NASCAR Truck Series: Honeycutt wins Kansas after near 5-hour red flag

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kaden Honeycutt dominates in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series before and after the five-hour red flag to win at Kansas Speedway.

This is his third win of the season and his third series victory overall.

The Truck Series was unable to practice and qualify for this race which meant the starting lineup was determined by the NASCAR qualifying metric – and the metric delivered.

The top two players in the Chase started from opposite ends of the field.

Kaden Honeycutt started fourth while his championship rival, Layne Riggs, started near the rear of the field from 22nd.

The opposing positions gave Kaden a more forward-minded start to the race and he wasted no time to find the front.

He soared on the high side for the early lead and dominated the rest of the first stage. After his opening stage win, he held serve to sweep the day’s stages.

But Honeycutt did not win in the day. Directly after the start of the final stage, the rain hit and he slipped to third with his strategy call.

Instead of a Grant Enfinger win just past halfway, NASCAR opted to wait on the weather to cooperate in order to finish a crucial Chase Truck Series event.

This greatly benefitted the best truck of the day. From the resolution of the red flag, Honeycutt reclaimed his lead just as quickly as he did nearly six hours earlier.

He led 111 of the 134 laps, held off two late restarts and a charging, then crashing, Layne Riggs for his first intermediate win in NASCAR.

A near perfect points night elevated Honeycutt to the lead of the Chase by 35 points over Riggs who finished 19th after multiple hits to the outside wall.

The Top Ten

Christian Eckes delivered a solid runners-up result. He was well within the mix for the win during the segmented Race to Stop Suicide 200 at Kansas Speedway.

Brent Crews failed to score stage points in the second stage but rebounded late in the third stage for a top five finish from third.

Macnally-Hilgemann Racing seemed to be finding speed at the right time. Not only did Eckes finish second, but they also added another top five finisher with Daniel Hemric from fourth.

Ben Rhodes finished seventh in both stages and rounded out the top five from fifth after others had late issues.

Then, Chandler Smith returned the top ten once again in sixth to help his championship bid with five races remaining.

Nick Leitz showed up seemingly out of nowhere to capture a huge top ten finish for his Tricon Garage No. 1’s owners championship hopes.

He finished seventh while teammate Tanner Gray slotted in right behind him from eighth.

Last week’s maiden winner, Jake Garcia finished ninth. Finally, Corey LaJoie rounded out the top ten in tenth.

Late Race Stunners

Layne Riggs entered the second race of the Truck Series Chase as the Chase leader by a slim three-point margin.

His 22nd starting position gave him a ton of work to do in order to keep it but the winningest driver in the series carved through the field like butter.

He minimized the overall points damage by finishing third and second in the stages and had a real shot to capture his seventh win of the season before he smacked the turn three wall on the penultimate lap.

The initial hit was too harsh. He cut a tire on the white flag and found himself into the outside barriers again entering the first corner for the final time.

What could have been a win and most certainly a point-mitigating second place, turned into a disappointing 19th and a larger hole to dig out of in order to capture his first series championship.

But how did he get so desperate? Prior the final caution, the field was restacked with 15 laps remaining.

That following shuffled restart created chaos throughout the field but ultimately, it claimed the right-front tire of Chase driver Grant Enfinger.

Angry and out of luck, Enfinger stopped at the top of the fourth-corner banking for a caution. NASCAR black-flagged the driver of the No. 9 for intentionally creating a caution and held him two laps for his crime.

Enfinger’s final caution indirectly led to Honeycutt’s inflated Chase lead over Riggs. If that’s how the second of seven Chase races can go for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, how will the final five races pan out?

See how everything shook out with the full results of the Race to Stop Suicide 200 and the up-to-date Chase standings below.

Full Results & Chase Standings