Kaden Honeycutt wins Craftsman Truck Series finale to secure 2026 championship

Posted on November 6, 2026November 7, 2026 by Reid Spencer

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Under caution with 27 laps left in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Chase leader Kaden Honeycutt was debating whether to pit for his last set of fresh tires.

“I say we pit, put ’em on and go for it,” Honeycutt radioed to crew chief Scott Zipadelli.

That’s exactly what Honeycutt did. Gaining the lead after a restart on Lap 120 of 134, he pulled away from runner-up Christian Eckes to win not only the race but his first series championship.

Knowing the title was his — and screaming with raw emotion — Honeycutt powered his No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota across the finish line 1.038 seconds ahead of Eckes to score his fifth victory of the season, his first at 1.5-mile Homestead and the fifth of his career.

“Man, this is amazing,” Honeycutt exulted. “I’ve worked so damn hard to be here. Thank you to every owner, thank you, everybody, that’s let me drive the race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, doesn’t matter.

“That is because of you guys I’m sitting right here with this group behind me as champions. I’m so out of breath, I wish I could talk harder. Thank you, fans, for showing up. We just won Homestead and the damn championship.”

Honeycutt’s decision to abandon the conservative approach he had adopted early in the race paid enormous dividends.

“The first half of the race I did not want to push it too hard,” he said. “It fell in our hands. I put my nuts on the dash and wanted to win the race.”

WATCH: Honeycutt gives memorable interview following triumph

The drivers’ championship was the 11th in the series for Toyota, achieved in the same No. 11 Toyota Corey Heim drove to a single-season-record 12 victories and the championship last year.

Billed as a shootout between Honeycutt and Layne Riggs, the head-to-head battle never materialized. After side-to-side contact with the No. 77 Chevrolet of pole winner Nick Sanchez on Lap 2, Riggs No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford was never the same.

The contact cut Riggs’ right rear tire, forcing him to pit road on Lap 17. At the end of Stage 1, Riggs stayed on the track to take a wave-around, but on Lap 46, he pitted again with a shredded right rear.

A pass-through penalty for too many crew members over the wall on his stop left him seven laps down. Ultimately, Riggs finished 32nd and ended the season second in the series standings, 83 points behind Honeycutt.

READ: Riggs suffers multiple flat tires

“After that initial contact, I don’t know what happened to the 77 (Sanchez),” Riggs said of the run-in that cost him a shot at the title. “I thought I was good. They said we were close together. I got super free up under him. Next thing I knew, we got a tire down.”

Then the second flat tire cost Riggs any hope he might have had.

“Obviously, we weren’t able to put the consistency together to be champions tonight,” Riggs said. “We knew we were going to have to run an almost perfect race. That’s hard to do anytime, any series, any level and division.

“But I’m just proud of the entire team that we were even in the mix; we even had a chance to become champion. It was disappointing to know I didn’t even know what my truck was going to be.”

Daniel Hemric, Eckes’ teammate at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, finished third, followed by Ty Majeski and Stewart Friesen. Heim was sixth in the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota after winning the first and second stages.

Despite competing in only nine of the 25 Truck Series races, Heim scored three victories this season and finished 17th in the points.

Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia, Grant Enfinger and Corey LaJoie completed the top 10. Smith finished third in the final standings behind Riggs, his teammate.

Zipadelli claimed his second straight championship as a crew chief, having guided Heim to the title last season. Honeycutt gave Zipadelli enormous credit for his steady-handed encouragement.

“Scott Zipadelli is the best damn crew chief on that pit road,” Honeycutt asserted. “He’s the best man out there. He’s not just a Hall of Fame crew chief; he’s a Hall of Fame man. He’s done nothing but mentor me and make me better every single week.”

Obviously, the guidance bore fruit on Friday night.

The 2027 NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series season begins Friday, Feb. 19, at Daytona International Speedway, with both Honeycutt and Riggs returning for full-time campaigns – and for Honeycutt, championship defense is on his mind.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Honeycutt as the Homestead winner. There were also no issues with the No. 11 engine teardown on Saturday, confirming Honeycutt as the 2026 champion.

Posted on November 6, 2026November 7, 2026 by Nathan Solomon

One year ago, Kaden Honeycutt finished third in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, two spots behind Corey Heim and the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota.

Can’t beat ’em? Join ’em.

Honeycutt won the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, winning the season finale and outlasting Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs over a thrilling seven-race Chase. The championship comes in his second full-time season, bookending a story of perseverance for the once little-known driver.

“Man, this is amazing. I’ve worked so damn hard to be here,” Honeycutt said, gasping for breath just moments after exiting his truck on the Homestead frontstretch. “Thank you to every owner, thank you everybody that’s let me drive the race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, doesn’t matter. That is because of you guys I’m sitting right here with this group behind me as champions.”

Honeycutt secured the title with relative ease at Homestead. Though he made the race-winning pass with 15 laps to go, Riggs suffered two blown tires, falling several laps off the pace. It would’ve taken remarkable circumstances for Riggs to mount a comeback over the final 100 circuits at the Florida oval.

Honeycutt admitted that he would’ve preferred to duke it out all night with the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver. But when Riggs suffered his issues, it allowed Honeycutt to relax.

“I really just want to make sure I honestly just finished the race,” Honeycutt said in his post-race press conference. “I knew the race wasn’t over. I mean, anything could happen to me. I could blow an engine. I could blow a transmission. I could blow a right front tire and destroy the truck.

“I just was trying to stay mentally focused. I mean, I lost it when I took the white flag when I knew it was over. It was pretty awesome.”

WATCH: Honeycutt talks mindset shift

Riggs was the most dominant driver over the first 18 races this season, winning six times to earn the No. 1 seed for The Chase presented by Mobil 1. Honeycutt put up stout numbers himself, winning twice for his first two national-series victories. The Willow Park, Texas, native scored his first win in May at Watkins Glen International, coming mere hours after his first career ARCA Menards Series win at the 2.45-mile road course.

That victory in New York’s Finger Lakes Region was the turning point — at least crew chief Scott Zipadelli thought so.

“I could see a big weight lifted off of Kaden’s shoulders,” said Zipadelli, who suffered serious injuries in an off-season accident and missed the first three races. “I think he felt he had to perform at the level we were when Corey drove last year. It was kind of smooth sailing right after Watkins Glen. We just let our heads down, kept working hard, and Kaden did an amazing job of growing in all kinds of areas and aspects as a young man and a race car driver.

“I’ll be honest with you, this is probably one of the most rewarding championships I’ve had in that aspect.”

But even though Honeycutt scored top fives in three of the next four, he found that May stretch of races as a wake-up call.

“I needed to still work and figure out what I needed to do to be better,” he said. “I think a little bit was pressure, but I think a lot of that was perfecting race craft, getting better at what I needed in my truck. Our connection getting a lot better at the race track and off the race track definitely helped that situation, too.

“I definitely had the expectation to be a champion. It wasn’t because the vehicles weren’t going to be fast enough. It was because I didn’t do my job, right? I didn’t want that. My desire to win is more than probably anybody you can ask for.”

MORE: All Craftsman Truck Series champions

Honeycutt’s second truck triumph came dominantly, leading 225 of 250 laps at Richmond Raceway in August.

That was the moment he felt like he was a true championship contender.

“We sucked at IRP and North Wilkesboro for no reason,” Honeycutt said. “We figured it out what it was. Had a new left-side tire that we struggled on the short track stuff, but then we went to work, Scott went to work and the guys, and we got much better at Richmond. Our short track stuff came alive a lot better.”

Richmond set a tone for the postseason.

A tone that he certainly lived up to.

Starting The Chase with an eighth-place finish, Honeycutt earned top fives in the next four, including wins at Kansas Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. He had one of the best trucks in the antepenultimate race at Talladega Superspeedway but slid back to fifth in the closing moments despite leading late.

Honeycutt was hardly immune to adversity, either. At Charlotte, he brushed the wall while battling Riggs for the victory, opening the door for the No. 34 to capitalize and cut the championship gap to 17 points. At Martinsville, late contact from Tristan McKee shuffled Honeycutt from the top five to 14th, trimming his advantage over Riggs to 20 points heading into Homestead.

Riggs needed to play catch-up from the get-go. In the opener at Bristol, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team had a loose wheel in the final stage, finishing several laps down in 32nd. A bounce back seemed in order at Kansas, but while battling Honeycutt for the win, Riggs slapped the wall and dropped back to finish 19th — another costly mishap.

Riggs won the next race at Charlotte to cut his deficit to 17 points, but Honeycutt rebuilt his advantage to 43 after Talladega. Even after Riggs dominated Martinsville and reduced the gap to 20, he still faced an uphill battle heading into Homestead.

Honeycutt’s remarkable title-clinching performance comes a year after heartbreak. But he was never supposed to be this close.

In 2025, Honeycutt planned to embark on a full campaign in Niece Motorsports’ No. 45 Chevrolet. He raced for Al Niece in the first 16 events, climbing as high as fifth in points by the midpoint of summer. But before Watkins Glen, Niece released him, saying that Honeycutt had signed with a different team and manufacturer for 2026.

Young’s Motorsports picked him up for a one-off at The Glen to remain eligible for the postseason. For the playoffs, he shifted to Halmar-Friesen Racing’s No. 52 Toyota in place of Stewart Friesen — who had suffered severe injuries in a dirt modified crash in Canada — for the rest of the season.

In his eight races, Honeycutt finished no worse than 18th, recording three straight top 10s to finish the campaign and posing a serious threat to Corey Heim’s championship hopes.

Heim won a series-record 12 races en route to a championship last year — all with the Scott Zipadelli-led No. 11 team that Honeycutt has now driven to a championship.

WATCH: Scott Zipadelli talks title

“I put myself on a pedestal that if you’re not perfect, then you need to get your butt to work and figure out what it takes to win,” Honeycutt said. “Just to be able to work with a race team like this, I never would have thought I’d be able to race for Toyota or Tricon, or let alone a guy like Scott and this race team. It’s been an amazing time. To be honest, I can sit here and say I was not a champion driver to start this season. I really took losses to the heart really, really bad. I gave bad interviews, bad looks outside of the race track. I didn’t handle ’em very well.

“I went to work really hard, perfected my craft a lot better. He worked with me on sim, outside the shop, getting together and talking about life, things like that. I think that can transfer to the race shop, also driving the vehicle. I really think it has for me.”

Before embarking on full-time NASCAR racing, Honeycutt raced three part-time seasons in the Truck Series. He first joined Niece as a driver in 2023, also taking on a shop mechanic and fabrication role while making additional starts for Young’s and Roper Racing.

Honeycutt is a former CARS Pro Late Model Tour champion. As he cut his teeth in the regional ranks, he raced for RFK Racing in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

And the emotions of that journey came flooding out Friday night.

“This is for all the dirt track racers back at home in Texas that I raced with when I was 12 years old all the way until 17,” he said. “I worked with my daddy in the shop for so dang long to even be in the dirt track business running Friday and Saturday, running a stock car, running a modified, anything I could hop in.

“I moved to North Carolina to work on the trucks. The only opportunity I had to was to work on the vehicles I was going to drive.”

Less than five years ago, Honeycutt was hardly known. Now, he’s a Truck Series champion – and the sky is the limit.

Posted on November 6, 2026November 7, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Layne Riggs’ championship hopes unraveled almost immediately in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford got loose racing Nick Sanchez for fourth place on Lap 2 and slid the right side of his machine against Sanchez’s left. Fourteen laps later, his right-rear tire came apart, damaging his fenders and ultimately destroying his championship hopes as Kaden Honeycutt stormed to the victory and the title, besting Riggs by a whopping 83-point margin.

By the end of Stage 1 on Lap 30, Riggs was trapped two laps down in 34th place after he was forced to pit road on Lap 16 to replace the flat tire. The team opted to take the wave-around under the stage break to get one of his laps back, but the misery was just starting. Riggs hit pit road again on Lap 45 as his team addressed the damage under green-flag conditions, then received a penalty for too many crewmen going over the wall and had to return to pit road for a pass-through penalty, returning to competition seven laps down.

The dejection was palpable when Riggs finally climbed from the truck, finishing 32nd, six laps down.

“The pressures weren’t even up on the tires yet. We were already out of contention and never even knew what the balance was going to be,” Riggs said. “Never knew how fast my truck was going to be. I look at it as we blew up on Lap 2 or 3, just from a notes standpoint. We don’t really know what we were even going to have, so that’s what’s more disappointing for me.”

But the 24-year-old, second-generation racer managed to hold his head high despite his disappointment. In his third full-time season, Riggs bloomed into a true championship contender, entering as the No. 1 seed in The Chase presented by Mobil 1, all while earning a career-best seven wins.

“I had a long time to think about it in the truck, and I’m just thinking about the positives of the year we had,” said Riggs, who entered Friday’s race 20 points behind Honeycutt. “We knew it was going to be — I wouldn’t say a long shot or Hail Mary, whatever words you guys want to use — but it was going to take a lot of execution today to get it done, and we knew that was going to be difficult no matter what. And yeah, I mean, I’m just glad to put a pin at the end of the season, knowing we tried our best.”

Riggs wasn’t quite sure what happened that upended his day. The contact appeared slight, but the damage was done in a near-instant.

WATCH: Contact with Sanchez leads to Riggs’ damage | More issues strike Riggs

“I don’t really know what happened there at the beginning,” Riggs said. “I feel like it kind of happened out of nowhere. I thought I was all good. Next thing I know, I’m sideways in the 77, and so I have no clue exactly what happened. But I had plenty of time riding around about 10 laps down to think about my day today, my year leading up to it. And of course I’m disappointed about this one race. But at the same time, I’m just so proud that I was even in a position to walk out on the stage before the race (and) had the potential at a championship.”

Riggs will be back in the No. 34 truck next season, likely fighting Honeycutt for the championship all over again in 2027, when the division becomes known as the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series. The two proved to be the class of the field in 2026, combining for 12 race wins across the 25-race season.

“I think that it’s pretty obvious that we’re the two best, consistently fastest trucks week in and week out,” Riggs said. “Me and Kaden, we raced a long time against each other. This, tonight, was his night. During The Chase, he had a lot better run. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re more consistent like they were. That team has a lot of experience on top of the pit box and in their shop. We’re all still two-, three-year people just trying to learn and figure things out. I think that’s where we lack in our consistency department. But every spot that we weren’t number one is stuff that we’re motivated to get better at.”

Posted on November 6, 2026November 7, 2026 by Staff Report

Chase Briscoe turned the fastest time in Friday’s 50-minute NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the final tune-up session of the 2026 season. Briscoe laid down a fast lap of 165.239 mph around the 1.5-mile oval, earning top honors for the day in South Beach.

Denny Hamlin led the remaining Chase presented by Mobil 1 drivers, turning a 164.684 mph lap for third- best overall. Christopher Bell was fourth fastest at 164.649 mph. Bell trails Kyle Larson by 67 points and Hamlin trails by 70, both needing a win and help to keep their championship hopes alive.

Larson was 10th fastest, turning a best lap of 163.895 mph. He made just 33 laps during the session as he scraped the outside wall multiple times while running the boards.

Austin Cindric was second fastest, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five. Daniel Suárez, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano and Michael McDowell were fifth through ninth fastest.

Blaney had the best 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-lap averages.

The session’s only incident came at the very end. Tyler Reddick contacted the back end of Zane Smith’s No. 38 Ford while entering pit road just 10 seconds before the session officially ended.

Posted on November 6, 2026November 7, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — So you’re saying there’s a chance?

Neither Christopher Bell nor Denny Hamlin feel optimistic heading into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell is second in points, 67 markers behind Kyle Larson, the series leader and the apparent champion-in-waiting with a healthy advantage over his competition. Hamlin, Bell’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, is third in points, 70 back of Larson. Both Bell and Hamlin are seeking their first championships.

MORE: Homestead-Miami schedule | Cup standings

The odds are not in their favor. Larson would clinch the championship by scoring as few as eight stage points, even if either Bell or Hamlin score a perfect 76-point day. But they stand a chance. Sort of.

“I mean, I don’t have any optimism,” Hamlin said. “I don’t. I’m here to try to have fun and try to win the race if possible. No matter what — I mean, there’s obviously a chance you can win the lottery as well. But do you really count on that?”

Missteps throughout The Chase presented by Mobil 1 have cost both points that would have tightened the gap to Larson entering the 2026 finale. Bell’s most apparent mistake came at Talladega Superspeedway, where he entered just five points behind Larson but crashed entering pit road during Stage 1, squandering a golden opportunity to manage the point gap to Larson heading into the final two races of the season. That hasn’t proven to cost him a shot at this championship yet, but Bell lost a whopping 69 points to Larson that afternoon.

In short, execution has been the Achilles’ heel of Bell and the No. 20 team throughout The Chase.

“It was certainly not ideal,” Bell said of his postseason. “I mean, we had the car performance, had the speed, and yeah, just execution … lack of it is the reason why we’re not in a better spot than we are.”

Hamlin walked into The Chase as the apparent man to beat, the No. 1 seed with a 25-point advantage over the next-nearest competitor. But throughout this 10-race postseason, the No. 11 team has yet to mirror the dominance it once showed this season, winless since June when it strung three consecutive victories together. Instead, errors and unfortunate circumstances put Hamlin behind week after week throughout the postseason, culminating in a performance that may leave Hamlin short of the championship yet again.

“I think as long as the season is, this Chase can be defined by a few really small, short moments, and you just don’t really know what they are until it happens or it’s post-mortem,” Hamlin said. “But yeah, it’s a long, grueling season, but there’s just little moments that just was the turning point that you’re either gonna end up winning the championship or not.”

Time is running out, and a scheduled 267 laps are all that stand between the drivers and establishing the 2026 Cup Series champion. There is a shared disappointment between Bell and Hamlin, who have watched Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet gap the field across the last two weeks. Toyota has not won a championship since 2019, when Kyle Busch clinched the title at Homestead-Miami.

The expectation at Joe Gibbs Racing — which fields Toyota Camry XSEs for Bell, Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs — was to end the championship drought. Instead, it continues into 2027.

“I was very confident that it was going to be a Toyota driver that won the championship,” Bell said. “And ultimately, I think whenever we got into The Chase, the 5 car had a pickup in performance, but I still think by the numbers there have been guys in Toyota cars specifically that have been faster than them. But we all shot ourselves in the foot one way or the other.”

Hamlin has been with JGR for all of its tenure with Toyota. With Busch’s two championships and Martin Truex Jr.’s title in 2017, the manufacturer has three Cup Series driver championships since joining Cup in 2007.

“I think it needs to be looked at personally, internally with Toyota and JGR and Legacy and 23XI,” Hamlin said. “I think we have to figure out that the win ratio to championship ratio has just not been as good as it needs to be, so I think that needs to be a deep dive and honestly figure out what needs to be changed.

“I don’t think we should just rinse and repeat and let’s just do this all again next year. I think we really should think about what it’s going to take to win the big prize at the end, because our cars are too fast for there to be just … three championships in 20 years. We’ve got to fix that.”

Tyler Gibbs, president of Toyota Racing Development, agreed late Friday evening that there is “some more work to do.” He stopped short of signaling a full retooling, particularly after an 18-win season for Toyota clinched the company its first Cup Series’ Manufacturers’ Championship since 2019. But that ratio of wins to drivers’ championships looms.

“When you look at the numbers from a top level, let’s take the last 10 years, so (2017), ’18, ’19 — very, very strong,” Gibbs said. “Won a couple of manufacturers’ championships, won a couple of drivers’ championships. The car changes to the Next Gen car (in 2022). We see some challenges there candidly. You look at last year, we won 14 races. This year we won 18 races. It feels like we are getting back to a little bit of where we were in ’17, ’18, ’19. Not that we were far off. But this is a really tough garage. They’re going to take advantage of every single weakness, whether it’s a mistake you make or whether it’s them just excelling in the given moment, as we saw a number of times in the championship race itself.

“I don’t think there’s a fundamental flaw, if you will. Again, this year we won 18 races. Thrilled that we won the manufacturers’ championship. When you look at what that means, the way that whole — we’ve affected so many drivers and so many individual car teams. That shows the breadth of our impact. It’s not just us, it’s the drivers, the teams. But it’s that partnership across all of them. I think we take a lot of pride in that.”

TRD also takes pride in having two contenders still eligible for the 2026 drivers’ championship in Bell and Hamlin.

“To have won 18 and not won the drivers’ (championship) is disappointing,” Gibbs said. “We still have a shot. We’ve got two shots. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re going to need some help. But anything’s possible. We’re going to give it all we’ve got on Sunday.”

Indeed, Kyle Larson can still lose this title to either Bell or Hamlin if disaster strikes the No. 5 team under the lights at Homestead-Miami on Sunday.

So whether or not the drivers are optimistic, there is still a chance.

Posted on November 6, 2026November 6, 2026 by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Carson Hocevar held court and answered questions about his recent on-track conduct Friday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway, two days ahead of a NASCAR Cup Series season finale that he won’t run, saying, “I lost the keys to my car for the weekend. I did not lose the ability to be here, and it’s a privilege to be here.”

Spire Motorsports suspended Hocevar for Sunday’s year-ending race (3 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after he repeatedly stabbed his car’s brakes to initiate contact with Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Justin Haley will drive the No. 77 Chevrolet this weekend in Hocevar’s place.

Hocevar’s responses were halting at times during the 20-minute question-and-answer session, though he acknowledged responsibility for his Martinsville actions.

“I think it’s important for everybody included that it’s defendable when it’s racing, and that wasn’t really racing,” Hocevar said. “There’s just not really like a defense for it. So, yeah, I think ultimately the line in the sand for all of us is just, let’s just keep racing.”

NASCAR officials added their own penalties hours later on Tuesday, issuing a $100,000 fine and stripping him of 25 points in the Cup Series driver standings. The severity of the punishment, competition officials said, stemmed from Hocevar’s multiple violations of the code of conduct.

Spire released a statement that accompanied its decision Tuesday, and Hocevar also hinted at the accumulation of missteps on his ledger in a video he released Thursday. “The way Carson conducted himself at Martinsville doesn’t meet the standard we set for our drivers, team members or employees, and there are consequences for that,” the Spire statement read. “That doesn’t mean we don’t love him and support him. Racing at the Cup level is a privilege, and it comes with an expected level of professionalism from everyone who represents Spire Motorsports.”

Hocevar said Friday that he accepted the penalties, both from his team and NASCAR. “I forced their decision,” he said. “It’s not anybody else that’s doing this to me. I did this.”

Hocevar’s third full Cup Series season has been a breakout one, with a springtime first win at Talladega Superspeedway and his debut appearance in The Chase presented by Mobil 1. It’s also been a polarizing campaign, with several on-track run-ins – most notably a fevered scrap with Ryan Blaney at Bristol and a pair of high-profile altercations with longtime rival Zane Smith.

It’s also not the first time he’s drawn fines for on-track behavior. “Maybe the stove wasn’t hot enough,” Hocevar said. “I keep putting my hand on it until it finally burned and burned my hand. I think so. I think my hand’s pretty burnt. So yeah, hopefully for my wallet, but also for my team and everybody, this is the last fine I’ve got to deal with. But ultimately, it’s not the fines; it’s more so obviously the actions that come with the fines.”

Last Sunday at Martinsville, Hocevar abruptly slammed on his brakes multiple times in front of Cindric, causing terminal damage to his Team Penske entry and ending his race in Stage 2. Hocevar said only “it’s just Martinsville” after finishing 21st, but later admitted to brake-checking his fellow Chase competitor during his Thursday video.

Asked how he would balance his aggressive nature without pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable, Hocevar was blunt.

MORE: Friday recap from Homestead

“I think it’s very simple,” Hocevar said. “You know, they put it in the highlight and commercial reels with the front bumper. They’re not going to put it with the rear bumper, and badasses make moves going forward, not backwards.”

NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell acknowledged Hocevar during the annual State of the Sport address earlier Friday as part of a more general discussion about drivers being free to carve out their own identities while being more open about on-track drama. O’Donnell noted Hocevar’s recent actions but also his rise in popularity with fans, who have been the beneficiaries of his fondness for at-track interactions.

“There’s certainly some challenges, but I like what he brings to the fan base in terms of going out, meeting with fans, talking,” O’Donnell said. “Does he have some things to work on on-track? Absolutely, and we’ve talked about that, and we all know where that stands today. But I think if you look at licensed merchandise, engagement, fans are really hungry to embrace a driver, to find their driver, and the more drivers we can have the fans say ‘that’s my favorite driver,’ the better the sport will be.”

The fans’ embrace has not necessarily meant the same in the Cup Series garage, an area where Hocevar admits he has room to grow.

“Ultimately you can have respect, but also know that yeah, I’d probably be super-aggressive, right, and kind of balance that line,” Hocevar said. “But I think the line in the sand is the sportsmanship, integrity part of it that I’m probably well past that. So, when it’s not checked at the door, you probably start taking and get greedy and keep going for further throws and further fouls, and eventually I made a very flagrant unsportsmanlike foul, so I think that’s where the difference is.”

Posted on November 6, 2026November 6, 2026 by Reid Spencer

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In his first “State of the Sport” news conference as NASCAR CEO, Steve O’Donnell accentuated the positives — and there was much to accentuate.

O’Donnell took to the dais at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the announcement of car maker Dodge’s return to the NASCAR Cup Series less than a week old.

The return to Homestead for the season finale also coincided with the adoption of a multi-race Chase format for determining the champions in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series this year.

Gone were the headwinds of a lawsuit overhanging the industry during last year’s Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Last December, NASCAR reached an amicable settlement of the suit brought by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

During the months that followed, the sport has seen significant increases in attendance at its races — notably among younger fans — a burgeoning social media presence and a year-long partnership with The CW that has elevated the prominence of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

O’Donnell condensed his synopsis of the 2026 season into a single statement: “NASCAR has encouraging momentum, but we have work to do.”

“Looking back,” he added, “I think there’s a lot for the entire industry to be proud of. Our teams and drivers have given us terrific competition. Fans are coming out to the race track. New brands are investing in the sport like never before.

“It’s been a long time since you’ve seen the activation from sponsors around our teams and drivers, which is terrific.”

O’Donnell also highlighted the return of The Chase presented by Mobil 1, which has played out differently in all three series. On the Cup Series side, Kyle Larson has raced into a dominant position with one event left, needing to score a 28th-place finish in Sunday’s Championship Race to secure his third title.

The O’Reilly Series, on the other hand, features a five-driver free-for-all, with veteran Justin Allgaier enjoying a slim 22-point lead at the top of the Chase standings. In the Craftsman Truck Series, Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs were set to go head-to-head for the title on Friday night.

“The return of The Chase, at least in my opinion, has put the focus back where it belongs, on the performance week-in and week-out for the drivers,” O’Donnell said. “If you look at the championship media session for the Cup Series this weekend, there was one driver in there.

“I would say that’s successful. We looked at one driver who’s had an outstanding Chase, and that’s where the focus should be, in my opinion.”

O’Donnell also stressed the importance of expanding the television audience for all three national series.

“Television audience, which we all focus on as one of many factors for the sport, is consistently strong and it remains so, but it’s a focus for our entire industry and will be in the coming years,” he said. “We’ve all seen the numbers, and I think it’s important to really look at where NASCAR is.

“If you compared NASCAR to a new sport that’s just emerging, you’d say it’s an incredible success story: Consistently large television audience, 36 straight weekends; it’s amongst the largest in sports.

“But the audience can and will grow, and that’s an area of focus for all of us in the industry as we go forward.”

WATCH: O’Donnell: NASCAR considering qualifying changes

Dodge announced on Monday that it would return to the Cup Series for the first time since 2012. Kaulig Racing will field two Cup entries for the 2027 season. O’Donnell also indicated NASCAR is having ongoing world-wide discussions with other potential OEMs.

“It’s going to be fun seeing what Dodge does,” he said. “We’re going to be all around the globe looking at new OEMs, for sure, but happy that we got a fourth. Happy to say that versus saying, well, we’re looking at it, for sure.”

Named NASCAR CEO in April, O’Donnell pointed to five pillars crucial to NASCAR’s future growth: competition, audience growth and engagement, schedule and media strategy, international expansion and at-track fan development.

“I’m excited about the future, and most particularly I’m excited about our team and the folks who are going to work together, because I think for the first time in a long, long time there’s alignment on where we’re going,” O’Donnell said.

“We do the blocking and tackling race-to-race really, really well. The five-year plan of where we’re going hasn’t been something we’ve focused on as an industry. That’s all changed, and we’re coming together to work together to really grow this sport.”

Other important subjects raised during the discussion included NASCAR’s ongoing commitment to safety; the highlighting of rivalries between team principals; the continuing development of competition packages, including possible augmentation of horsepower; partnerships with United States Armed Forces that could take NASCAR racing to military bases — such as Naval Base Coronado — in underserved markets and the possibility of stand-alone O’Reilly Series races on weekdays.

One change that will be coming is the metric used for ordering the starting fields in the case of qualifying rainouts. This year, the metric was weighted more heavily toward finishing position in the previous race, a formula that proved burdensome during The Chase.

“This had been put in place back in COVID, and I think everybody just didn’t see it or didn’t read it, and all of a sudden we got rain, rain, rain, and it became a big issue or a big talking point,” O’Donnell said. “So that is something we’ll look at.

“We’re also looking at tweaking qualifying a little bit at select events as well that I think the fans will embrace. Nothing to announce today, but we’ve got some good things working in the off-season, not only about tweaking what you talked about, but some different formats we can explore as well.”

John Probst, NASCAR president of event management, later confirmed that starting order will revert to owner points alone in the case of canceled qualifying sessions.

O’Donnell prefaced his remarks with recognition of the profound loss of champion driver Kyle Busch, who died from a sudden illness in May.

“It’s tough to not talk about Kyle when you’re back in Miami,” O’Donnell said. “An extraordinary competitor, two-time champion in our sport and won the championship here, and I think he’s left a forever mark on our sport.

“I said this back at Charlotte and it still stands today, and it’ll stand forever really, and that’s to (widow) Samantha, (son) Brexton and (daughter) Lennix, they’re always going to be a part of the NASCAR family.

“We all miss Kyle. It’s not the same without him in terms of celebrating a championship, especially how he embraced this place, but he’s going to be with us for years and years to come.”

Posted on November 6, 2026November 6, 2026 by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The next phase in Dodge’s multi-stage re-entry into the NASCAR Cup Series now has two names atop the driver’s side doors.

Kaulig Racing officials said Friday that AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon will return to the organization next year, announcing the personnel move during NASCAR Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The news, coming on the heels of Monday’s splash that Dodge will be back in NASCAR’s top division, confirms the first two drivers for the manufacturer in 2027.

Allmendinger will be back for his seventh Cup season at Kaulig and Dillon will return for his third straight under the team’s banner. Next season, though, Allmendinger’s No. 16 and Dillon’s No. 10 rides will switch from Chevrolet Camaros to Dodge Charger branding.

Other announcements are forthcoming, including details of an engine configuration and a reveal of the new body style. Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Race said both are scheduled to be unveiled Dec. 4 during the Snowball Derby for Late Model cars in Pensacola, Florida.

Parent company Stellantis came back to the Craftsman Truck Series this season with the Ram marque, with Tim Kuniskis, Stellantis’ head of American brands, hinting that the Cup Series was part of the automotive group’s plans. Kaulig Racing launched a Truck Series operation with a five-Ram effort to lead that manufacturer’s return, but the ambition has produced just one top-five finish this season.

Both Allmendinger and Dillon took turns competing in Kaulig’s No. 25 Ram this year as part of the Free Agent Driver Program, a rotating cast of notable guest drivers that Rice said will continue next year. On the Cup Series side, Allmendinger ranks 25th in the standings with Dillon 34th. Allmendinger has posted the team’s lone top five this year, a fifth at Naval Base Coronado near San Diego.

Allmendinger accounts for both of Kaulig’s wins since it broke into the Cup Series in 2020, and piled up 16 of his 18 career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victories with the Matt Kaulig-owned organization in what’s been a successful second act to his NASCAR journey. The 44-year-old veteran called the reinventing of his career “all a bit of a bonus,” all while acknowledging the challenge ahead for welcoming in a new automaker.

MORE: Kaulig Racing website

“I think this for Kaulig Racing more than anything is … a huge deal is an understatement,” Allmendinger said. “We’ve talked about it probably at nauseum this year about the struggles that we’ve had to go through, and next year won’t be easy. It’ll be a different set of struggles, but I think at least there’s a pathway, a light at the end of the tunnel that you’re working towards, and you have a company like Dodge that you can work together with to try to achieve those goals and to be a part of it.”

Dillon, 34, has found some continuity at Kaulig in what’s been a journeyman’s career spanning different stints across all three NASCAR national series. Virtually the entirety of his time in stock-car racing has been spent with Chevrolet, a nod to grandfather Richard Childress’ longtime association with the brand, but he was eager to establish roots as a component of Dodge’s return.

“It’s just been a part of my life and my career is just never giving up, but when you work with a great team like Kaulig Racing, they fill you with that energy to continue to go,” Dillon says. “The ups and downs don’t come without people helping you along the way, too, and this is another one of those chances that I see as being a part of a Tier 1 team. Never been a part of that kind of information in my career ever, and it’s an opportunity, and now it’s time for me to make the most of that opportunity.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

Dodge’s presentation at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas fit the mold of glitzy activations that have followed Ram’s Truck Series return. “It’s time to drop the hammer, again,” was the company line, one that Matt Kaulig has tried to adopt in recent months.

“We feel like we’re an extension of how they are,” Kaulig said. “I mean, they want to be a bunch of badasses, and they want to make a big splash, and they want to be different, and that’s how we want to be.”

With two teams set, Rice said the organization was hopeful to field a third Dodge entry in the season-opening Daytona 500 next year. Rice said the team has made no movement considering the looming free agency of Brad Keselowski, Dodge’s last Cup Series champ who is departing RFK Racing after Sunday.

“We would love to run a third car at Daytona,” Rice said. “There are some stipulations that we have to go through with Dodge and Matt to be able to make that work. We do want to run one. Honestly, we have not talked about Brad Keselowski other than what we see on social media and we see everyone else, so we haven’t had that conversation. But we would love to run a third car.”

Rice also said that Mini Tyrrell, winner of Ram’s “Race for the Seat” competition for the team’s No. 14 ride, will be competing in his last race for Kaulig in Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series finale after his one-year contract was not reviewed.

Posted on November 6, 2026November 6, 2026 by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Justin Allgaier is here at Homestead-Miami Speedway, loose, upbeat and in the driver’s seat for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship race. Based on an announcement that he made with his JR Motorsports team earlier this week, he’ll also be back in the saddle of his No. 7 Chevrolet for 2027 and more.

At 40, Allgaier has been making the most of the twilight of his NASCAR career, showing that veterans can still get it done on a circuit once heavily marketed as a maker of new, young names. He leads the series in wins (six), top fives (19) and, potentially more importantly, in points, holding a plus-22 margin over defending champion Jesse Love as he bids for his second O’Reilly Series title in Saturday’s season finale (5 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The series schedule has reached a climax with a captivating five-man race for the crown, and the Illinois native has a chance to cap one of his most prolific seasons by adding another milestone to his storied resume. Allgaier’s career, though, seemed potentially headed for its endpoint before Monday’s late-season confirmation that he’d return.

“I don’t think that the general public will know how close I was to really walking away,” Allgaier said Thursday morning as he made the rounds on Championship Media Day. “We bought a house in Illinois. We were making after-racing career plans. I mean, I was 100% sure that this was it, this was going to be the end of my career. Obviously, there’s a lot of things at play. There’s a lot of things that are going on outside the race track for me, nothing that we can’t overcome. Look, everybody has something they’re struggling with right now and going through, and so for us, it’s been pretty hectic outside of the race track, and that probably weighed pretty heavily on me to make this decision, and I really just relied on the people that are around me — my wife, my dad, sitting down and having a conversation with my oldest, Harper, at 13. That’s a unique conversation to have of what that looks like, but honestly, just a lot of prayer and figuring out what that future looked like for me.

“Even though I was sure, there were too many things around me that just kept pointing to sticking around and being here for a little bit longer, and obviously the fans were a big part of that.”

Before the next late-in-the-book chapter of his career begins next season, Allgaier has the opportunity to make more history as he rounds out his 11th year with JR Motorsports, and in the deepest battle of the tripleheader championship weekend. Behind Love (22 points back) sit Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day (minus-23), JRM teammate Carson Kvapil (minus-31) and Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed (minus-42).

Though Allgaier holds a lead, he joked about seeing Cup Series championship leader Kyle Larson walk by during the Media Day rotations that he’d happily trade places with him, noting his 67-point cushion. Advantage or not, Allgaier’s approach for Homestead remains all-out.

“I mean, look, we have one goal: Come into the weekend and do the same thing we’ve been doing all year, right?” Allgaier said. “Try to lead laps, try to win stages, try to win the race. I’m probably the freest, loosest, confident enough that I’ve been all year, and honestly, probably at any point in my career going into a final race. There’s just been something different this year for me. And maybe it was because I was walking away, so I looked at different ways to value the sport that maybe I hadn’t looked at, but I have more confidence in my race team than I can describe.”

Two of Allgaier’s fellow competitors have connected with him in different ways recently. Love’s title defense took a sour turn in an error-filled performance last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where the series lead changed hands with a 41-point Allgaier gain. Post-race, Allgaier walked over to Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to offer a sympathetic pat on his shoulder, just to say he hated to see his misfortune.

MORE: Title-clinching scenarios

Love noted that he’s developed a grateful recognition of how much Allgaier has pushed him, not necessarily in an adversarial way but as a fellow driver who sets the competition bar high.

“I don’t know if he feels the same way I feel about him in that sense of, I feel like Justin has motivated me a lot over the last couple years,” says Love, a two-time winner this season who will move up to the Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing next year. “He’s been my enemy in a lot of different ways, and in turn, that’s made me appreciate him even more. The more personal sometimes you can make something or the more of an enemy you can create, sometimes it can do a lot of good for an athlete. So I’ve had the amazing pleasure of racing against somebody I consider to be great at what he does.

“I think we both want to, when it’s all said and done — whether I win it, he wins it, whatever the future looks like — I think we both want to look at it and say if you were in my shoes, I beat Justin at his best and he had everything go right and we still prevailed and we still won, still beat him. That’s what we want. That’s the competition that we look for and the feeling that we want to receive.”

For Kvapil, his relationship with Allgaier has been a positive in what’s been a breakout sophomore season on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series circuit. Allgaier has had the benefit of being a mentor to several young drivers who have progressed to the Cup Series, and he mentioned that aspect as a motivator for making his return to JRM.

“Yeah, he’s an asset to everybody,” said Kvapil, who grabbed his first three O’Reilly victories this year. “Just like anything, we go talk to him after practice and get his mood on things and what he thinks of the track or what he thinks of a rule change or whatever it may be. But really from a team standpoint, too, it’s the guy that — his experience is just so deep that he knows right away what’s going to work, what’s not going to work and all that. Having him as a teammate is good, and I’m excited for him to come back for a couple years. He’s fast. He’s probably the driver in the field that makes the best moves all the time, I guess you could say. There’s times where you’re like, ‘man, how did he just pass me?’ It’s crazy. Just goes back to all the experience he has, and he’s in a fast car, too. You match that all up, and there’s a lot of success there.”

It’s been a bit of star-crossed Chase for Allgaier, who has overcome a shaky start to the nine-race postseason to enter Homestead with a positive streak of four consecutive top-five finishes. Win or lose, Allgaier says he’s satisfied with this season’s achievements, with the potential for more to come in the years ahead.

“Honestly, I’m beyond proud of what we’ve accomplished at this point,” Allgaier said. “I’m on house money, and we’re having fun. I mean, it’s gonna be a great weekend. I’ve got my family here. I’ve got a bunch of friends here. If I don’t win the championship, it’s still gonna be a success, right? If we finish fifth in points, I’ll still walk out of here with my head held super-high with the year that we’ve had, the wins that we’ve had, the results that we put up, and the strength of this race team. I’ll still be super-happy. I mean, look, we shouldn’t even be in this conversation right now with the way our Chase is going. We’ve had more stuff that has happened to the 7 car out of our control than we’ve ever had, and some of it is in our control that we’ve just screwed up royally, and we’re still the point leader, and we’ve still got a shot at it. No complaints on my end.”

Posted on November 6, 2026November 7, 2026 by Dustin Albino

Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.

Fantasy Update: Through an old-school practice session where the field had multiple sets of tires and a rapid qualifying session, there are no surprises this weekend at Homestead. Team Penske has stepped up its intermediate program yet again with Austin Cindric earning a top-five starting position. But the real story within Penske is how lights-out Ryan Blaney, who has finished runner-up in two of the last three visits to Homestead, was over the long haul in practice, nearly half a tenth quicker over a 15- and 20-lap run. Tyler Reddick raised concerns at the end of practice by slamming into Zane Smith entering pit road but followed it up with a third-place qualifying effort. No changes are needed here this weekend.

Starting five: Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell.
Garage: William Byron.

Somebody better call the Miami Symphony Orchestra because the vocalist’s final warmups are underway. Kyle Larson sits just nine points away from becoming the 11th driver in NASCAR history to capture at least three Cup Series championships, joining some of the sport’s most legendary names. Homestead-Miami Speedway rewards drivers who can finesse their way right against the wall, and many of the same contenders have consistently found success at the 1.5-mile oval.

Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can come play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 where strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.

MUST START
Driver: Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 5 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 1
Comment: With a hefty 67-point championship lead, Larson could lock up the 2026 Cup championship at the end of the opening stage by tallying eight points (he needs nine but will earn one via starting the race). That would allow him to ride the wall around Homestead, a dangerous game of trial and error. Homestead is among Larson’s best race tracks, with a pair of wins in the last five visits and a track-record 645 laps led.

Driver: Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 19 Toyota
Selections remaining: 1
Comment: No driver has excelled more at intermediate tracks in the second half of the 2026 season than Briscoe. The No. 19 team has won three of the last four, including two straight – Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway – in The Chase. He placed fourth in South Beach last year in his lone attempt with JGR.

Driver: Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, No. 45 Toyota
Selections remaining: 1
Comment: While Larson is known to aggressively run centimeters from the wall, it’s arguable that Reddick does it just a tick better. Reddick is among the best in Miami, too, with four top-five and five top-10 finishes in six starts, including a fearless last-lap dash in 2024. An 8.8 average finish here trails only Kevin Harvick (7.5) among drivers with multiple starts.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

DRIVERS TO AVOID
Driver: Joey Logano, Team Penske, No. 22 Ford
Selections remaining: 2
Comment: The late-season surge by Team Penske at intermediate tracks is commendable. And while Logano captured his first of three Bill France Cups in the Miami suburb via a 2018 victory, it hasn’t been his playground recently. He has a single top 10 in the last six attempts here, with a best effort of eighth (2023).

Driver: Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing, No. 1 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: Aside from Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse’s intermediate program still has room to grow. Despite winning the 2025 Coca-Cola 600 in impressive fashion, Chastain has recorded 10 consecutive finishes outside the top 10 on similar layouts. His recent history at Homestead-Miami Speedway is also less encouraging, with three straight finishes of 31st or worse.

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK
Driver: AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing, No. 16 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: Given Kaulig’s alignment with Dodge, Allmendinger’s recent success at Homestead may not carry the same weight without Chevrolet support. Still, his numbers are eye-popping, with the veteran finishing eighth or better in each of the last four races at the oval. His 5.75 average finish is the best among all drivers in the Next Gen era.

Driver: Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing, No. 3 Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: Dillon hopes to keep RCR from going without a top-five finish for the first time since 1980, when Childress was behind the wheel. Homestead could provide a breakthrough, as Dillon has four top 10s in his last seven starts and a career-best 12.7 average finish at the track.

Scott Taetsch | Getty Images

FEATURED MATCHUPS
William Byron vs. Joey Logano
Pick: Byron
Comment: Byron and the No. 24 team enter Homestead with momentum after checking the win column. All four of his Homestead top 10s have come in his last six starts, and his 9.9 average finish at 1.5-mile tracks leads all drivers in the Next Gen era.

Kyle Larson vs. Tyler Reddick
Pick: Reddick
Comment: If Larson clinches the championship before the final stage, he could be free to put on a show. Meanwhile, Reddick will have free rein all race long, and few things are better than watching him maximize the high line against the wall.

Denny Hamlin vs. Christopher Bell
Pick: Hamlin
Comment: Both Joe Gibbs Racing drivers will be thinking what could have been had execution been better during The Chase. Hamlin is always a contender at Homestead, scoring a trio of triumphs and earning 10 top-10 finishes in the last 13 races. Bell has improved steadily at the venue since the start of his career, finishing fourth or better, including a 2023 victory, in two of the last three races.

Ryan Blaney vs. Chase Elliott
Pick: Blaney
Comment: Blaney has three straight top-five finishes at intermediate tracks and should have a win or two already in the bag at Homestead, placing runner-up in two of the last three outings. Elliott, meanwhile, has a single top 10 in the last five trips to Miami.

MY LINEUP
Starting five: Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell.
Garage: William Byron.

36 FOR 36
Pick: Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, No. 48 Chevrolet
Comment: On the track, 2026 has been a season to forget for Bowman, who sits 26th in the standings. Still, he could close the year on a high note after finishing runner-up to Larson at Homestead last season and recording 11 top-10s in his last 19 starts at 1.5-mile tracks.