DARLINGTON, S.C. – There were two consolations for Kaden Honeycutt in Friday night’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway.
Honeycutt, who has put together one of the strongest starts of the Truck season, finished fourth Friday, and that was an item to place in the plus column after an evening of hard racing among the race’s front pack. And, as Honeycutt mentioned several times after the race, he had the best truck.
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Honeycutt needed positives to hang his helmet on after a night that seemed to hold the promise of his first Truck Series victory. Earlier in the day, he had scored the first pole position of his short Truck Series career, and there was anticipation that he would be a force when the lights came on for the 200-mile race. In the end, he watched teammate Corey Heim surge to the win on the final overtime lap after Cup Series visitors Ross Chastain and Carson Hocevar showed their strength in the top five over the closing miles of the race. In Honeycutt’s view, Hocevar and Chastain went overboard in pushing their way through.
“We definitely had the best truck tonight,” Honeycutt said. “Just, when you’ve got nothing to lose and you come here and race in our series, you just do whatever you want. This is disappointing for sure. I’ve been on the verge of winning one of these races and just can’t close it, just from idiotic stuff from other people getting into me. So, it is what it is.”
He started on the outside alongside Chastain at the front on the final green flag but didn’t have a shot at taking the lead. “The top just wasn’t very good going in,” he said. “The bottom was preferred. I just couldn’t get going, spun the tires really hard. I did what I could and managed that and maximized what I could there.”
Honeycutt said both Chastain and Hocevar punted him in the race’s final segment. Still, he had a shot in the two-lap overtime but lost to Heim, who had fresher tires, and faded behind the aggressive runs of Chastain, who took second, and third-place Christian Eckes.
“By the time the 5 (Heim) got by me and then the 91 (Eckes), I pretty much committed to helping the 5 and see if he could get up there and win the race,” Honeycutt said. “I don’t know how he did, but he did, so great job for Toyota and everyone at Tricon.”
Honeycutt led a race-high 59 laps, his career high, and won the second stage.
Still, missing a good chance at a first win hurt.
“This is what happens when people fence each other,” he said. “That’s what happens. You feel like they have nothing to lose and you have everything. What the hell do they care about, right? I understand racing for a win, but they knew I had the best truck, so they did what they had to do to take me out of it. I’m just really upset that I haven’t been able to close one.”
Chastain had a different version of the closing segment.
“When I pushed Carson through, I pushed another Chevy, for sure,” he said. “On the restart when he got inside of him, Kaden missed the bottom into (Turn) 1 or gave Carson the bottom, and I pushed Carson through a couple restarts before the end. Yeah, I might’ve got him (Honeycutt) off of (Turn) 2, but not sure. I’ll have to go back and look, and if I did, I mean, definitely didn’t mean to. That guy’s great.”
Through four Truck Series races this season, Honeycutt has finishes of eighth, 21st, fifth and fourth. His Darlington finish moved him up four spots in the Truck Series standings to second place, 33 points behind series leader Chandler Smith.