Kaden Honeycutt Goes Back-to-Back in Krush 250 at South Boston

Kaden Honeycutt is now two-for-two in the State Water Heaters Krush 250 presented by Rogers Heating and Cooling benefitting the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation after winning the event for the second straight year.

Honeycutt battled with Bobby McCarty for the victory, taking the lead in overtime for a $12,000-win in the Tom Usry Racing No. 17. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship contender won the inaugural Krush event at Orange County Speedway one year ago, and doubled his win total in the event on Saturday.

McCarty initially took the lead on lap 241, working past Honeycutt as they negotiated lapped traffic. However, a caution on lap 247 for an incident involving Stacy Puryear and Mason Bailey sent the race into overtime.

That caution offered Honeycutt the opportunity to retake the lead and claim a second Krush victory, muscling past McCarty on the inside line.

"I got tight there during that last run," said Honeycutt in victory lane. "I really needed it to go green. That heat cycle kind of messed us up, front-end wise. [McCarty] caught me, he flew past me.

"Just had that green-white-checkered, and I just did everything I could to win it the right way and press him really hard."

While Honeycutt won the inaugural event at Orange County one year ago, he was thrilled to back up that title at South Boston and hopes to look for a third win in the race in 2026.

"To race here is incredible," said Honeycutt. "The fans out here at South Boston, they always come in here and support this racetrack. It's just awesome to race in front of a crowd like this at a short track.

"Everybody does a great job behind the scenes outside the racetrack to promote this race. Thanks to Rogers Heating and Air, they put up a lot of effort to let us race. Thank them very, very much. Hopefully, I get to come back for a third time. Hopefully, it's a race weekend I can show up and I'd love to come back again."

While 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton did not race in the Krush 250 as he did one year ago, he was on hand at the event benefitting his Wildlife Foundation and congratulated Honeycutt in victory lane.

"Two in a row," said Burton. "These guys, the enthusiasm of your team and the passion they showed, all the hard work they've done for you just watching the last two days, and your wife is here, she's so happy. Congratulations, man.

"Nice, clean racing. Good hard, clean, racing. Thanks to Rogers Heating & Cooling, State Water Heaters, thank all of y'all for making this happen. South Boston Speedway and the staff, without them, they have been rock stars to make all of this happen the way it is."

McCarty finished second after having the win in his grasp before the lap 247 caution. McCarty methodically sized up Honeycutt before setting up his potential race-winning pass with 10 laps to go, but the late yellow put him back on the defensive.

"[Honeycutt] started to get real tight there," said McCarty. "I tried getting him on that initial start, there on that last long run. I was just letting everybody else catch us too fast, so I backed off. I started feeling his car out and seeing where I was better at, and then timed it. They always get really good drive in those cars, and he had it wound up real good on the top, so I knew I needed some help."

McCarty also expressed some frustration with the physical racing in overtime, knowing that he would have to either live or die by the sword on a green-white-checkered restart.

"That green-white-checkered, man, I came over the radio twice when the first caution came out. I was like, man, if we take the bottom, it's in our hands. If we take the top, we're going to get shipped.

"I hate being right, but there's a way I'm going to win races and a way everybody else is going to win races. I told them, you know, regardless, we're going to hold our head high. I don't have to do all that to win races, you know what I mean? To each their own.

"I'm not blaming anybody. Congrats to him. He had a good car, and he played the game right. I've been doing it a while. I'm after a little something different, you know what I mean? It's just going to be different for me, so congrats to them, Marcus, the whole R&S group, they brought a good car.

"That hurts, man. I played everything right. I used picks right, I saved the car. This is racing. This is how it goes."

Parker Eatmon, the 2024 winner of the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park, finished third in the Krush 250.

"We were a third-place car today, with me and William, we finished third," said Eatmon. "We got lucky with the yellow and the green-white-checkers we had, but we couldn't do anything with it. Kaden and Bobby had really good cars. I can't thank everybody enough at Matt Piercy Racing; they put a really good car together, and I can't thank them enough."

Jeb Burton finished fourth, with Blake Stallings rounding out the top five.

-Photo credit: South Boston Speedway

State Water Heaters Krush 250 Unofficial Results