Roulette Recap follows a randomly selected driver throughout a race to break down their efforts. There is no telling ahead of time how the race will go. The driver could face calamity on the opening lap or start from the rear and win the race. With that, may the odds be ever in the driver’s favor.
Xfinity Expansion for Young’s Motorsports
The beginning of 2024 brought exciting news for Young’s Motorsports as the team announced an expansion to the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Additionally, the team tapped Leland Honeyman, Jr. as their full-time driver for the ’24 season. Honeyman has eight starts heading into ’24 with a best finish of P21 at the Charlotte ROVAL in 2023.
With that, Young’s and Honeyman headed to Daytona International Speedway to make some noise.
United Rentals 300
In the lone practice session, Honeyman sat P20, only .353 seconds off the leader’s pace. The weather threatened to wash out qualifying, but fortunately, he was able to turn the needed lap and lined up P24 for the delayed race on Monday.
Before rolling off for the United Rentals 300, Honeyman expressed his excitement over the opportunity and said, “We’re making history!”
Stage 1
As the green flag finally waved late Monday night, Honeyman and his team opted to drop to the rear and learn. By Lap 3, he was sitting P34 and spotter Frankie Kimmel was coaching the young driver through the high banks.
Lap 7 saw the majority of the field single file and Honeyman in P33. Within another lap, the Young’s Motorsports rookie who sat quiet on the radio, gained two more positions.
As drivers hit the halfway point of the opening stage, Honeyman gained one more spot as the race stayed single file.
With eight to go, the yellow waved for an incident involving Daniel Suarez, Kyle Weatherman, Sam Mayer, and Hailie Deegan.
Big hit for Sam Mayer with Daniel Suárez, Hailie Deegan, & Kyle Weatherman involved in the first #XfinitySeries caution of the night. pic.twitter.com/RXFiavbqZX
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) February 20, 2024
This allowed Honeyman to move up to P26. The team immediately started discussing whether or not to pit. Ultimately, they chose to pit but opted to wait until the second time by to allow for less traffic on pit road.
Following his stop, it would be a one-lap shootout to end the stage. Honeyman was warned to just lay back in the likely ensuing chaos. He started the final lap in P32 and was told, “They’re green, just let them get away though.” Fortunately, the stage ended calmly and Honeyman finished in P30.
He was told he would be coming back to the pits to top off on fuel before the start of the second stage.
Stage 2
Honeyman lined up P32 to start Stage 2 and it was back to learning. The second stage started more aggressively than the opening with drivers going three-wide throughout the field.
Within a lap, the caution waved for a massive dust-up that involved 10 cars.
Three-wide racing leads to trouble on the backstretch! pic.twitter.com/TaNNAqgJOd
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 20, 2024
Honeyman immediately radioed in, “All good!” The No. 42 team took the opportunity to pit once again and returned to the track to restart P13 on Lap 41. Kimmel informed his driver there would be “a lot of speed” behind him.
With 11 to go in the stage, he fell to P22 but a caution for a spinning Justin Allgaier saved him from losing too many more spots.
Honeyman came to his team under caution for another splash of fuel and returned to the track. Honeyman restarted P27 with 10 to go and quickly gained a spot, but before any more work could be done, the caution was in the air again. This time for John Hunter Nemecheck who went spinning with Josh Bilicki caught in the crosshairs.
These incidents combined allowed Honeyman to move to P21. Under caution, he was called to pit road to top off on fuel once again.
After a rough stop, Honeyman returned to the track with four laps remaining in the second stage, sitting P20. Kimmel sent his driver off to the restart with, “Let the chaos ensue.”
The leaders went three-wide and Kimmel encouraged his driver as he learned and worked to stay out of trouble. Honeyman brought up the rear of the lead pack, sitting P21 as he came to one to go. Ultimately, he finished the stage in the same position.
Stage 3
Prior to starting the final stage, Honeyman came to his pit stall for tires and fuel. The team called him to pit road once more to top off in order to be in a solid spot late in the race. With 55 to go, Honeyman lined up P25, and was told to stay “attached to the back of the pack” and to “be more aggressive with that.”
Within four laps, Honeyman had lost a spot but was holding steady as the front of the field was racing hard. Kimmel encouraged his driver, who had moved to P24, “You don’t need to be any closer. Stay where you can see.”
Both lanes were surging, alternating who had the momentum.
With 46 to go, green flag pit stops began and Honeyman came with the first round of takers for fuel only. As a rookie, it is all about getting the “firsts” out of the way and this marked his first-ever, green flag pit stop.
He returned to track in P28. However, once two other groups cycled out, he was running P20. After the leaders took to pit road, Honeyman was scored P15.
Over the next few laps, Kimmel continued to coach his driver about drafting practices. He worked his way to P11 before losing a few spots as a pack of cars worked around the group he was running in.
With 36 to go, he sat bottom of three in P10. Kimmel allowed his driver to fall back to P18, stating, “I don’t want to be three wide anymore.”
A few laps later, Kimmel continued the encouraging, “You did everything right on your stops. You’ve done everything right on track. We’re right where we want to be. Just hang in there.”
25 to Go
Honeyman ran P21 as the front of the field stretched to single file. However the yellow waved as soon as drivers took 24 to go when Jeb Burton went for a spin. Honeyman was scored P16, and he finally had the opportunity to breathe after a crash course in pack racing.
The team took a moment to regroup and get an update on the handling of the No. 42. With that, the team opted to come in for fuel and minor adjustments for the last stretch of the race.
Honeyman sat P15 to restart with 18 to go. However, his spotter and crew chief did not like being in the “hornet’s nest”. They opted to take the bottom lane due to the options it provided in the event of a wreck. Kimmel also noted, “A clean car in 23rd is not a bad day here.”
With the green flag in the air, the pushing at the front between leaders Ryan Sieg and Riley Herbst immediately began. Unfortunately, Honeyman was part of the next caution which came immediately.
Frustrated, he came over the radio, “Right reared for no reason.”
The start of Honeyman’s ROTY campaign would end with his car on a tow truck and the driver scored in P30.
Final Notes
Honeyman certainly got the full lesson on superspeedway racing. He had to work through single-file racing, not losing the draft, and sitting three-wide in the middle of the pack. Additionally, he battled through pit road struggles, paced himself as the field wound itself up in intensity, and checked off a few “firsts”.
It provided quite the learning experience for the NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie.
Sponsor Shoutout + Driver & Team Socials
NASCAR fans know sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to Ohio Logistics who played a huge part of the weekend for Leland and the No. 42 team.
Be sure to give Leland Honeyman, Jr. (Facebook, Instagram, X) and Young’s Motorsports (Facebook, Instagram, X) a follow to keep up with the latest news from the driver and team.
