Shannon Slaughter and her family bought her Sportsman Modified car in May.
Just a couple months later, she found herself with that car in Victory Lane.
On July 26, Slaughter won the T.P. Trailers Sportsman race at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania for not only her first victory at the track, but also her first in a modified. The 22-year-old became the first female driver to win a feature race at Grandview, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track.
“I think that is really cool,” Slaughter said of the history she made that night. “I think that’s a great stepping stone for women in motorsports as a whole. I think that can be inspiring to other girls to show it’s possible to be out there and be competitive with the guys and come out on top.
“Hopefully that inspires some other girls to try racing or just get involved in motorsports somehow.”
(Photo: SDS Racing Photography / Grandview Speedway Facebook)
Slaughter was strong during her hot laps on the night of her win, and she started second in her heat race. She took the lead about halfway through and ended up winning the heat, putting her on the front row to start the feature.
“Grandview’s pretty tough,” Slaughter said. “There’s, like, at least 40 cars entered in the division each week. So it’s pretty cool to win a heat race, but the track surface is so much different in the feature, and the competition is so strong. You have a full field of cars there, you never really know how it’s gonna go, so it helped a little bit, but I was still a little bit nervous.”
It didn’t take Slaughter long to get back to the lead in her final race of the night. She took the top spot on the first lap of the feature and stayed there pretty much the whole race.
“I committed to the outside. I figured that that was going to be my best chance,” she said. “So I just gave it everything I could on the outside and ended up winning that.”
Slaughter’s biggest challenge came on a restart with three to go.
“It was some pretty tough competition restarting right behind me,” she said. “I think the guy right behind me had won two already this year, so he’s been pretty fast, and he restarted right behind me. He actually was running the bottom and I was running the top.
“For probably the last two or three laps he was right next to me, so then it was a pretty close race coming down to the finish.”
Slaughter that night had family visiting from out of town, and they were watching her race a modified for the first time — a development that made the win even more special.
The emotions of taking the checkered flag took over while she was still in her car.
“It was amazing,” she said. “I think I was yelling in my helmet a whole lot afterwards, just so excited.”
This is the eighth year of racing for Slaughter, who started in go-karts before moving up to a Micro Sprint car a few years later. She got her first opportunity to run a Crate Modified last season.
“My whole family raced,” Slaughter said. “Both of my parents and my brother, my aunts and uncles and cousins all raced something at some point.”
The start of her season wasn’t the smoothest. At first, it was the motor that wasn’t running quite right. The team then found the brakes were hanging up, “so we had some things to work through,” she said.
It was the third race when she said she felt like the team had gotten the bugs worked out in the car.
“I felt like… we had some good speed, and then last week we were able to pick up the win with it, so I’m really happy with how the car’s been running.”
Now Slaughter is hopeful the July 26 win can continue giving her momentum the rest of the season.
“It definitely makes me feel like I can be competitive there a little bit more than I had thought prior, and I’m excited to get back to it,” Slaughter said. “I’m just excited to get back to it and see what we can do the rest of the season.”
Racing will return to Grandview this Saturday for the track’s 55th annual Forrest Rogers Memorial featuring Modifieds and Sportsman races beginning at 7:30 p.m. local time.
Around this time last year, the NASCAR world began hearing the name Connor Zilisch more frequently. Now, the teenager is on the fast track to becoming NASCAR’s next “superstar,” according to peers and pundits alike.
Zilisch returns to Watkins Glen International this weekend as the defending winner of the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Mission 200 at The Glen. The hype leading into the 2024 race weekend was real, with Zilisch being tabbed as the newest Red Bull athlete preceding his series debut. In practice, he was more than three-tenths of a second quicker than the field, which followed with a pole award.
Admittedly, the then-18-year-old made numerous mistakes throughout the race, spotlighted by following race leaders Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer through the bus stop under caution. Zilisch started the final stage from the rear of the field and powered through the pack at a rapid pace. When the checkered flag waved, Zilisch became the seventh driver in series history to win their first Xfinity Series start.
“It was way above my expectations. To win the Xfinity race in my debut was unreal and kick-started things that I didn’t even expect,” Zilisch told NASCAR.com. “It was the start of something great with JR Motorsports. It’s been a wild turn of events the last 12 months. That entire weekend was a dream come true, and I’m glad I got to experience that and live that.”
As Zilisch has settled into the NASCAR landscape, the young driver has learned that he doesn’t always need to be racing at 100% to win. The main adjustment? Just be in contention and capitalize at the end.
“As I’ve started to learn that, I’ve started to run better and be more consistent,” Zilisch said.
JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has seen Zilisch hone his racing talents first-hand, believes the young star shares similar qualities to NASCAR immortals Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, two superpowers among NASCAR’s elite.
“I don’t know when or how [Trackhouse] will plan to announce his future, but I think we can all see the writing on the wall,” Earnhardt said at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I think that kid has potential to do incredible, incredible, Hall of Fame-worthy things. I’m glad he is driving our car.”
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
Zilisch enters Watkins Glen on a heater, earning top-five finishes in 10 consecutive races. Over the last eight events, he’s gained 188 points on JRM teammate Justin Allgaier and is tied for the regular-season championship lead, even after missing a race due to a back injury. Since Pocono Raceway in late June, the No. 88 Chevrolet has won four of the last seven races, including a three-race win streak that was capped at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, delivering JRM’s 100th victory.
“I’ve done what I wanted to do,” Zilisch said of his rookie campaign. “I knew that starting the year, it wasn’t going to be easy. It takes time, but we’ve gotten better as the year has gone on and have started running up front consistently. It’s given us a lot of confidence going into the end of the year, and I wanted to start building this momentum before the playoffs.
“Come playoff time, you want to be swinging in the right direction and have momentum on your side, and I feel like we’re doing that right now.”
Away from the track, Zilisch remains a focal point in Josh Wise’s Wise Optimization program, assisting select Chevrolet drivers in their development to test their physical and mental limits. Zilisch, who considers Wise his primary mentor, found a home in the program long before making his Xfinity debut.
Ahead of Zilisch’s four-race stint with JRM in 2024, Wise repeatedly stated that he wanted the rookie to make mistakes, only for Zilisch to not feel the outside pressure. Even now, Wise doesn’t treat him any differently as he leads the junior program of Chevy racers.
“I wanted him to see that this is about getting experience and learning, not about some expectation that is coming at him at some different angle,” Wise said. “Mistakes are the greatest opportunities for us to learn and grow. We see mistakes as incredible opportunities. While it’s great that we don’t have them when we’re executing flawlessly, that’s just not realistic.”
While speed is evident, Zilisch has overcome multiple errors in 2025. He’s notably tangled with Allgaier, most recently at Iowa Speedway when the No. 7 car spun while battling at the front of the field. Contact with fellow rookie and JRM teammate Carson Kvapil also cut down a tire on the No. 1 Chevrolet at Circuit of The Americas in March, a race Zilisch went on to win.
With JRM having four full-time teams, dustups will naturally happen. Zilisch just hopes the No. 88 can continue executing at a high level.
“Top fives are good, but winning in the playoff system is such a bonus,” Zilisch said. “You want to win races, and it pays so well, points-wise, to win the races.”
With such a hefty playoff point total, Zilisch will have opportunities for a mulligan in the first two rounds of the postseason. The teenager, mature enough to be a grizzly veteran, recognizes that, even if he makes the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, the challenge will be an enormous one.
“As good of a chance that I feel like we’ll have, no doubt it will be difficult if we even make it,” he said.
Zilisch will next pull triple duty for the first time in his young career at Watkins Glen, making his fourth Cup Series start and filling in for Niece Motorsports in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race. With Trackhouse Racing and Daniel Suárez parting ways after 2025, Zilisch, who has a developmental deal with the organization, has his sights set on Cup Series racing and doesn’t take the 2025 opportunity lightly.
“I wish we could do more, but it’s really difficult to run a fourth car for Trackhouse,” Zilisch said of running select Cup races in 2025. “I’ve tried to make the most of the starts that I’ve had. I’ve learned so much from racing at Charlotte (Motor Speedway); that was such a long race. It was basically a 400-lap test session for me, and even though I didn’t run very well, I wanted to try different things every lap and learn what I could. Atlanta as well, just surviving the chaos and getting a good finish out of it was good for me and my confidence to allow me to feel like I could belong in the Cup Series.
“These starts are important. It’s a big jump from Xfinity to Cup, not only with the car but talent level. I have my work cut out for me and I have a lot to learn when I do make the jump to Sunday racing, but I’m trying to do all that I can now to prepare myself for it.”
With humbling experience gained over his first three career Cup Series races — including an 11th-place result at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta — Zilisch wouldn’t shock anyone if he contended at The Glen. Such road-course expertise from the youngster — including defeating Shane van Gisbergen in the Xfinity race at Sonoma Raceway last month — plays a part.
“I expect to be able to be as fast as anybody, but the racing is a lot different,” Zilisch said. “We could show up and have a car that’s not capable of winning, and that’s just part of Sunday racing.
“Trackhouse has been fast on road courses with Shane, and I feel like I’m naturally talented enough to run with him, but he’s a lot more polished than I am. It would take a really strong race for me to run up with him and the fast guys in the Cup Series. There is no doubt about it that I can’t do it.”
As for advancing to the Cup Series full time, those around Zilisch believe he’s ready for that step, no matter what happens in the final third of the Xfinity season.
“From where I sit, Connor is ready to go experience the Cup Series and learn,” Wise said. “I think he’s shown that he has the pace, vehicle control and the psychology to go and race at the highest level of motorsports.”
To celebrate 75 years worth of memories, the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team will be celebrated throughout the summer with “Wood Brothers Wednesdays” on The NASCAR Channel.
Wood Brothers Racing has been around since 1950, when Glen and Leonard Wood teamed up to pioneer a legacy that has transcended time.
Glen was behind the wheel of their car in 1960 at Bowman Gray Stadium and took the Wood Brothers Racing team to Victory Lane for the first time. The team scored its 101st NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2025, when Josh Berry took the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bookending those victories were triumphs everywhere from Daytona to Darlington to Rockingham and everywhere in between. Twenty of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers have piloted a car for the team throughout their storied history, one that is well worth celebrating.
This week’s content looks at the third generation of the Wood Brothers family, as well as their victory in 2025 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Former Wood Brothers driver Kyle Petty hosts “The Next Lap | A Roundtable discussion with Wood Brothers Racing’s Third Generation.” Petty sits down with the next generation of the Wood Brothers family, Jon, Keven and Jordan Wood, to talk about their lives in racing, some of their favorite moments and the past, present and future of the team.
The NASCAR Cup Series race from Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2025 will be on the schedule. This race saw Josh Berry capture the first victory of his Cup Series career, which was the 101st victory of the Wood Brothers Racing team. Berry’s victory early in the season helped kick off the Wood Brothers’ 75th anniversary celebration.
The NASCAR Channel delivers 24/7, always-on content, featuring the latest news and information from around the sport, original programming and race replays.
It is a FAST channel (Free-Ad Supported Television) and can be watched on your TV or mobile device via one of the streaming partners, such as Tubi or Xumo Play.
NASCAR officials have granted a waiver to Austin Hill, officials confirmed to NASCAR.com Tuesday night, allowing the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver to remain eligible for the Xfinity Series Playoffs despite missing last weekend’s race at Iowa Speedway.
Hill, a three-time winner in 2025, was suspended from Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 at Iowa for his actions in the July 26 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where officials viewed Hill intentionally crashed Aric Almirola in the waning laps of the event. Hill was also issued a five-lap penalty for reckless driving immediately after the incident.
By receiving the playoff waiver, Hill remains eligible for the postseason despite missing one of the Xfinity Series’ 33 races this year. However, as the result of a rule change established ahead of the 2025 campaign, Hill will forfeit the 21 playoff points he had earned through the opening 21 races and will be ineligible to receive any additional playoff points through the Xfinity Series’ regular-season finale at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sept. 6.
Hill will return to competition Saturday at Watkins Glen International (3 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he has one top-20 finish in three starts. The 31-year-old Georgia native sits fifth in the regular-season standings, 122 points behind series co-leaders Justin Allgaier and Connor Zilisch after Saturday’s race at Iowa.
Austin Dillon, winner of the 2018 Daytona 500 and 2017 Coca-Cola 600, replaced Hill in the No. 21 Chevrolet at Iowa and finished 14th in his second Xfinity start of the season. Dillon, the full-time racer of the No. 3 Chevrolet for RCR in the NASCAR Cup Series, also piloted the No. 3 car in the Xfinity Series to a 13th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.
Halmar Friesen Racing announced Tuesday that Kaden Honeycutt will substitute as the driver of the team’s No. 52 Toyota for the final eight races of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
The move comes as HFR’s primary driver, Stewart Friesen, recovers from serious injuries suffered July 28 in a crash at a Super DIRTcar Series event in Canada. Friesen, who will miss the rest of the season, has undergone multiple surgeries to treat pelvic and leg fractures.
“While I continue to recover, it was important for us to put someone in our truck that can help us compete at the highest level,” Friesen said in a team release. “I know Kaden will deliver strong performance in our truck and allow us to continue to run for the owner’s championship.”
Honeycutt’s appointment comes one day after his release by Niece Motorsports. The Al Niece-owned organization severed those ties Monday, saying the 22-year-old driver had signed with a different team and manufacturer for the 2026 season.
Honeycutt released a statement later Monday, indicating he intended to keep his eligibility for the Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs intact. Honeycutt ranks sixth in the series standings, and he sits ninth in the provisional playoff picture with a 73-point cushion above the elimination line.
“It’s an honor to be able to fill in for Stewart for the rest of the season and help give his team a chance at the owner’s championship, which they earned,” Honeycutt said. “I’m excited to compete in contending, race-winning equipment as I pursue a title this season. We are going to work hard to have a solid final eight races of the season and continue to deliver great results for Stewart, his family and this organization.”
Cup Series regular Christopher Bell has been tapped to drive Halmar Friesen’s No. 52 Toyota in Friday’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen International (5 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Honeycutt’s tenure with the No. 52 team is scheduled to begin Aug. 15 in the regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway. He will take the wheel of the No. 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend at Watkins Glen, an opportunity that will allow him to meet the requirement of competing in every event to remain championship-eligible.
Two-time defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron and No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Rudy Fugle deployed a brilliant fuel strategy Sunday at Iowa Speedway to corral win No. 2 and reclaim the NASCAR Cup Series points lead. Byron’s playoff spot was locked down in February, but defending Watkins Glen winner Chris Buescher holds onto the final provisional playoff spot — and is anything but secure. Will he go back-to-back and nail down his postseason status?
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series contenders after the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway and before Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Analysis: Sunday felt like a significant shift (or even a correction) in the hierarchy of power in the Cup Series, with the best driver of 2025 finally re-establishing his title-favorite status and winning his first race since February. Iowa provided an oddly necessary sigh of relief for an exceptional No. 24 group, which honestly might just go out and rip off two in a row on Sunday at Watkins Glen.
Analysis: Elliott didn’t have an awful Iowa race, leading 11 laps and still finishing inside the top 15, but No. 9 did walk out of the “Hawkeye State” without the points lead that he walked in with. This weekend would be a great time for the 2020 champ to finally add an eighth road-course win, and if he does, it’ll be his third overall at the New York facility.
Analysis: The frustration of Iowa more fit the trend of Larson’s summer as a whole rather than his brief respite of top fives in the two weeks leading in, and it’s a bit concerning given the team’s emphasis on the track and its similarity to the championship site at Phoenix. That said, all of those frustrations could be washed away in quick order by the end of the weekend, as the two-time WGI winner should be up for the checkered again this Sunday.
Analysis: The short-track master Hamlin had high hopes for his return to Iowa Speedway after leading 81 laps before finishing 34th in the inaugural event last year, but those hopes were squandered with a 24th-place finish. Watkins Glen is an odd track for him, with just 21 laps led across the veteran’s 18 career starts there, and yet he’s got a win and five top fives in the last eight races at the track.
Analysis: Blaney was certainly in contention for a second straight Iowa win, which also certainly bodes well for Team Penske’s title hopes later this season at Phoenix, a track it seems to have mastered and shares similarities with the Newton facility. A track Blaney is still working on, however, is Watkins Glen, where No. 12 has led just a pair of laps in his career and just one top 10 this decade.
Analysis: Bell has three wins in the books, so he didn’t necessarily need a strong run, but Iowa, on paper, looked like a spot he could potentially bolster his positioning with and he instead scored his fewest points in a month. The three-time road-course winner surprisingly has yet to lead a lap at Watkins Glen despite three top-10 finishes in four starts there, but he could change that Sunday.
Analysis: Briscoe just continues to get stronger and stronger as he gets more familiar with his new surroundings and builds his relationship with crew chief James Small. Past No. 19 Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. had plenty of success at the two upcoming tracks, and it feels like Briscoe could win multiple races the rest of the way. Perhaps one of them comes soon.
Analysis: Bowman, by now, is used to being the Hendrick Motorsports driver that flies under the radar, but his 8.0 average finish across the past eight races is just as elite as the trio atop the standings. He’ll put that to the test this weekend, though, as Bowman — who has shown he’s capable of winning on road courses — has yet to even crack the top 10 in his eight Watkins Glen appearances.
Analysis: Byron won the race, but Wallace might’ve had the most impressive afternoon after being two laps down with 80 to go on Sunday before clawing back to finish a mesmerizing sixth. He’s on quite a roll and will get a heat check at The Glen as well, where, like Bowman, he also hasn’t landed a top 10 yet.
Analysis: It’s hard to believe we’re three races away from the end of the 2025 regular season and the reigning Regular Season Champion is still winless. He’s on a three-race skid outside the top 10, but Reddick’s first three Watkins Glen starts all yielded finishes inside of it, so that could be halted on Sunday.
Analysis: It’s also surprising to see the reigning Cup Series champion turning in his worst average finish to date at Team Penske, but that’s where we’re at with Logano, who’s posted a 17.3 average through 23 races in 2025. Iowa was a step in the right direction, however, and Logano is a former winner at The Glen; perhaps the reversal has begun.
Analysis: Chastain had a perfectly fine race at Iowa with an 11th-place run, but failed to capitalize on what appeared to be a spot he could win. Last year’s Watkins Glen pole winner led the field for 51 laps there — so, maybe this is going to be his weekend, instead.
Analysis: Preece’s long-talked-about talent is finally starting to shine through on a weekly basis as his first career playoff appearance becomes more and more of a potential reality. Watkins Glen marked the site of one of his five top 10s last year, and he now drives for the team that won the race, so he should keep it rolling on Sunday.
Analysis: Of course, Buescher is the driver who actually won that race last year, and this weekend sparks the start of a crucial three-race stretch for him. The No. 17 driver has won at every remaining regular-season track and has been excellent at The Glen the past three years. Now’s his shot.
Analysis: Cindric wound up just outside the top 10 at Iowa in 12th but has now led a combined 60 laps the past two weeks after a combined 25 in the previous 10. It does feel like he’s got a Cup Series road-course win in him at some point, so why not now, when he’s running well and the pressure’s off?
Analysis: Busch seems to be able to do just enough to hang around and get to the finish of races these days, but the opportunities to find the front of the field are few and far between — No. 8 has just seven laps led since Circuit of The Americas in March. The two-time Watkins Glen winner and two-time champion, however, should never be counted out, especially with a playoff spot on the line.
Analysis: Berry appeared set to contend for his first top 10 since early May, but it never quite materialized for the short-track ace in the Midwest. His lone start at The Glen wasn’t a favorable one, either, and this weekend might not be one where he picks up a lot of momentum heading into his first Cup playoff run.
Analysis: Gibbs thus far has the exact same average finish (17.4) as last year, but nearly all of his other top-level stats are trailing down from his sophomore campaign. He could use a boost as he still looks for his first Cup win, and, notably, he did turn in a top five at The Glen in 2023.
Analysis: Iowa is not a simple track, but SVG hung in there for a good portion of the race before things unraveled for him while running eighth. Obviously, he will be the favorite this weekend after his torrid pace on road courses this year and his very near win at The Glen a season ago.
Analysis: Keselowski is back in a big way, leaping a whopping five spots in the standings as he’s suddenly points-relevant again. It’s almost certainly too little, too late in that department, and a win is likely needed to make the playoffs, but he’s clearly capable of doing so right now. It’s never happened before, but he’s looked quite capable of winning at Watkins Glen in the past as well. Now would be the most fitting time for No. 1 to happen.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is back in action after a brief off week with a return to the road course at Watkins Glen on Friday (5 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
A slew of Cup Series regulars will be in Friday’s race, including RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut this weekend, driving the No. 66 ThorSport Racing Ford. Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch will return to drive the No. 07 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain will be back in No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet. Christopher Bell will also fill in for Stewart Friesen in the No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota as Friesen recovers from injuries sustained from a Super DIRTcar Series race.
Brent Crews Motorsports will make its series debut this weekend at Watkins Glen with owner/driver Brent Crews behind the wheel of the newly formed No. 70 Toyota team. While William Sawalich returns to No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota for his fifth start of 2025.
See the full entry list for the Mission 176 at The Glen:
The NASCAR Cup Series makes its way to Upstate New York for road-course racing on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Forty cars mark the entry list for this week’s Go Bowling at The Glen. A notable addition to the starting grid will be up-and-comer Connor Zilisch, who will pilot the No. 87 Red Bull Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing for the fourth time this season. The 19-year-old’s most recent appearance in the Cup Series came at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta on June 28, earning his best career finish to date in 11th place. Zilisch made his Xfinity Series debut last fall at Watkins Glen and did so with a splash, winning the pole position and leading 45 of 90 laps to score the win. He is currently tied with JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier for the Xfinity Series points lead.
Additional part-time entries include Katherine Legge in the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, J.J. Yeley in the No. 44 NY Yacing Team Chevrolet and Josh Bilicki in the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford.
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is the defending winner at The Glen and enters 23 points above the provisional elimination line in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs standings with just three races remaining in the regular season.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series transitions from short-track racing at Iowa Speedway to road-course competition at Watkins Glen International, with the Mission 200 at The Glen on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Connor Zilisch returns to the site of his debut and first Xfinity Series victory, driving the No. 88 once again for JR Motorsports and seeking his sixth triumph of the 2025 season.
Austin Hill returns to wheel the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after a one-race suspension was levied following an on-track incident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Full-time Cup Series regular Michael McDowell, meanwhile, will race in Xfinity competition for the first time since 2016 as pilot of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Cup full-timer Shane van Gisbergen will additionally race in the event, driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Niece Motorsports announced Monday that Kaden Honeycutt has been released as the driver of its No. 45 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, saying that the driver had signed with a different team and manufacturer for 2026.
In a statement, the Al Niece-owned organization indicated that Xfinity Series regular Connor Zilisch will drive the No. 45 Chevy in Friday’s Truck Series race at Watkins Glen International (5 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The team also said that Bayley Currey will pick up driving duties in the No. 45 entry for the final eight Truck Series races of the season.
The dismissal is a jarring personnel move considering Honeycutt’s stature in the Craftsman Truck Series standings with just two races left in the regular season. The 22-year-old driver ranks sixth in the points, and he holds ninth place in the provisional playoff picture — 73 points above the elimination line and in prime position to secure one of the series’ 10 postseason berths.
Honeycutt released his own statement later Monday, expressing his appreciation to the Niece team for their time together and saying that he intended to keep his bid for playoff eligibility alive.
“I would like to thank Niece Motorsports, specifically Al Niece, Cody Efaw and Phil Gould, as well as Josh Morris with DQS and Jason Wilson with Precision Vehicle Logistics, for the opportunity to drive the No. 45 Chevrolet in 2025,” Honeycutt’s statement read. “My plan is to continue to contend for race wins and position myself to make the playoffs this season. I look forward to sharing my plans for the remainder of 2025 and beyond in the near future.”
In its statement, Niece did not specify Honeycutt’s destination for next season, but said that “making this change allows our team the opportunity to begin building for next year.”
Honeycutt had recorded two top-five finishes and nine top-10 results this season. He had also made starts for Niece Motorsports in partial Truck Series campaigns the last two years.
Niece Motorsports said that Phil Gould will remain crew chief for the No. 45 team, indicating that no other personnel changes had occurred.
Honeycutt is a multiple-time winner in CARS Tour competition, claiming the Pro Late Model championship last season for the first time. He also scored a prestigious Super Late Model triumph in the Snowball Derby last December.
With the substitution, Zilisch will run triple duty this weekend at Watkins Glen. In six career Truck Series starts (all coming in 2024), Zilisch has logged one top-five finish. Currey, meanwhile, has tallied eight Truck Series starts this season in the No. 44 Niece Chevrolet, logging one top five and three top-10 finishes.
