Shared goals, mutual respect shape Honeycutt vs. Riggs battle in Truck finale

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Kaden Honeycutt enters this weekend's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a hefty dose of perspective. He's one race away from potentially securing the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship for the first time, but he's also a matter of months away from an even bigger life event: becoming a dad. Honeycutt and his wife, Jessica, announced in August the expected arrival of their first child, a boy, due next February. The 23-year-old driver of the Tricon Garage No. 11 Toyota says he's allowed himself to think ahead to what a Truck Series title might mean, and that he has a spot for the trophy in the newborn's nursery room. "He'll be a bigger trophy, I promise you, than that championship," Honeycutt said. "That's life, you know. Whether you win it or not, he'll be the most important thing, no matter what." First things come first in Friday's season-ending Truck Series race (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, FOX One, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the 1.5-mile Homestead track, where Honeycutt will square off against fellow contender Layne Riggs, the Front Row Motorsports ace who's the only other driver with a mathematical shot at the title. A championship would be the first for both, and Honeycutt holds a 20-point advantage over Riggs heading into the 201-mile finale. RELATED: Weekend schedule | Title-clinching scenarios A Honeycutt triumph would mean the second consecutive title for Tricon's No. 11 team, which hoisted the trophy with Corey Heim in 2025. Honeycutt stepped in this year, and after slight early growing pains, he has assembled a four-win season marked by a series-best 7.9 average finish among full-time drivers. Riggs has similarly made the most of his third straight campaign with Front Row, winning a series-topping seven times but coming in at a slight disadvantage to Honeycutt in consistency (10.0 average finish). It's little wonder the two are head-to-head for Friday's finale. "Obviously, I think myself and the 11 truck, no matter who's driving it, has always been the best two in the series consistently," Riggs said. "I think if you'd put that down on paper at the beginning of the season, that's what we'd have all expected. So yeah, I don't think any big surprises here." Both drivers share similarities in their short-track backgrounds. Honeycutt was crowned the CARS Tour's Pro Late Model champion in 2024, two years after Riggs became national champ in the NASCAR Local Racing Series, then called the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. Though they don't run in the same social circles off the track, there's at least an appreciation for how their on-track relationship has been on the civil side of fierce. "I mean, we have a lot of respect for each other and the way that we race," Riggs said. "Hard racers, we don't give each other an inch, and we wouldn't expect any different either way. So yeah, a lot of mutual respect there." Said Honeycutt: "We race each other hard, but without crashing each other. I think if we can win this the right way, I think it would really show the series you can race each other hard, just not wreck each other, to win a championship and to win races in general." Both drivers have spent time leading the Craftsman Truck Series standings this year, and Riggs gained 23 points in last weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway to cut the standings margin to its current 20-point gap. Honeycutt would clinch the title with a 57-point day, regardless of Riggs' outcome. He's already exceeded that output three times this year, at Richmond Raceway, Kansas Speedway and Phoenix Raceway – all Honeycutt wins. MORE: Fresh look for Homestead track Though the temptation exists to take a more conservative approach to Homestead, Honeycutt says the mindset is to bypass any math problems by winning. "Yeah, I think if we go out and just focus on winning the race, winning the stages, and contending for the win at the end of the night, I think that will make our points situation a lot easier," Honeycutt said. "I think if you have any other mindset other than just win the race, I think you take yourself out of it mentally, so our job is pretty simple: Go out and win." Riggs doesn't have the luxury of taking it easy Friday night, but his race-day approach matches up with Honeycutt's. "I think I'm really good on offense at all the times," Riggs said. "You know, I think when I've got a carrot in front of me, and I know what the goal is and the task is, I can go out there when the pressure's on and perform really well. So, I'm just excited about the weekend, excited about the opportunity I have. This is my first time coming to the final race of the year and actually have a shot to get it done. So yeah, just a lot of great improvement. No matter what happens, obviously the championship's our goal, being the season that we've had, but at the same time, if it doesn't happen, we still can't let this one race determine and put a bad look on the entire year. It's been an amazing season, a seven-win season. I mean, if I would have told myself that a couple years ago, I would have been amazed. So it's just, no matter what, we've done a really great job as a team to put ourselves in this spot."