Kaden Honeycutt outduels Bobby McCarty in Krush 250 overtime

Ultimately, Kaden Honeycutt ran Bobby McCarty wide on the final restart but it was also a decision at the Choose V that opened the door for how the Krush 250 benefitting the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation at South Boston Speedway was decided.

But, as is often the case in racing, it’s not such a cut-and-dry or binary series of decisions.

On the previous restart, McCarty chose the bottom but didn’t get the best drive off, especially going through 3 and 4 after a previous crash needed speedy dry applied to the surface. Plus, McCarty just felt like he needed to switch it up from a strategic standpoint.

They went through 1 and 2 side-by-side, but Honeycutt did wash up in 3 and 4, and drove away down the frontstretch to win this race for the second year in a row after claiming the inaugural edition at Orange County in 2024.

Honeycutt said he ‘was fully ready for it,’ regarding being put on the bottom.

“I made my adjustments in car to be able to roll the bottom as hard as possible and we just got there off of (Turn) 2 and we were even in the 3 and next thing I knew I was clear,” Honeycutt said. “I didn’t know if I hit him or not. I don’t think I did. I didn’t feel it.

“I love Bobby to death. We race really, really hard and really well and we both had really great race cars. Before that, these cars on these heat cycles, it just messed the front up on our car and made us tight. I fired back off and it went right back to where it was on the first run.”

McCarty said he faced a no-win scenario of sorts. He didn’t like the way his car fired off on the bottom, at least not after that last red flag, but choosing the top leaves the leader susceptible to being pushed up the track.

The three-time CARS Tour champion had just hoped Honeycutt would have raced him straight-up, line-versus-line.

“He’s a Truck Series driver (and) like, he has to have those results,” McCarty said. “And like I told him I said ‘Man, look, you, you have to win races and keep that persona as someone that just shows up and wins,’ so there are no hard feelings. I ain’t mad at them. I had fun racing with them and you know, I hope to do it again soon, and I always wanted to help the kid out.”

McCarty brought up how they were briefly teammates in 2012 at Nelson Motorsports and it didn’t go well.

“It’s kind of crazy,” McCarty said. “We were terrible teammates but we are better competitors and we help each other more as competitors but I told him I was proud of him and they had a good car all weekend long … I mean they just did what they needed to do to win and circumstances put us on the short stick on that deal, so it’s fine, man.”

And McCarty said it in a way where you believe him too. This isn’t the McCarty of five years ago that was an especially hard-nosed aggressive young racer. He’s in his mid-30s now, driving either his own cars or the Jay Hedgecock house car, and with a ragtag group of volunteers.

“I feel like I did everything right and the right way today and if that’s how we get one taken away, that’s fine,” he added. “We put on a good show for a good cause with the Burton foundation and I was glad to be a part of it.”

And to be fair to McCarty’s point about Turns 3 and 4, Honeycutt got tight over that same spot but also didn’t think he took too many liberties.

“I wasn’t and I didn’t go in there and body slam him, right,” Honeycutt said. “I was in his position in September (in the CARS Tour race) and I wanted to be raced the right way as well.

“So I just wanted to give him that respect, especially since he straight up passed me, right before that and we did touch a little but off 2. I don’t know if he got squirrel-y or not but nothing major. We went to 3 side-by-side and I think he hit some of the speedy dry and got really tight and I was able to clear him off of that – just had leverage.

“Crossing the line is going in there and just body slamming in, with my entire right side destroyed, and all I have is two skid marks after this 250 lap race, but that all goes to show we can race really hard and really clean, and not wipe each other out.”

The first third of the race was controlled by Doug Barnes Jr. in his final race for Lee Pulliam Performance. He lost the lead only because Stacy Puryear did not pit at the first stage break. Pulliam called Barnes down pit road for adjustments but not tires.

On equal tires, Barnes wasn’t able to easily dispatch Puryear, who was jamming up the field behind him. Puryear slowed in the corner of Turns 1 and 2 and Barnes wasn’t able to brake up in time. Puryear was sent around from the lead and South Boston race control was forced to call a penalty.

That’s when Honeycutt first assumed the lead and he held it until McCarty passed him with 10 laps to go before the series of late race restarts that decided the race.

Krush 250 benefiting the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation
South Boston Speedway
November 8 2025