Kaden Honeycutt Wins Homestead Finale and 2026 Truck Title
Kaden Honeycutt completed a race-and-championship sweep at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 6, winning the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finale and securing his first national-series title.
The 23-year-old passed Christian Eckes after a late restart and led the final 15 laps in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. NASCAR’s official race recap identifies it as Honeycutt’s fifth victory of the season.
Honeycutt entered the finale with a 20-point advantage over Layne Riggs. The anticipated title fight changed early when Riggs suffered a right-rear tire failure on Lap 15, followed by another tire problem during Stage 2. He lost multiple laps and could not recover.
A late pass delivered the race win
The championship was effectively under Honeycutt’s control after Riggs’s setbacks, but the race victory still required a final move. Honeycutt took the lead from Eckes on the last restart and stayed in front through the remaining 15 laps.
Eckes finished second, followed by Daniel Hemric, Ty Majeski and Stewart Friesen. Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia, Grant Enfinger and Corey LaJoie completed the top 10.
Polesitter Nick Sanchez’s race ended with an engine failure on Lap 105. The subsequent restart also produced a multi-truck crash in Turn 3 after the field stacked up four-wide.
The result gave Honeycutt both the Homestead trophy and the championship rather than forcing him to manage points from farther back in the field. NASCAR says this is his first title in one of its national series.
Honeycutt’s championship followed a four-win Chase
NASCAR’s championship review traces the title to a consistent seven-race Chase. Honeycutt opened the postseason with an eighth-place finish, then recorded four consecutive top-five results.
His playoff victories came at Kansas and Phoenix. He also finished fifth at Talladega after leading late, brushed the wall while racing Riggs at Charlotte and was shuffled to 14th by late contact at Martinsville.
Riggs won at Charlotte and dominated Martinsville, reducing Honeycutt’s advantage to 20 points before Homestead. Earlier postseason problems—including a loose wheel at Bristol and contact with the wall at Kansas—had forced Riggs to spend much of the Chase rebuilding lost ground.
Chiefs Review followed that championship swing when Honeycutt won at Phoenix and extended his points lead. The final margin going into Homestead was smaller, but the No. 11 team still arrived controlling its own outcome.
A rapid rise through NASCAR’s truck ranks
The title came in Honeycutt’s second full-time Truck Series season. He earned his first series victory at Watkins Glen in May 2026, only hours after winning an ARCA Menards Series race at the same road course.
He followed that breakthrough by leading 225 of 250 laps in a Richmond win. Kansas and Phoenix added two more victories during the Chase, and Homestead brought the season total to five.
The route to the championship was not direct. Honeycutt began 2025 with Niece Motorsports but left the team before the end of the regular season. Young’s Motorsports entered him at Watkins Glen so he could remain eligible for the playoffs, and Halmar Friesen Racing then put him in the No. 52 Toyota for the final eight races.
Honeycutt finished third in the 2025 standings. For 2026, he joined TRICON Garage’s No. 11 team—the same Scott Zipadelli-led operation that had won the previous championship with Corey Heim.
Honeycutt and TRICON are already set for 2027
TRICON announced on October 21 that Honeycutt will return to the No. 11 Toyota in 2027. Teammate Gio Ruggiero also signed an extension with the organization.
The series will be known as the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series next season. NASCAR’s official 2027 schedule lists the opener for Friday, February 19, 2027, at Daytona International Speedway, with both Honeycutt and Riggs expected back for full-time campaigns.
Homestead was the first of three national-series championship races during NASCAR’s Florida finale. Chiefs Review is also tracking the title races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, where Justin Allgaier arrived as points leader after Martinsville, and the Cup Series.
Honeycutt’s confirmed achievement is unusually complete: he won the final race, closed the season with five victories and left Homestead as the 2026 Truck Series champion. The result does not require a projected points calculation or provisional scenario.
Featured image: Kaden Honeycutt’s No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra at Lime Rock Park on July 11, 2026. This is an archive image from the championship season and does not depict the Homestead finale. Photo by Tyman9348, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Used without substantive alteration apart from routine website resizing.
