Kaden Honeycutt raced his way into the history books on Friday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway, sweeping an action-packed zMAX CARS Tour doubleheader in front of an spectacular crowd. Honeycutt held off T.J. DeCaire in the Spears Manufacturing 75 Pro Late Model race before managing the same against Corey Heim in the Skyline National Bank 100 Late Model Stock event.
“I just refuse to lose,” Honeycutt said. “I knew (Heim) and I were really strong. We were in practically the same car. Man, what a race car. Thank you to the fans coming out to the track on a Friday night. I can’t believe it. It’s an unbelievable stage that we just won on, twice.”
Honeycutt began Friday with a seventh-place qualifying effort for Saturday’s FaithFest 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race — then, he upped his game for prime time.
The driver ranked second in Truck Series points turned North Wilkesboro’s five-eighths-mile oval into his personal playground, dominating the Late Model Stock Car nightcap. Not even a spate of lapped traffic in the final laps could keep Honeycutt from winning, but Corey Heim made it interesting.
Heim has won the last two Truck Series races at NWS, but his considerable talent around the iconic bullring wasn’t enough to steal the zMAX CARS Tour crown from Honeycutt. Instead, Honeycutt maneuvered his way past Ronnie Bassett Jr.’s lapped car on the final lap and kept Heim at bay by just 0.313 seconds.
Heim settled for second ahead of Jake Bollman, Connor Hall and Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. Carson Kvapil, Conner Jones, Carson Loftin and Carson Brown completed the top 10.
HONEYCUTT HOLDS OFF DECAIRE, CLAIMS SPEARS MANUFACTURING 75
Honeycutt had all he could handle in the 75-lap PLM event. He fought with Luke Baldwin for much of the race before emerging with the lead in the closing stages and pulling away from his opposition. In what became a familiar theme, lapped traffic slowed Honeycutt’s momentum in the final two laps. Honeycutt’s hard-earned, one-second lead over DeCaire nearly evaporated, but Honeycutt held his nerve and crossed the finish line first by 0.256 seconds.
“That lapped car definitely made it interesting at the end,” Honeycutt said. “It’s just so cool to win here. The track changed a whole lot from practice (on Thursday). I found a line I thought I could run (after Friday’s Truck Series practice) and made it work for us.”
Conner Jones finished third with pole winner Luke Baldwin fourth and Mason Walters fifth. Kasey Kleyn, Keelan Harvick, Brody Monahan, Case James and Albert Francis rounded out the top 10.
RIGGS STAYS HOT, CAPTURES FAITHFEST 250 POLE
One of North Carolina’s own led the charge for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday, as Bahama, North Carolina, native Layne Riggs won the pole for Saturday’s FaithFest 250 presented by Mercer Transportation.
The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford lapped North Wilkesboro in 18.502 seconds at an average speed of 121.608 miles per hour, scoring his second pole of the season.
“Track position here is very important,” Riggs, the series points leader, said. “We didn’t have any last year. This is the first time we’ve qualified on the new surface here. A lot of people did mock qualifying runs in practice and mine did not go well at all. I was a 10 out of 10 tight. It would not even attempt to turn. It was hard to tell my crew chief how much I needed to free it up.
“During my (qualifying) lap, I thought, ‘We’re still way too tight.’ I thought we’d have an eighth- to 10th-place qualifying run. Supposedly, I got very lucky with the clouds covering the track. I’d rather be lucky than good.”
Carson Hocevar was the fastest of several NASCAR Cup Series regulars in the field. Hocevar missed the pole by a scant 0.016 seconds, qualifying second after posting the fastest lap in pre-qualifying practice on Friday afternoon.
Cup Series star Christopher Bell was third with Corey Heim fourth and Giovanni Ruggiero fifth. Chase Elliott’s sixth-place effort made it three Cup standouts in the top six, while Kaden Honeycutt, Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith and Stewart Friesen completed the top 10.
With a full slate of on- and off-track excitement coming to Sunday’s Window World 450 – including a Sawyer Brown Pre-Race Concert presented by Raymer Oil that’s free with Sunday admission – a limited number of tickets are available. They can be purchased online, along with Saturday tickets, at www.northwilkesborospeedway.com.
— North Wilkesboro Speedway —