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.
Wawa 250
At a track where anything can happen, Leland Honeyman, Jr. returned to Daytona International Speedway to try to steal a win from the big dogs.
With an average starting position of 26.5 on the season, Honeyman helped that by qualifying P20. It would remain to be seen if he could better his average finish of 22.8.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona, the series rookie crashed and finished P30. He would also work hard to finish ahead of that.
Honeyman and his spotter, Frankie Kimmel talked strategy pre-race ahead of the green flag. The two agreed that “hang out and wait it out” was the best strategy with rain, and likely chaos, in the forecast.
Kimmel’s last advice was, “30 laps to the end of Stage 1. Get there with all the fenders on it.”
Stage 1
As Chandler Smith and Joe Graf, Jr. led the field to green, the caution was immediately out as Austin Hill and Jeremy Clements crashed and collected numerous other drivers.
In the early chaos, Honeyman moved up to P16 and the No. 42 team was thankful he did not drop to the back, as he would have been involved as well.
The restart came after a 10-lap clean-up effort and Honeyman was finally able to get to work. Within a lap of the action resuming, drivers took it three-wide and Honeyman found himself running the yellow line.
By Lap 13, he was working his way to the back to avoid any significant damage. Two laps later, running P24, Kimmel said, “If it’s comfortable, you can hang here.” Honeyman and his pack were significantly behind the lead pack, essentially testing the waters to see how far back they could hang and how quickly they could catch the lead pack.
With 10 to go in the stage, the shuffling picked up. Five laps later, Kimmel informed Honeyman in P27, “It’s about to happen I think,” and told his driver to stay ready.
Fortunately for all, teams kept it clean and Honeyman finished the stage P28.
Stage 2
Under caution, he came to the pits for fuel, tires, and adjustments, then returned to start Stage 2 in P21.
The race resumed with Kimmel weather-watching and Honeyman running the bottom lane. He dropped back a little to distance himself with “enough room to bail.”
Kimmel continued to give his young driver advice as he hoofed it around the track at 188mph. With 16 to go in the stage, Honeyman was running P25, last in the long single-file line of cars. He was receiving instruction to, “Do whatever you gotta do to stay attached.”
Honeyman used the opportunity to do some learning, however, Kimmel noted lightning was spotted in the distance.
With 10 to go in the stage, the leaders started to get antsy and moved to three lanes. Three laps later, Honeyman was starting to pick off a few drivers and was running P24 with a goal to make it to the top 20 before the stage break.
Up front, there was a ton of pushing as the leaders jockeyed for position.
With two to go, the caution waved as Sam Mayer went for a spin. Honeyman had moved up to P23 and would end the stage there.
Stage 3
After another pit stop, Honeyman was told to save “a little” for overtime and returned to the track in P28 to start the final stage. Once again, the plan was to “hang back.”
He worked his way back to P32, while up front it was bumper-to-bumper, beating and banging.
Suddenly, Brandon Jones went spinning from P11, bringing out the caution. Honeyman came to the pits and topped off under yellow in order to be “way good” on fuel.
Awaiting the green, Kimmel gave Honeyman the lay of the land. He noted that being a younger driver with no teammates, he didn’t have the “cred” he needed for anyone up front to want to work with him. His best option was to be in a good spot with five to go and make a run for it.
He restarted P22 with 27 to go and immediately worked his way to P19.
In an effort to avoid “The Big One,” he fell back to P28 and stayed just close enough to lose the ground. Immediately, a multi-car pile-up occurred after Jeb Burton got loose.
Another big wreck!
A big restart coming inside 20 to go coming up on USA Network. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/h9tjLcXxl3
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 24, 2024
Fortunately for Honeyman, the incident allowed him to move to P16 for the restart with 18 to go. He worked his way back three spots to allow for some distance with 15 to go.
Kimmel encouraged his driver to hang out where he was because, “With the way they’re racing, they’re not making it to the end.”
He fell to P26 when Shane van Gisbergen got loose and nearly brought out the caution. Honeyman was instructed to “be as wide open as you can get” in order to catch back up to the main pack.
With seven to go, he was sitting P21, running over 192mph and was told, “Zero lifting from here on out.”
The caution waved as The Big One collected drivers in the top teens. Honeyman skirted down to the yellow line and made it through unscathed.
All the angles from this big wreck at Daytona. 😳
Late-race restart coming up on USA Network. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/0tLOH91n0P
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 24, 2024
Then, race officials red-flagged the race due to fluid covering the track. Honeyman was sitting P14 and discussed strategy with Kimmel.
Overtime
After nearly 13 minutes under red, drivers re-fired their cars and prepared for Overtime.
Kimmel said, “Take a deep breath. Let’s go get us a top 10 or even a top five.”
Drivers took the green and were banging doors through Turn 1. Coming into Turn 4, Honeyman hit the top 10.
He was on a charge forward, but as soon as the leader took the white flag, AJ Allmendinger went sliding and brought out the caution.
Honeyman was scored P9 at the caution. With that, Kimmel congratulated his driver, saying, “Second plate race in a row with a top 10! Great job!”
On top of that, Honeyman was awarded the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race.
Sponsor Shoutout + Driver & Team Socials
NASCAR fans know sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to Cornerstone Produce Group 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.
