BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Kaden Honeycutt dominated Friday night’s ARCA Menards Series event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Honeycutt drove the No. 17 Cook Racing Technologies machine to victory in the LiUNA! 150 presented by IDEAL Garage Door to score his second series triumph this season.
Honeycutt held off Carson Brown to score the victory on the .686-mile track
“I’m just so proud of everyone at Cook Racing Technologies,” Honeycutt said. “This is all for Bruce Cook. These guys, I don’t know if that shows them enough that they can come compete at this level and beat these guys.”
Honeycutt qualified seventh for Friday’s 150-lap event that served as a combo race with the ARCA Menards Series East. He spent the first half of the race battling inside the top five while polesitter Brown held the lead. Following the race break at Lap 72, Honeycutt began his charge and started challenging Brown for the lead.
Despite Brown’s best efforts to the contrary, Honeycutt moved past him for the lead on Lap 78. Multiple caution periods followed, which kept the battle for the lead between Honeycutt and Brown close.
Brown managed to briefly regain the lead with 12 laps left as he and Honeycutt worked through slower traffic, but Honeycutt turned the tables on Brown and used the same traffic to his advantage to get the lead back a lap later.
Moments later, Brown’s engine inexplicably shut off for a moment, allowing Honeycutt to pull away to his second ARCA Menards Series victory of the season and his career.
“Me and Carson had a hell of a race,” Honeycutt said. “I don’t know what happened to him, but I hate that happened. It was wild through lapped traffic. I had to body slam one guy and I’m very sorry for that, but I had to go.
“It was so awesome. Gained some really good experience for a couple hours.”
Honeycutt turned his attention to the evening’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. The last time he competed in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on the same day at Watkins Glen International, he took home both trophies.
“It’s going to be tougher,” Honeycutt said. “We had a good practice. It wasn’t great, but I have no doubt that Scott Zipadelli and my guys are going to give the best adjustments to start off this race here in a couple hours.”
Thomas Annunziata finished second at Lucas Oil IRP and gained pivotal ground in his pursuit of the ARCA Menards Series championship. As a result of Jake Bollman’s seventh-place finish, Bollman now leads Annunziata by just three points with seven races left in the season.
Brown finished third after leading the most laps Friday evening, followed by Gavan Boschele and Isaac Kitzmiller.
