NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Kaden Honeycutt raced his way into the history books on Friday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway, sweeping an action-packed zMAX CARS Tour doubleheader in front of an spectacular crowd.
Honeycutt held off T.J. DeCaire in the Spears Manufacturing 75 Pro Late Model race before managing the same against Corey Heim in the Skyline National Bank 100 Late Model Stock event.
“I just refuse to lose,” Honeycutt said. “I knew (Heim) and I were really strong. We were in practically the same car. Man, what a race car. Thank you to the fans coming out to the track on a Friday night. I can’t believe it. It’s an unbelievable stage that we just won on, twice.”
Honeycutt began Friday with a seventh-place qualifying effort for Saturday’s FaithFest 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race — then, he upped his game for prime time.
The driver ranked second in Truck Series points turned North Wilkesboro’s five-eighths-mile oval into his personal playground, dominating the Late Model Stock Car nightcap. Not even a spate of lapped traffic in the final laps could keep Honeycutt from winning, but Corey Heim made it interesting.
Heim has won the last two Truck Series races at NWS, but his considerable talent around the iconic bullring wasn’t enough to steal the zMAX CARS Tour crown from Honeycutt. Instead, Honeycutt maneuvered his way past Ronnie Bassett Jr.’s lapped car on the final lap and kept Heim at bay by just 0.313 seconds.
Heim settled for second ahead of Jake Bollman, Connor Hall and Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. Carson Kvapil, Conner Jones, Carson Loftin and Carson Brown completed the top 10.
Honeycutt had all he could handle in the 75-lap PLM event. He fought with Luke Baldwin for much of the race before emerging with the lead in the closing stages and pulling away from his opposition. In what became a familiar theme, lapped traffic slowed
Honeycutt’s momentum in the final two laps. Honeycutt’s hard-earned, one-second lead over DeCaire nearly evaporated, but Honeycutt held his nerve and crossed the finish line first by 0.256 seconds.
“That lapped car definitely made it interesting at the end,” Honeycutt said. “It’s just so cool to win here. The track changed a whole lot from practice (on Thursday). I found a line I thought I could run (after Friday’s Truck Series practice) and made it work for us.”
Conner Jones finished third with pole winner Luke Baldwin fourth and Mason Walters fifth. Kasey Kleyn, Keelan Harvick, Brody Monahan, Case James and Albert Francis rounded out the top 10.
