Racing out of Avondale, Kaden Honeycutt put himself in a strong position to claim the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship this season, piloting the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota — the same machine Corey Heim drove to the series title at that very venue a year prior. Strong pit work during stage three at Phoenix Raceway lifted Honeycutt toward the front of the field, and by Friday's end he had taken the Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Powered by POET, widening his Chase lead to 39 points over Layne Riggs, who finished third.
Pacing the field across 53 consecutive laps under green-flag conditions during the closing stretch, Honeycutt pulled away from Christian Eckes by a margin of 1.556 seconds at the finish — a result that delivered his fourth victory of the season and his first at Phoenix. Moving to the front on the Lap 99 restart, the 23-year-old Willow Park, Texas, native held that position through every lap that followed.
Exiting the pit lane in second position at the final stop during the second stage break — and ahead of every other Chase contender at that point — Honeycutt worked past Stewart Friesen, whose two-tire call had vaulted him 12 spots up the running order into a lead that lasted only briefly.
The win added to crew chief Scott Zipadelli's tally in the series, bringing him to 39 — just five behind the all-time record held by Eric Phillips — while Honeycutt credited his pit crew, saying they deserved a great deal of recognition for the quality of their work.
At Phoenix, Ty Majeski swept both stage victories and paced the field for 49 laps, ultimately crossing the line in fourth place — his second and third stage wins of the year combined into a single afternoon's work. Advancing to third on lap 104 of 150 after clearing Majeski, Riggs held that position through the remainder of the race, and afterward pointed to the No. 11 crew's preparation at Phoenix as a factor, noting that the team had already demonstrated its capability at the track by taking the championship there alongside Corey Heim the season before.
Pursuing a first win of the year, Eckes was unable to close the gap on Honeycutt during the final run, and afterward noted that contending still felt worthwhile despite the outcome — though he acknowledged the result was disappointing — adding that his goal in returning had been a victory, one that has so far eluded the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet across three consecutive runner-up finishes. Eckes climbed to third in the championship table on the strength of a runner-up finish, yet Honeycutt's lead stands at 112 points with three rounds remaining — context shaped partly by a comment attributed to Eckes that his trucks trail the No. 11 and No. 34 entries in one or two areas while otherwise running at a comparable level.
A pit road infraction for having too many crew members over the wall cost Chandler Smith, who lines up alongside Riggs at Front Row Motorsports, a better result than the 15th-place finish he took home. A single-place slip left him ranked fourth in the Chase standings, sitting 117 points adrift of the leader.
Rounding out the top ten, positions six through ten went to William Sawalich, Daniel Hemric, Gio Ruggiero, Grant Enfinger, and Brent Crews, with Jake Garcia having crossed the line one spot ahead of them in fifth.
Two caution periods totalling 16 laps interrupted the event, and the second of those stoppages — triggered by debris spotted in Turn 1 — coincided with the end of Stage 2. Across the race, five different drivers swapped positions at the front a total of six times.
Talladega Superspeedway hosts the Love's RV Stop 225 — the next stop in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase — on Friday afternoon, with coverage beginning at 4 p.m. ET across FS1, NRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
