Lucky 13 rides along with the driver who qualifies 13th, keeping an eye on how their race unfolds. This driver could be sent to the back of the pack and still pull off a victory, or their luck could take a nosedive early in the race. With luck on their side – or against them – anything can happen! So, grab your four-leaf clovers, your lucky horseshoes, and maybe even a rabbit’s foot for the latest Lucky 13! Will it be fortune or misfortune? Let’s find out!
Baptist Health 200
Driver: Kaden Honeycutt
Organization & Number: Niece Motorsports, #45
Crew Chief: Phil Gould
Spotter: Stevie Reeves
“Thank you for the hard work…busting your butts. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, but I appreciate y’all digging for more. We’ll go have ourselves a great night!” – Kaden Honeycutt
Stage 1
The green immediately turned into a yellow as drivers attempted to take it four wide and did not succeed. Honeycutt just barely squeaked by, and maintained P13. A long clean-up saw the field restart on Lap 7 and fortunately, this time, drivers kept it clean.
Honeycutt quickly found himself in a three-wide situation as Stevie Reeves worked to help his driver stay out of trouble and make up ground.
Six laps after the restart, Honeycutt was able to move up to P11. He had his sights set on Rajah Caruth in P11 so he could work on the top 10. After going three wide, the top 10 was within grasp.
Honeycutt briefly made it into the top 10, then was shuffled back out. While you could throw a blanket over the leaders, Kyle Larson, Corey Heim, and Layne Riggs, Honeycutt was fighting tooth and nail to remain in the top 10.
Before taking the green-checkered, he stole P9, along with two stage points.
After catching his breath, Honeycutt noted, “I’ve got good stability. It was a little snug in (Turns) 3 and 4…Felt like the right rear was coming to me. I don’t know if we even need to do anything…Felt like a really good truck at the end!”
Stage 2
After minor adjustments to his Chevy Silverado, Honeycutt returned to the track. His team worked hard on pit road and allowed Honeycutt to remain in the top 10.
The green waved on Lap 38 and drivers immediately went line to the wall, while Honeycutt muscled his way to P5 within one lap.
Honeycutt was making moves, using every bit of real estate. Within another three laps, he was running P4, fighting with Chandler Smith. He settled in at P5 as Ty Majeski got around him.
Reeves told his driver to stay on his toes because the leaders were trying hard to wreck each other. With seven to go, less than three seconds separated the top five drivers. Unfortunately, Honeycutt could not make up any more ground, but he added six more stage points to his count for the night.
The latest update came after the stage ended, “The balance was much better but got tighter on this run. If I can be a little bit freer, I think that would be the direction to go.”
Stage 3
Coming off pit road, Majeski ran into Honeycutt, “He lifted me up!” While Majeski’s fender was a mess, Honeycutt was told his truck was fine.
He restarted P5 on Lap 68, but some early shuffling and shoving sent him back to P8.
After a few laps, he radioed in stating he wanted his adjustments back. At this time, he was sitting P7, behind Friesen and Daniel Hemric who were beating and banging.
With 55 to go, Honeycutt gained a spot, and Reeves told crew chief, Phil Gould, “I really think it’s going to come to us.”
A lap later, Reeves encouraged his young driver, “It’s starting to come back to you.”
Ten laps later, Riggs and Larson got into each other, and Larson went spinning. Honeycutt gained a spot and was sitting P5.
Under caution, Gould called his driver in for a final round of adjustments, and the team crushed the pit stop. They gained him three spots, allowing him the opportunity to restart on the front row.
Good Day Turns Bad
Unfortunately, after this stop, his luck took a dose dive. NASCAR pegged Honeycutt with a “vehicle interference penalty” and forced him to start at the tail end of the longest line.
Honeycutt requested a video so he could learn from the situation.
His team worked to get him re-focused and he took the green from P23 with 39 to go. Reeves reminded him, “Don’t overdrive your stuff. You got a good truck!”
With that, he took P20 and was a driver on a mission. Another two laps saw him gain three more spots. With 31 to go, he hit the top 15 and was in a battle with Larson.
He solidified his position in P14 and was told to take a breath and go get the next one.
Honeycutt continued his march to the front and his battle with Larson. The two continued to swap spots. Finally, Reeves said, “You two could probably work together and get by a lot of these guys. You’re both pretty fast.”
With the end in sight, Honeycutt sat just outside the top 10 and Reeves told him, “Time your pass.” He broke into the top 10 as he took 10 to go, and radioed in, “I’d kill for a yellow right now!”
On the next lap, he called back to his team, saying he had hit some debris and was worried about the nose of his truck. However, all was good and he was encouraged to keep pushing forward.
He did just that and took the checkered flag in P10. After a cool-down lap, he apologized to his team and thanked them for all their hard work.
Sponsor Shout-out + Social Round-up
NASCAR fans know sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to AutoVentive and Precision Vehicle Logistics. These two sponsors played a huge part of the weekend for Kaden and the No. 45 team.
Be sure to give Kaden Honeycutt (Facebook, Instagram, X) and Niece Motorsports (Facebook, Instagram, X) a follow to keep up with the latest news from the driver and team.
