Kaden Honeycutt Tears Into Cup Drivers Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain After Darlington Showing

Kaden Honeycutt’s Darlington outing began with huge promise, as he edged Carson Hocevar out by 0.02 seconds to bag his first pole in the Craftsman truck series. But in ended in bitter disappointment, leaving him wondering just what went wrong in the race, in which he finished fourth.

Honeycutt had set the pace at the drop of the green and backed it up by taking Stage 2 which his fourth stage win. But then the race slipped through his fingers. Corey Heim emerged as the ultimate winner of the outing.

The turning point came on a restart with 20 laps to go, as Hocevar drove low into Turn 1 to muscle past Honeycutt and take the lead. Then, with four laps left, Hocevar‘s run unraveled with a tire going down, throwing the order into chaos, something Ross Chastain took advantage of without a lot of thinking. It turned the race into a free for all and safe to say, Honeycutt was not happy.

The Tricon Garage driver pointed to moves from Hocevar and also Chastain, that, in his view, crossed the line as they fought for track position, knocking the wind out of his run when it mattered most.

“It was definitely the best truck long run for sure. The last restart, just the top lane wasn’t preferred. Everyone at Tricon, that was good. And just hate it wasn’t us, man. I mean, we definitely were the best. Just when you line up against Cup guys, they really don’t care about restarts or nothing. So they just plug you in the fence or do what they have to do to win it,” he said in an interview with Bob Pockrass.

Honeycutt said his truck had the pace on a long run and that the outside lane on the final restart left him boxed in. Racing against drivers who also log laps in the Cup garage, he added, came with its own set of rules, where elbows came out, and space was at a premium. He felt the contact in Turns 1 and 2, and again, off Turn 2 took him out of the hunt.

“And that’s what happened to me when Hocevar went to the bottom, and he shoved me in 1 and 2, and then Ross did it again off two and just flattened the right side out too good. So it’s what it is.” 

“It’s, you know, what the hell do they care about, right? I mean, I understand racing for a win, but they knew I was the best truck, so they did what they had to do to take me out of it. It just sucks,” Honeycutt added.

“When you line up against Cup guys, they really don’t care about restarts or nothing. So, they just plug you in the fence …”- Kaden Honeycutt was not thrilled with Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain after Darlington. pic.twitter.com/xBDokCgWpJ

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 21, 2026

Honeycutt has been knocking on the door of a win for a while, but the final step has stayed out of reach. He has shown he can run up front when the green flies, yet the closing laps have seldom been kind to him.

Across 63 starts in the series, Honeycutt has put together a stack of runs near the front, including a runner-up finish, four top-three results, and seven top-four finishes, with Darlington adding another to the list.

About the author

Neha Dwivedi

Neha Dwivedi is an experienced NASCAR Journalist at The SportsRush, having penned over 5500 articles on the sport to date. She was a seasoned writer long before she got into the world of NASCAR. Although she loves to see Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch win the races, she equally supports the emerging talents in the CARS Late Model and ARCA Menards Series.. For her work in NASCAR she has earned accolades from journalists like Susan Wade of The Athletic, as well as NASCAR drivers including Thad Moffit and Corey Lajoie. Her favorite moment from NASCAR was witnessing Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. win the championship trophies. Outside the racetrack world, Neha immerses herself in the literary world, exploring both fiction and non-fiction.

Read More