HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Under caution with 27 laps left in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Chase leader Kaden Honeycutt was debating whether to pit for his last set of fresh tires.
“I say we pit, put ’em on and go for it,” Honeycutt radioed to crew chief Scott Zipadelli.
That’s exactly what Honeycutt did. Gaining the lead after a restart on Lap 120 of 134, he pulled away from runner-up Christian Eckes to win not only the race but his first series championship.
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Knowing the title was his — and screaming with raw emotion — Honeycutt powered his No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota across the finish line 1.038 seconds ahead of Eckes to score his fifth victory of the season, his first at 1.5-mile Homestead and the fifth of his career.
“Man, this is amazing,” Honeycutt exulted. “I’ve worked so damn hard to be here. Thank you to every owner, thank you, everybody, that’s let me drive the race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, doesn’t matter.
“That is because of you guys I’m sitting right here with this group behind me as champions. I’m so out of breath, I wish I could talk harder. Thank you, fans, for showing up. We just won Homestead and the damn championship.”
Honeycutt’s decision to abandon the conservative approach he had adopted early in the race paid enormous dividends.
“The first half of the race I did not want to push it too hard,” he said. “It fell in our hands. I put my nuts on the dash and wanted to win the race.”
WATCH: Honeycutt gives memorable interview following triumph | Watch NASCAR video highlights
The drivers’ championship was the 11th in the series for Toyota, achieved in the same No. 11 Toyota Corey Heim drove to a single-season-record 12 victories and the championship last year.
Billed as a shootout between Honeycutt and Layne Riggs, the head-to-head battle never materialized. After side-to-side contact with the No. 77 Chevrolet of pole winner Nick Sanchez on Lap 2, Riggs No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford was never the same.
The contact cut Riggs’ right rear tire, forcing him to pit road on Lap 17. At the end of Stage 1, Riggs stayed on the track to take a wave-around, but on Lap 46, he pitted again with a shredded right rear.
A pass-through penalty for too many crew members over the wall on his stop left him seven laps down. Ultimately, Riggs finished 32nd and ended the season second in the series standings, 83 points behind Honeycutt.
READ: Riggs suffers multiple flat tires
“After that initial contact, I don’t know what happened to the 77 (Sanchez),” Riggs said of the run-in that cost him a shot at the title. “I thought I was good. They said we were close together. I got super free up under him. Next thing I knew, we got a tire down.”
Then the second flat tire cost Riggs any hope he might have had.
“Obviously, we weren’t able to put the consistency together to be champions tonight,” Riggs said. “We knew we were going to have to run an almost perfect race. That’s hard to do anytime, any series, any level and division.
“But I’m just proud of the entire team that we were even in the mix; we even had a chance to become champion. It was disappointing to know I didn’t even know what my truck was going to be.”
Daniel Hemric, Eckes’ teammate at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, finished third, followed by Ty Majeski and Stewart Friesen. Heim was sixth in the No. 1 Tricon Garage Toyota after winning the first and second stages.
Despite competing in only nine of the 25 Truck Series races, Heim scored three victories this season and finished 17th in the points.
Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia, Grant Enfinger and Corey LaJoie completed the top 10. Smith finished third in the final standings behind Riggs, his teammate.
Zipadelli claimed his second straight championship as a crew chief, having guided Heim to the title last season. Honeycutt gave Zipadelli enormous credit for his steady-handed encouragement.
“Scott Zipadelli is the best damn crew chief on that pit road,” Honeycutt asserted. “He’s the best man out there. He’s not just a Hall of Fame crew chief; he’s a Hall of Fame man. He’s done nothing but mentor me and make me better every single week.”
Obviously, the guidance bore fruit on Friday night.
The 2027 NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series season begins Friday, Feb. 19, at Daytona International Speedway, with both Honeycutt and Riggs returning for full-time campaigns — and for Honeycutt, championship defense is on his mind.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Truck Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Honeycutt as the Homestead winner. The race-winning engine will be torn down Nov. 7.