TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt takes a strong 43-point advantage over Front Row Motorsports Layne Riggs into Friday night’s Black’s Tire 200 presented by Down East Heating & Air Conditioning at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but neither driver is calling this title run done with two races remaining to settle the trophy honors.
Honeycutt rallied to a fifth-place effort at Talladega, Ala. last week in the kind of thrilling overtime finish that fans and competitors have come to expect at the big track. Riggs was eighth in his No. 34 Ford. And now the series transitions from the sport’s largest track to its one of its smallest at .536-mile.
“Looking forward to Martinsville, and got a good cushion, but you never say it is over till it is over,” Honeycutt said after the Talladega checkered flag. “I’m sure we will be racing hard for the win next week.”
Riggs has four finishes of 15th or better at Martinsville and remains optimistic despite the point-deficit he faces.
“We set as a goal that if I was 45 (points) or worse back, we’re not gonna have a shot,” said Riggs, whose father Scott won at Martinsville in 2001.
“Obviously, I think the 11 [Honeycutt] can’t be as good as us. We’re gonna have to go dominate the next two races. I know this team can do it. We’ve done it all year long. I’m excited. This is gonna be fun.”
Defending series champion, Corey Heim is the defending race winner claiming the trophy for TRICON Garage last October – finishing just ahead of Honeycutt, whose runner-up showing is his best work – and only second top-10 – in six starts at the track.
Riggs started from pole position, led 27 laps, and also turned in his career best effort at the track with a third place in the 2025 Fall race.
Last week’s Talladega race winner, Sammy Smith, who announced his new contract to team with Honeycutt next year at TRICON, will be in the field again keeping the title contenders honest.
The winningest Chase-eligible driver at Martinsville that’s in Friday night’s field is actually Eckes, who swept the 2024 races at the track. The only other Chase drivers with past wins at Martinsville are Eckes’ McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammate Daniel Hemric (Spring, 2025) and CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger (Fall, 2022). All three of these drivers have been mathematically eliminated from title contention but remain in tight points battles of their own.
There is a lot to race for in these final two races of the year. Eckes dropped two positions after Talladega to fifth place in the standings – but is only three points out of third place. Hemric dropped four spots to seventh at Talladega but is 17 points behind sixth place Gio Ruggiero. Enfinger shows up at Martinsville ranked last among the 10 Chase drivers, but is a mere seven-points behind Hemric in seventh.
Practice is at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 1:35 p.m. ET – both televised on FS2. Riggs is the defending pole winner.
–NASCAR Wire Service–