Kaden Honeycutt is the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, clinching the crown at the Homestead finale after a stunning five-win season in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, as Motorsport.com reports. The title fight swung wide open early when championship rival Layne Riggs fell several laps down due to a right-rear tire issue. Honeycutt sealed the deal by snatching the lead from Christian Eckes on the final restart, sweeping up both the race win and the championship with a comfortable margin over the rest of the field.
"This team is a frickin Hall of Fame team," Honeycutt said after climbing out of his machine. He praised crew chief Scott Zipadelli as the best man and best crew chief on pit road, thanking everyone who gave him a chance to drive race cars across dirt, asphalt, and road courses. Summing up his aggressive charge for the victory, Honeycutt delivered a memorable line: "Well, I was saving the first half of that race, I didn't want to push it too hard. And then it fell into our hands, and I put my nuts on the dash and wanted to win the race."
For Riggs, the night turned into a bitter disaster. After finishing 32nd, he ended his 2026 campaign as the championship runner-up with seven race wins, finishing 83 points back of the leader. Trouble struck early on the second lap when Riggs nearly wrecked while battling Sanchez for third, snapping sideways after contact and saving it. He continued to fade as his tires corded, eventually suffering a right-rear tire failure that forced him to pit and left him two laps down. Additional repairs dropped him over seven laps down, alongside a pass-through penalty for two crew members over the wall, effectively ending his title dreams.
"I had plenty of time to think about it when I was running about 10 laps down out there," Riggs reflected. He noted that while they knew they needed to run an almost perfect race to secure the championship, they ultimately could not put the required consistency together.
Behind the battle at the front, the rest of the championship standings shook out with Chandler Smith ending 2026 third, followed by Ty Majeski fourth, Christian Eckes fifth, Gio Ruggiero sixth, Daniel Hemric seventh, Ben Rhodes eighth, Grant Enfinger ninth, and Tyler Ankrum tenth. Meanwhile, Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen picked up Rookie of the Year honors.
The race itself featured wild swings throughout the stages. Heim prevailed in early battles to win Stage 1, while Honeycutt, Hemric, Sanchez, Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes, Friesen, and Garcia stayed near the front. Heim repeated his stage success by winning Stage 2, ahead of Hemric, Sanchez, Eckes, Majeski, Honeycutt, C. Smith, Friesen, Ruggiero, and Tan. Gray. Stage 3 brought intense four-wide restarts, a major mechanical failure for Sanchez, and a multi-truck wreck involving Ankrum, Perez, Ty. Reif, and Tan Gray. When the dust settled on the final restart, Honeycutt made his decisive move to the front.
At the checkered flag, Eckes finished second, Hemric third, Majeski fourth, and Friesen fifth. Heim, C. Smith, Garcia, Enfinger, and LaJoie rounded out the top ten at Homestead.
