By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
AVONDALE, Ariz. — At the track where Corey Heim secured the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series title in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota last year, Kaden Honeycutt took a giant step toward this season’s championship in the same ride.
Taking control of the race in the third stage at Phoenix Raceway, thanks in no small part to a flawless effort from his pit crew, Honeycutt cruised to victory in Friday’s Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by POET and expanded his Chase lead to 39 points over second-place Layne Riggs, who finished third.
Race Results: Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150
Honeycutt led a race-high 53 laps—all during the final green-flag run—and beat a frustrated Christian Eckes to the finish line by 1.556 seconds to record his first win at Phoenix and the fourth of his career, all accomplished this season.
Second out of the pits on the final stop at the second stage break—and first among the Chase contenders—Honeycutt quickly dispatched Stewart Friesen, who had taken two tires on the stop and jumped 12 positions into a short-lived lead.
After seizing the top spot on the Lap 99 restart, the 23-year-old from Willow Park, Texas, remained out front the rest of the way. His victory also was the 39th in the series for crew chief Scott Zipadelli, who is now five wins shy of Eric Phillips’ all-time lead.
“My pit crew—they did a great job,” Honeycutt asserted. “I give them so much credit because they’re so damn good. I’m so fortunate to be able to drive these things. They spend all their hours in the day just for me to drive ‘em, and I can’t be more grateful for them.
“In Stage 1, I just struggled. I just didn’t have good rear grip at the start of that first stage. Scott went to work for me. He was never concerned. He kept me locked in the whole time.”
Riggs led the first 43 laps from the pole before Ty Majeski passed him with two circuits left in the first stage. Majeski scored his second stage win of the season and went on to sweep the stages at Phoenix and lead 49 laps before finishing fourth.
Riggs passed Majeski for the third position on Lap 104 of 150 but that was as far as he could advance.
“I’ve got to congratulate the 11 guys—they had a really good truck tonight,” Riggs said. “Obviously, they won the championship here with Corey last year, and they’ve got a really good package for Phoenix.
“It just wasn’t our night… We’ve got Talladega next week. You don’t know what’s going to happen there. Obviously, we’re running up front every single race, kind of a back-and-forth battle right now. Tonight, just wasn’t our night. I’m not going to hang my head on it, and I’m really proud of the effort by the team.”
Seeking his first victory of the season, Eckes couldn’t get close enough to Honeycutt to make a move during the final run.
“It still feels great to contend, but, man, it sucks, for sure,” said Eckes, who has finished second in the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet for three straight races. “I came back here (to the Truck Series) to win, and we haven’t done that yet.
“We’re bringing race trucks that are just close enough to contend, but just kind of missing one or two things (compared with) the 11 (Honeycutt) and 34 (Riggs) right now.”
Eckes climbed to third in the standings with the runner-up finish, but he’s 112 points behind Honeycutt with three races left.
Jake Garcia finished fifth, followed by William Sawalich, Daniel Hemric, Gio Ruggiero, Grant Enfinger and Brent Crews.
Chandler Smith, Riggs’ Front Row Motorsports teammate, drew a pit road penalty for too many men over the wall and finished 15th. He fell one spot to fourth in the Chase standings, 117 points out of the lead.
The race featured two cautions for 16 laps, with the second yellow for debris in Turn 1 coinciding with the Stage 2 break. There were six lead changes among five drivers.
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase continues next Friday with the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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