Kaden Honeycutt wins ARCA Menards Series race at Watkins Glen
After a strong performance and his first start in the series since 2023, Kaden Honeycutt won the General Tire 100 at the Glen Friday.
In addition to this being his first win in the main ARCA Menards Series, he also gave Cook Racing Technologies their first win in the series too.
Honeycutt with Cook has also won races in the ARCA Menards Series West in 2023 at All-American Speedway and Madera Speedway. His wins helped guide the team towards an owners championship that year for the series.
Following delays to practice from weather conditions, qualifying was cancelled. The field of 33 cars, was set by owner points. Max Reaves, fresh off a win in the ARCA Menards Series East at Nashville started on the pole. This was also his first ever start on a road course in the series.
When the green flag dropped, Phoenix winner Carson Brown quickly took the lead from Reaves in turn one. Some drivers made close calls early on with the new barriers put in turn one as well.
With qualifying having been cancelled, multiple drivers who started in the back due to a lack of owner points moved up quickly. These included Jeff Anton, Ryan Gemmell, Dystany Spurlock, Kyle Steckly and Andrew Ranger among others.
Last years winner Tristan McKee and Honeycutt began to chase down Brown after both got by Reaves. The three would get a breakaway on the field by lap 10. Reaves would continue to lose spots due to transmission and fuel pump issues.
Multiple drivers would have issues as the run went on. Andrew Rocque from Upstate New York spun out on lap nine coming out of turn ten. No caution came out. Patrick Staropoli also went to the garage for a driveline issue. Isaac Kitzmiller then shortly afterwards had engine issues.
Honeycutt made some aggressive moves on McKee to take second and then took the lead from Brown on lap 13.
Rocque would spin out again on lap 18 in turn one but again no caution came out. Spurlock then went to the garage after an inner axle seal failed. Staropoli soon after rejoined the race.
The first caution came out on lap 22 for the scheduled halfway break. Jeff Maconi and Chris Werth would also go to the garage under the break.
Jason Kitzmiller received the free pass keeping 16 cars on the lead lap. But when the green flag flew on lap 24, he ended up in an accident with Corey Aiken. Ryan Vargas would receive the free pass under the second caution.
The green came out again on lap 28 and multiple drivers such as Thomas Annunziata and Gavan Boschele made aggressive moves to move up. Annunziata and McKee would both pass Brown and move up to second and third Honeycutt though would pull away from the field.
Reaves who fell as far back as 15th would break back into the top 10 following the restart. Brown would then take third back from McKee with 10 to go.
With seven to go, McKee would develop engine issues and fell out of a chance to defend his win at the track last year. Brown would shortly then catch Annunziata back down for second.
With four to go, Rocque spun out again in the bus stop heading towards turn five but the caution again didn’t come out. Brown would attempt to reel back into Honeycutt’s lead, but could not.
After winning, Honeycutt would thank primary sponsor Mohawk Northeast and owner Allan Heinke as well as those from Cook Racing Techologies such as team owner Bruce Cook and crew chief Sean Samuels.
Honeycutt was hoping to use the race as well to prepare more for the following truck race at the track and also enjoyed coming down to run ARCA again. He also said he’d like to also run ARCA’s other road course race on the main schedule at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.
Other notable finishers included Sam Corry who made his first start of the season for Nitro Motorsports and finished fifth, Ranger who finished seventh and is hoping to turn his first start in the series since 2014 into more opportunities, Reaves who came back to finish eighth, and Tyler Kicera who had an impressive debut for Maples Motorsports running as high as the top five before falling back to 12th.
The ARCA Menards Series will return at Toledo Speedway for the Owens Corning 200 on May 16. The first of four combination races between the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East.
Results
- 17 Kaden Honeycutt
- 28 Carson Brown
- 70 Thomas Annunziata
- 25 Gavan Boschele
- 15 Sam Corry
- 55 Isabella Robusto
- 53 Andrew Ranger
- 18 Max Reaves
- 29 Ryan Gemmell
- 20 Jake Bollman
- 44 Jeff Anton
- 91 Tyler Kicera
- 71 Andy Jankowiak
- 34 Ryan Vargas -1 lap
- 2 Kyle Steckly -1 lap
- 12 Takuma Koga -3 laps
- 10 Ed Pompa -3 laps
- 77 Tristan McKee Out
- 1 Andrew Rocque -8 laps
- 99 Michael Maples -8 laps
- 03 Alex Clubb -10 laps
- 51 Patrick Staropoli -13 laps
- 97 Jason Kitzmiller Out
- 11 Trent Curtis Out
- 19 Corey Aiken Out
- 72 Chris Werth Out
- 86 Jeff Maconi Out
- 89 Bobby Earnhardt -26 laps
- 66 Dystany Spurlock Out
- 79 Isaac Kitzmiller Out
- 06 Nate Moeller Out
- 01 Craig Pellegrini Jr Out
- 48 Brad Smith Out
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