 25 starts.
He becomes the fifth different driver in as many seasons to win the Truck Series championship. Ron Hornaday Jr. remains the series’ all-time leader with four titles.
The full list of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champions can be found here.
Ryan Kemna contributed to this report.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.