Kaden Honeycutt had eyes that were as misty as the skies were earlier in the day on Friday at Watkins Glen International. The driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro was overcome with emotion after claiming his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in the Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen.
“It’s amazing,” a choked up Honeycutt said of the win. “Thank you Toyota, this whole 11 crew, thank you, Trent, Slugger, Matt Puccia, Scott. Everyone who believed in me to take this truck over after Corey [Heim] that last year. It’s just amazing.”
Race Results: Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen
While Honeycutt had been knocking on the door of victory lane throughout his opening 66 starts in NASCAR Truck Series competition, nobody, including him, expected his first win to come at a road course. Especially not on a day where the field was stacked with Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, and Brent Crews, who are regarded as some of the best road course racers in the country.
“I can’t believe I just won on a road course, it’s just unbelievable,” Honeycutt explained.
However, as late-race shenanigans unfolded, Honeycutt found himself on the front row alongside Zilisch in an overtime restart for the race win. And while Zilisch is a supremely talented road racer, Honeycutt refused to be denied his first trip to victory lane for a 67th consecutive time.
Honeycutt nabbed the lead from Zilisch as he out-braked the driver of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado, and he sealed the pass with a soft touch on the exit of Turn 1. From there, Honeycutt managed the lead, hit his marks, and, incredibly, he was able to hold off Zilisch to steal the win.
After performing his post-race celebration in front of the fans on the frontstretch at Watkins Glen International, Honeycutt shot-gunned a beer, much to the delight of the fans, as Honeycutt promised on X that he would do so when he claimed his first win. While the catchfence was unable to be opened to allow Honeycutt to perform the shotgun with the fans, he still made it happen from the other side of the fence.
While the race was sponsored by Bully Hill Vineyards, it was 19-year-old Connor Zilisch who served as the bully of the race for a portion of the afternoon, as he twice made contact with Brent Crews for position near the front of the field — once for the lead, and once for second-place.
However, on the final restart of the race, Zilisch wanted to win the race cleanly and chose the high lane. But after Honeycutt made slight contact with him for the win, Zilisch wishes he could re-choose his lane for the final restart.
“Well, in hindsight, less cautions, but just an unfortunate way to end that race. I chose the top, hoping we could get through there without making contact. I knew that the bottom would be better if that happened, but I didn’t want to be that guy,” Zilisch said. “But I wish I could go back and redo it, and pick the inside and do that.”
Still, Zilisch knows he has great opportunities to leave Watkins Glen with a trophy remaining this weekend, as he’ll compete in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race and Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
“But, yeah, it is what it is. I have two more races this weekend,” Zilisch stated.
While Shane van Gisbergen suffered numerous issues throughout the race, including fuel pressure problems and mirror issues, he was still able to make a late-race rally to finish third. Like Zilisch, SVG will compete in the other events this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
Daniel Hemric and Chandler Smith would finish fourth and fifth ahead of AJ Allmendinger, Brent Crews, Mini Tyrrell, Brenden Queen, and Connor Mosack, who rounded out the top-10 finishers.
Ross Chastain was leading late in the race until he was flagged for a restart violation on a Lap 59 restart. Chastain would go to the rear and would be swept up in a crash with Timmy Hill on Lap 70.
Gio Ruggiero, likewise, had the lead late, until he was also busted for jumping the start. Ruggiero would come home with a disappointing 15th-place finish.
