Honeycutt Wins Phoenix Truck Race, Extends Championship Lead to 39 Points

Published October 18, 2026

Archive photo: Kaden Honeycutt at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 14, 2025, in his then-current racing suit. This is not the October 2026 Phoenix event or his TRICON Garage uniform. Photographer: Nascar9919 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0; resized for display.

Kaden Honeycutt won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix Raceway on October 16, 2026, finishing 1.556 seconds ahead of Christian Eckes. The TRICON Garage driver’s fourth victory of the season left him 39 points ahead of Layne Riggs in the championship.

NASCAR’s official recap says post-race inspection found no issues and confirmed Honeycutt as the winner of the Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by POET. Three races remain, so this was an important points gain rather than a title-clinching result.

The final stop set up the winning run

Honeycutt emerged second from the final pit stop, behind Stewart Friesen’s two-tire gamble. He took the lead on the lap-99 restart and stayed there for the final 53 laps. Riggs, who started on pole, finished third; Ty Majeski swept the stages but ended fourth.

Finishing position was only part of the points story

The official results show why the order at the flag does not fully describe the championship impact:

Finish	Driver	Points earned
1	Kaden Honeycutt	72
2	Christian Eckes	48
3	Layne Riggs	50
4	Ty Majeski	53
5	Jake Garcia	39

Honeycutt scored 22 more points than Riggs. Majeski, meanwhile, outscored the runner-up despite finishing two positions behind him. Stage performance can therefore soften a disappointing finish without replacing the value of winning.

In NASCAR’s separate Majeski report, the driver attributed his fading pace to a track change as the sun went down. That is his assessment of the handling, not an independently measured explanation. He earned his first top-five finish since July.

Talladega is next

NASCAR lists the next Truck Series race at Talladega for Friday, October 23, at 4 p.m. Eastern on FS1. The calendar still leaves room for the title battle to change.

This was Friday’s Truck Series event, separate from Saturday’s Jesse Love victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The two results affect different championships.