What happened
Following the lap 189 restart at Martinsville, Kaden Honeycutt closed the gap while running 6th on the outside of a three-wide fight with Tristan McKee and Ty Majeski. Contact with McKee pushed Honeycutt up the track and left him 14th at the finish, a loss of 8 positions.
Honeycutt fell as far as 15th with 11 laps remaining and recovered one position before the checkered flag. After watching the replay, he said McKee had been leaving Majeski room and that the three-wide warning arrived too late.
What it cost
Honeycutt’s championship advantage over Layne Riggs fell from 43 points to 20, a race-long reduction of 23 points. Riggs scored 55 points to Honeycutt’s 32. Honeycutt had finished the opening stages in 7th and 6th while Riggs won both, so the late loss of track position compounded an earlier stage-points shortfall.
Honeycutt and Riggs remained the only championship contenders heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Honeycutt said protecting the remaining margin would prevent his team from maximizing its day. His plan for the finale was direct: “Just go win it,” he said.
What could have been done differently
The team needed to deliver the three-wide call before Honeycutt closed the gap. Honeycutt should have held his outside lane and left McKee room until the overlap cleared. With Majeski inside McKee, tightening that space was the wrong move.
TRICON Garage also needed to improve its restart balance. Honeycutt said the truck worked well over a long run, struggled to fire off and went too far with an adjustment. The team should have reduced that correction instead of leaving him with the resulting handling problem.