There was a split second when it seemed like Kaden Honeycutt wouldn’t even be racing the Late Model Stock race at North Wilkesboro. Following a win in the Pro Late Model race, Honeycutt was gassed, clearly dealing with the effects of the heat and his status was questionable to say the least. In fact, it was in such question that Layne Riggs was dressed, and ready to hop in the pole-sitting No. 17.
Nevertheless, Honeycutt climbed in, and never looked back from there. Leading all but the first lap of the race, Honeycutt put in yet another near perfect performance in a Late Model Stock, something he’s done a number of times in 2026, and completed his second CARS Tour sweep of the year.
Honeycutt held of Corey Heim in the end, while Jake Bollman, Connor Hall and Brenden Queen made up the rest of the top five. Carson Kvapil, Conner Jones, Chad McCumbee, Carson Loftin and Carson Brown completed the top-10.
Following the race and victory lane celebration, Honeycutt received medical attention, including an IV, before speaking with the media. It’s his third consecutive Late Model Stock win dating back to the CARS Tour race at Ace Speedway back in May, and the South Boston 200 at the end of June.
Kaden Honeycutt sweeps yet another CARS Tour weekend, this time at North Wilkesboro.
He battled the heat for a pair of wins, and had no clue Layne Riggs was even dressed and ready to go. Not racing the LMSC never crossed his mind. pic.twitter.com/uMYyn6pd1s
“Gosh man, it was so hot,” Honeycutt told Short Track Scene post-race. “It’s really hot here in July, North Carolina. But regardless of all that, what a weekend. I mean just the Pro Late Model, JC Motorspors, Tom Usry Racing. I can’t say enough about them, man. We’ve been so consistent and we’ve been so good everywhere we’ve gone and a lot of that just goes to the race team and I can’t say enough on how proud I am of them.”
Honeycutt said in victory lane “I don’t quit” when asked about the heat. Although Riggs was on standby to climb aboard Honeycutt’s Late Model Stock car, he had no clue Riggs was even ready to go. He says he’s appreciative of Riggs efforts but never once thought of not racing the Late Model Stock.
“Yeah, I didn’t even know he was ready to race,” Honeycutt said of Riggs. “I told Kenneth [Packer] that you better not find a backup because I’m changing my stuff and I’m coming back. So like I said, I just didn’t want to quit. We worked super, super hard all weekend to give us an opportunity to win here at North Wilkesboro and by sitting on the pole. I wasn’t going to take that down lightly.
“So like I said, I wasn’t out of breath or condition the first race. I just was really, really hot and my food didn’t digest right. Just didn’t prepare the best I needed to. But yeah, just thankful that Layne even considered to drive it. I appreciate him very much for that. But yeah, just didn’t want to quit, didn’t want to give up on my team, and they deserved to ride that elevator at the end of it.”
It wasn’t smooth sailing in the closing laps, as Honeycutt battled with lap traffic while Heim closed in behind. Heim got within three-tenths of a second on the final lap, but was never able to get close enough to make a move. The second place finish netted his Nelson Motorsports team the $10,000 Flodium bonus.
Corey Heim needed a late race mistake from Kaden Honeycutt to catch the 17.
“I think he was really good in the short runs,” Heim said of Honeycutt. “I think we were pretty equal in the longer run, it looked like he was starting to slide around a little bit. I don’t think we were necessarily better than him by any means, but I think if we had the track position at the end, we could have maybe won the race.
“He just did a great job not making any mistakes. That’s what I was going to come down to is lap cars, he was put in some bad positions a couple times and he did a really good job. We went through lot of traffic, so if you got a guy that’s got a fast car and doesn’t make any mistakes, he’s pretty tough to beat.”
The only major race-altering incident of the night was a run-in between Landen Lewis and Jake Bollman on a restart just past the halfway mark. Lewis, running second prior to the caution, elected to take the outside of row two rather than the front row. Bollman took the bottom, and the two were door to door on the entry to turn one.
After Heim took the two three wide down the back straightaway, Bollman slid up the track on entry to turn three, making contact with Lewis. The door slam from Bollman sent the No. 29 up the track and into the outside wall in turn three, ending the reigning CARS Tour champions night. Lewis declined to comment post-race.
CARS Tour Late Model Stock Results North Wilkesboro Speedway July 17, 2026
