Honeycutt Steals First Truck Win in Overtime, Sweeps The Glen Doubleheader

Bully Hill Vineyards 176 — Friday, May 8, 2026 · Watkins Glen International · 72 laps, 176.4 miles · Race 8 of 23

Kaden Honeycutt watched the chaos in his mirrors and waited for it to come to him. It did.

Driving the No. 11 Safelite + Foster Love Toyota Tundra TRD for TRICON Garage, Honeycutt drove off the rear of the field after a closed-pit-road penalty, took the front row when Gio Ruggiero violated the restart zone while leading on Lap 69, and cleared Connor Zilisch through a tight Turn 1 on the first lap of overtime to win the Bully Hill Vineyards 176 — the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of his career, and the second half of an ARCA Menards-Truck Series doubleheader sweep at Watkins Glen on the same afternoon. The Texas native crossed the line 0.902 second clear of the No. 71 Trackhouse Labs Chevrolet of Zilisch.

"It feels amazing," Honeycutt said. "I can't believe I just won at a road course. That's just unbelievable."

Brent Crews set the day in motion with the first pole of his career, posting a 125.602 mph qualifying lap and leading the field to the green flag. Daniel Hemric grabbed the early initiative through the Esses to win Stage 1, and Zilisch — leading a race-high 28 laps in the No. 71 — controlled the long-run pace through Stage 2 to take that segment for himself.

Honeycutt's race nearly ended in the second stage. Caught coming to pit road as it cycled closed, he was assessed a penalty that sent him to the rear of the field for the start of the 32-lap final stage. From the back to the front in 32 laps on a 2.45-mile road course is normally a fantasy ask. But Watkins Glen handed him two gifts in eight laps.

Ross Chastain led with eight to go in regulation, lined up beside Zilisch for the restart, and powered the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet before he reached the restart zone. NASCAR sent him to the back. He was collected in a multi-truck incident in Turn 5 on Lap 70 and finished 28th. Then on Lap 69, Ruggiero — leading the field — committed his own restart-zone violation, which slid Honeycutt forward to the outside of the front row alongside Zilisch for the overtime restart.

Honeycutt cleared Zilisch through Turn 1 on the first lap of overtime. The No. 71 had nothing for him over the final lap and a half.

Honeycutt's points lead just got harder to catch

The win extends Honeycutt's series points lead to 29 markers. He's been the most complete Truck Series driver of 2026 — qualifying speed, race pace, restart craft and now a road-course closer. The two restart-zone penalties up front were the pivot, but the Texas native still had to put the No. 11 in position to capitalize, drive from the back of the field to the lead row in 32 laps, and execute the corner that mattered. With 15 races still to run, this was the moment the championship picture firmed up around the No. 11.

Restart-zone enforcement is now the storyline

Two penalties to leaders inside eight laps — Chastain to start the regulation finish, Ruggiero to cement the overtime grid — turned the race. NASCAR has already moved this week to adjust the visual markings of the restart zone after both calls, conceding that the painted lines at WGI were not as clear as they should have been. Whatever the optics, the rule was applied consistently: jump the box, lose the race. That's a lesson the field will take to Iowa.

Brent Crews' pole is louder than it sounds

The first pole of Crews' career, at 125.602 mph on a road course, against a field that included two part-time Cup ringers in Chastain and van Gisbergen — that's a real qualifying lap. He led the field to green and ran inside the top group through the early stages before fading to seventh on the final stint. Toyota's development pipeline has its next Truck-series podium driver, and the only question is when, not if.

SVG keeps being SVG

Shane van Gisbergen extended his road-course-rookie-of-the-decade legend with another podium, finishing P3 in his Truck appearance for the weekend. Long-run pace, clean traffic management, no contact in the high-incident section through Turns 5-7. He's the rare ringer who delivers the headline result every time he drops into the series.

Big Winners

• Kaden Honeycutt — Drove from the rear of the field to the win after the closed-pit-road penalty. Place differential was the entire ballgame: a massive swing from the back to P1 on top of the win and laps led during the final restart sequence. Anyone with Honeycutt in lineup at his pre-race salary banked the slate's highest single-driver score by a clean margin.
• Daniel Hemric — P4 plus the Stage 1 win. Quiet, high-finish, low-variance day with the Stage points kicker on top — the kind of GPP pivot the public usually misses on a road course.
• Shane van Gisbergen — P3 in his Truck cameo. The road-course-ringer leverage tax usually makes you pay; the result delivered.

Disappointments

• Ross Chastain — Was leading with eight to go when the restart-zone penalty hit, then was caught up in the Turn 5 wreck on Lap 70. Finished P28. The Niece entry was fast all weekend; the result wasn't.
• Brent Crews — P7 from pole. He still banked the pole bonus and laps led, but the chalk-anchor pricing on the No. 1 implied a top-5 floor he didn't quite deliver. The drop from the early stages to the final stint was track-position attrition, not pace.

What the data called

The closing-laps narrative — overtime, restart-zone penalties, road-course chaos — is exactly the kind of high-variance scenario where rear-of-grid recovery picks beat chalky front-runners. Honeycutt's place-differential ceiling was the model's tell. Anyone who built around Crews-Honeycutt as a TRICON pairing on the same lineup ran the slate.

The Truck Series turns straight around to Dover Motor Speedway next Friday, May 15 — a 1-mile concrete oval that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the 11-turn ribbon Honeycutt just conquered. Dover rewards the same things short tracks always do: long-run rear-tire management, restart aggression, and patience through a dirty middle stint. Honeycutt has been quiet but consistent on short ovals in 2026, and the No. 11 enters the weekend with a 29-point cushion in the standings.

Watch for Ruggiero and Chastain to bounce back — both ran near the front on Friday and both have unfinished business after their respective restart-zone issues — and for the road-course ringers (van Gisbergen, Allmendinger) to fade out of weekly relevance until Sonoma.

The biggest carryover, though, is procedural. Restart-zone enforcement just decided a NASCAR national-series race at the leaders. Every spotter in the Truck garage is now reading the painted lines in their pre-race notes.

• Race distance: 72 laps · 176.4 miles
• Pole sitter: Brent Crews — first career pole at 125.602 mph
• Stage 1 winner: Daniel Hemric
• Stage 2 winner: Connor Zilisch (race-high 28 laps led)
• Margin of victory: 0.902 sec
• Lead-changing penalties: 2 (Chastain restart zone with 8 to go in regulation; Ruggiero restart zone on Lap 69)
• Honeycutt's deficit before the final stage: rear of field, closed-pit-road penalty
• Points lead: Honeycutt +29 over second in standings
• Honeycutt's day total: ARCA Menards win + Truck Series win at WGI on the same afternoon — historic doubleheader sweep