Motorsport photo Nick DeGroot · Motorsport Sat, November 7, 2026 at 3:05 AM UTC · 5 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kaden Honeycutt is the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, winning the Homestead finale in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota. After a five-win season, After a five-win season, he ended his title campaign with a comfortable margin over title rival Layne Riggs , who fell several laps down early due to a right-rear tire issue.
Honeycutt took the lead from Christian Eckes on the final restart, winning the race and the championship.
"This team is a frickin Hall of Fame team," said Honeycutt. "Scott Zipadelli is the best damn crew chief on that pit road, and he's the best man out there. He's not just a Hall of Fame crew chief, he's a Hall of Fame man, and he has done nothing but mentor me and make me better every single week. Man, this is amazing. I've worked so damn hard to be here. Thank you to everyone. Thank you everybody that's let me drive their race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, it didn't matter. That is because of you guys, and I'm sitting right here with this group behind me as champions. And I'm so out of breath, I wish I could talk harder, but man, thank you fans for showing up."
He then added: "It's unbelievable. Well, I was saving the first half of that race, I didn't want to push it too hard. And then it fell into our hands, and I put my nuts on the dash and wanted to win the race. Thanks to the whole team, I love them so much."
Riggs finished 32nd, ending his 2026 season as the championship runner-up with seven race wins.
"I had plenty of time to think about it when I was running about 10 laps down out there," said Riggs. "Just thinking about the year we had, the success that we had. Obviously we weren't able to put the consistency together to be champions tonight. And we knew we were going to have to come out here, we were going to have to run an almost perfect race. And that's hard to do any time in any series, in any level or division. But I'm just proud of that entire team ... We even had a chance to become champion. It was just disappointing to know, I really didn't even know what my truck was going to be because after that initial contact -- I don't know what happened to 77 [Sanchez]. I thought I was good, we were really close together, and I got super free up under him. And next thing I knew, we got a tire out. The pressures weren't even up yet, and we already didn't know what the balance was going to be at the end of the race."
The field immediately fanned out three-wide for the lead. Riggs quickly moved forward, but nearly wrecked while battling Sanchez for third on the second lap of the race. The truck snapped sideways after making contact, but he saved it.
Heim ultimately prevailed in the battle for the lead, but Riggs continued to fade, complaining about cording tires. Eventually, the right-rear came apart and he was forced to pit. After changing the tires and making repairs to the fender, Riggs fell two laps down, with his title hopes quickly fading.
On fresh tires, Riggs nearly caught the leader to get one of his two laps back, but fell short of Heim, who won Stage 1.
Behind Heim, it was Sanchez, Honeycutt, Hemric, C. Smith, Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes, Friesen, and Garcia.
Heim led the field after pit stops, with Riggs staying out to take the wave-around. Honeycutt took the lead on the restart. Hemric and Sanchez spent some time out front as well before Heim retook control deeper into the run.
Riggs was forced back down pit road for additional repairs, falling over seven laps down and essentially ending the title fight. He also got a pass-through for two crew members over the wall.
Heim went on to win Stage 2, followed by Hemric, Sanchez, Eckes, Majeski, Honeycutt, C. Smith, Friesen, Ruggiero, and Tan. Gray.
Kaden Honeycutt wins championship, No. 11 TRICON Toyota
After a four-wide restart battle, Eckes emerged with the lead over Heim. Green-flag stops got underway around 40 laps to go, with Honeycutt pitting soon after.
Eckes exited the pits directly ahead of Heim, but the run was interrupted when Sanchez suffered a major mechanical failure, ending his night.
Most of the field chose to pit for their final set of fresh tires, but Mosack, Haley, Kligerman, and Honeyman stayed out.
Eckes and Honeycutt were the first drivers on tires to get back to the front. Meanwhile, a wreck broke out in the mid-field involving Ankrum, Perez, Ty. Reif, and Tan Gray.
Honeycutt attacked on the final restart, taking the lead and driving away to the race win and championship.
As Honeycutt won the race, Eckes finished second, Hemric third, Majeski fourth, and Friesen fifth. Heim, C. Smith, Garcia, Enfinger, and LaJoie filled out the remainder of the top ten.
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Source: Sports
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