(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
Kaden Honeycutt wakes up and heads to the Niece Motorsports shop in the morning. He works on Carson Hocevar’s No. 42 truck that has three wins and is squarely in the championship battle. He’s no engineer, but he helps assemble Hocevar’s trucks and execute setups.
Meanwhile, Honeycutt’s trying to make it in NASCAR as a driver. In addition to his job working for the 42 team, Honeycutt has an opportunity to wheel the No. 44 part-time entry in a handful of races for the organization. He made his debut with the team at Pocono Raceway in July, finishing 20th.
As he does for Hocevar, he helped assemble the truck that he raced. It’s the most competitive truck he said he’s ever driven — and something that he takes pride in preparing.
“I had a lot more detailed work and was able to pour in a lot of heart and soul and sacrifice into it,” Honeycutt told The Podium Finish. “It definitely makes it a whole lot more special to know that you worked so hard with all your group of guys for the past two weeks, building it from just basically a chassis and body that was on it.”
In mid-May, team owner Al Niece general manager Cody Efaw talked with Honeycutt about driving their trucks. At that point, the 20-year-old took a job in the shop on Hocevar’s team until it became his time to get behind the wheel.
However, this unique opportunity may not have seemed attainable even just a few years ago.
Honeycutt grew up in Willow Park, Texas, population 5,000. It used to have a racetrack — for horses — but that closed down before Honeycutt was even born. He started racing Bandoleros in 2012 and progressed to Legend Cars before finally going late model and part-time ARCA racing in 2018.
Unlike some drivers, he didn’t come from an abundance of money. It’s always been a little bit tougher for Honeycutt to achieve his goals in racing. He’s used iRacing to his advantage, even serving as an eNASCAR driver for RFK Racing.
In 2021, Honeycutt joined the CARS Tour, a South Atlantic-based Late Model Stock Car series. He’s called that home, winning three races and scoring 17 top fives in 34 starts.
With Mike Darne Racing, Honeycutt has five top fives in eight races and is eighth in points after a DNF at Hickory Motor Speedway. All things considered, he’s viewed 2023 as successful for the organization.
Honeycutt at Pocono Raceway. (Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
“We’ve had a good year so far — a good, solid season,” Honeycutt said. “The CARS Tour is the best of the best. Late Model Stock racing is where it’s at right now. As for our team, a team that hasn’t been successful in the past with what they’ve had, to be able to do what we’re doing right now is pretty good. I would say we’ve surprised a lot of people, especially going to a new chassis and having to relearn everything. We’ve been so damn close every week.
“Without Late Model Stock racing, to be honest, I wouldn’t be here. That series has taught me a lot and that car has taught me a lot.”
Honeycutt is one of just one of a handful of drivers who have emerged from the CARS Tour with a significant opportunity in a NASCAR touring series. The most notable name who has is Josh Berry, a driver that Honeycutt and others in the series look up to and view as an inspiration.
Berry raced late models for many years with JR Motorsports and participated in the series’ 2015 debut season. He won 22 times in 57 starts, proving to Dale Earnhardt Jr. that he deserved an opportunity in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Berry won in just his sixth Xfinity start in 2021 and won another race subbing for Michael Annett later in the year. He made the Championship 4 a season later, and in 2024, he’ll replace Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 car for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Honeycutt hopes that Berry can help pave the way for other short-track racers to have opportunities in NASCAR’s top ranks.
(Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
“He stuck it out. He didn’t quit, he didn’t back down. He always stayed in and just waited for that chance to run Xfinity and he did what he was supposed to do,” Honeycutt said of Berry. “Definitely a guy that I look up to being in a similar situation [as me] … That’s someone who we try to strive to be better than him. Everyone wants to be better than everybody. I try to be just like Josh, but you have to be a little better.
“There’s no better competition than Late Model Stocks. If you can run in a 30-car consistent field and be able to do what you’ve been doing, like [JRM’s Carson Kvapil] has the last two years, it’s huge. Race craft-wise, it’ll really show who can really drive a racecar and who really can’t.”
Before joining Niece, Honeycutt jumped around in the Truck Series for two seasons on a part-time basis, making starts for G2G Racing, On Point Motorsports and Roper Racing, among others. He’s developed a reputation amongst fans and industry members as one who takes care of his equipment and maximizes results.
Honeycutt has three career top 10s in the series, including a pair in the spring at Bristol Dirt and Darlington Raceway.
“Whatever I can get in, I’m trying to exceed the expectation. That’s what I have to do,” Honeycutt said. “The situation that I’m in — I’m always looking for partners to help us.”
“If without those races, there wouldn’t be [an opportunity with Niece].”
Honeycutt has more resources now than ever at his disposal, including the wealth of knowledge from Cup Series star Ross Chastain. The Trackhouse Racing driver made the Championship 4 with Niece in 2019 and still runs a part-time schedule with the organization, including Pocono.
Honeycutt said he’s been able to talk with Chastain, who remains heavily involved at the shop, for advice. Chastain said that Honeycutt’s journey even reminded him of himself, taking the beaten path to higher opportunities in racing.
Honeycutt at Pocono Raceway. (Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
“He’s doing it a lot like I did it, just kind of figuring it out as it goes, team to team, just trying to figure it out,” Chastain said. “The Niece Motorsports team with Cody [Efaw], seeing him race against us — they took a chance on him … [Honeycutt’s] just trying to figure it out and find traction with people that believe in him, and he’s found some with [Niece].”
Honeycutt’s expected to have more opportunities with Niece as the series rolls into the playoffs. He said that he hopes to be in the truck for four or five of the final seven races this season.
The team hadn’t used the No. 44 entry this season before Pocono, so Honeycutt will need to make each race that he shows up to on speed. However, he’s not worried about the qualifying aspect.
“I feel like we can go every week and be just fine,” Honeycutt said. “We’ll just continue to show up every race that we go to, whether we’re locked in or not. If you’ve got to do it the hard way, you do it the hard way.”
Honeycutt will continue to wear all of his different hats as his opportunity with Niece expands. When he’s not driving the truck or in the CARS Tour, he’ll keep working on Hocevar’s No. 42 truck as it fights for a championship.
However, Honeycutt hopes he’ll be in title contention next season as a driver. He wants to drive full-time at Niece in 2024 and said that he sees the championship potential in the shop.
But if he wants to go full-time, he’ll have to earn it. He viewed Pocono as the first race of an audition for next year.
Though the stakes are high, he isn’t taking for granted the opportunity he has at hand.
“It means more than anybody would know, especially to my mom and dad and my family,” he said. “As much as we’ve sacrificed with moving houses, moving five hours across states just to be able to race.”
“To be able to be here with Niece Motorsports is definitely something that I will cherish for a while, even if stuff doesn’t go well.”
