Honeycutt Leads Wire-to-Wire in CARS Tour PLM Win at North Wilkesboro

Kaden Honeycutt dominated Thursday night's zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model The Reverend Whiskey 75 at North Wilkesboro Speedway as he led every lap on his path to a win from the pole position.

Honeycutt kept the field at bay by a second or more for the majority of the race, but a competition caution with 26 laps remaining gave Dawson Sutton, the driver of the No. 26 Rackley W.A.R. Chevrolet, a second wind.

While Sutton would apply pressure to Honeycutt for the race lead for a few laps on the final restart of the race, Honeycutt and his No. 47 Bryson Lopez Racing machine were simply too stout. Honeycutt would pull away, but would encounter one last slight scare as he approached lapped traffic in the closing laps.

"We had a really great car tonight. I was taking my time those last couple of laps with those lappers, and I saw Dawson was running me down pretty quickly, so, I decided to just turn back up and get past those lappers," Honeycutt said. "Pretty hectic those last couple of laps, but yeah, I'm just happy for this team, man."

Honeycutt would take the win over Sutton by a victory margin of 0.368 seconds.

Winning is becoming a tradition for Honeycutt at the 0.625-mile North Wilkesboro Speedway as the driver captured the victory in last fall's zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model season finale at North Wilkesboro, which also netted the driver the series championship.

"Yeah, just awesome, man. I'm just so happy for my team, Bryson Lopez Racing, all of our sponsors," Honeycutt stated.

This time around, Honeycutt, a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series contender, was able to hold off another full-time NASCAR Truck Series driver as he lit up his tires on his journey to the lift, which elevated his car to the unique Victory Lane at North Wilkesboro Speedway, which sits atop the media center.

On a night when it took being great to win, Sutton was very close. The driver qualified second to Honeycutt, and he chased the No. 47 car all race long before settling for the runner-up finish.

Keelan Harvick, the 12-year-old son of NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick, came home an impressive third in Thursday night's race. The youngster continues to show that he has inherited the racing gene from his famous father, and he is quickly forging a path of his own at a very young age.

Making Harvick's third-place run even more impressive is the fact that he was able to hold off veteran Pro Late Model racers Spencer Davis, and Josh Berry, who finished fourth and fifth.

Berry, who has gone on to become a winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series since his days of dominating the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model Series, looked to have a car capable of potentially contending for the win in the early laps, but he faded mid-race and would finish fifth.

Tristan McKee, Luke Baldwin, Conner Jones, Ben Maier, and Brandon Lopez would round out the top-10 finishers in Thursday night's race.

For Baldwin and the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing team, it was a roller coaster day.

The team was looking for its third consecutive CARS Tour Pro Late Model victory, but after a blown engine in practice, the team was focused on simply being able to qualify for the race.

With an assist from Spencer Davis' team, they got the engine change done ahead of qualifying.

"Thanks, Spencer Davis and his guys, for that," Baldwin said to Racing America after the race. "They went and got it for us, and we got it switched over."

In qualifying, Baldwin turned the third-fastest lap on his first lap of the session. However, on his last qualifying lap, Baldwin knocked the wall down in Turn 2, which resulted in the No. 51 team being behind the eight-ball once again.

After the up-and-down day and evening, Baldwin lamented his own personal mistakes from behind the wheel as he felt he had cost the team on Thursday.

"I'm trying not to hang my head, right? But I knocked the fence down in qualifying. That can't happen when you're racing at this level and have this good of a race car," Baldwin admitted.

Baldwin would start from the rear of the field, which put him in a treacherous spot as a multi-car melee ensued on the initial start of the race when Isaac Kitzmiller missed a shift in the middle of the field.

Baldwin would suffer some damage in the incident, which would hamper the handling of his race car. However, Baldwin and the Rick Ware Racing team stuck with it and rallied to finish seventh, which was essentially like a win for Baldwin.

"Yeah, to an extent [it was like a win]. Took the [owner] points lead, so that's always good. Happy to get that for Rick. It's better than loading up and going home after losing an engine."

Next up for the zMAX CARS Tour is the Late Model Stock Window World 100 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Friday, May 16. That race is set for 8:15 PM ET, and will be televised on FS1.

Landen Lewis will lead the field to the green in Friday night's race after he secured the pole in qualifying on Thursday afternoon.

Honeycutt will pilot the No. 5 Hettinger Racing entry in Friday's CARS Tour Late Model Stock event, and he'll roll from the third position on the starting grid in that race.

zMAX CARS Tour The Reverend Whiskey 75 Results

Photo Credit: Jonathan McCoy | TobyChristie.com