At just 21-years-old, Kaden Honeycutt is ready to take NASCAR by storm. Honeycutt has already made his presence known, including earning the victory last year at the iconic Snowball Derby, but 2025 is shaping up to be an absolute career year for Honeycutt. A full-time campaign driving the #45 for Al Niece and Niece Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series looms large for Honeycutt, not to mention additional seat time in the zMAX CARS Tour and, frankly, anywhere where he can behind the wheel of anything with four wheels and an engine. Honeycutt has a great perspective on racing and will undoubtedly make waves on the track all season long with his passion and drive to win. We had the chance to sit down with Honeycutt prior to the beginning of the 2024 season to discuss his career to date, his plans for the future, his thoughts on the state of the sport and advice he has for fellow up-and-coming drivers.
Q: Where are you originally from and how did you first get involved in racing?
A: So, I’m originally from a place called Bridge City, Texas, which is near the Gulf of Mexico, about 15 minutes away from the border. Then around 7th/8th grade, I moved up to Fort Worth to do some more dirt racing because there’s a whole bunch of dirt tracks up there. I started out originally in Bandoleros and raced around Houston Motorsports Park for at least three to four years. I raced at Charlotte Motor Speedway around the quarter mile and then I moved up to Legend Cars and raced those for about three to four years. I won a lot of races in those around Las Vegas, Atlanta, Charlotte—man, all the way across the country in a Legend Car. I raced those and I had a really good time enjoying that. Then I did a couple of races in a Pro Late Model for John Bowen around Five Flags. I raced a couple of those around Pensacola and Mobile, as well as Montgomery. Then, I raced my own ARCA car in 2018, I believe. It was the #43 Empire car. I raced a couple of races in those. I also raced in a Super Late Model at the 2018 Snowball Derby for my first-ever super start and made it into that. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish, though. Then, in 2019, I managed to race in the ARCA Series a couple more times. I raced a Super Late Model around Five Flags Speedway along with the dirt racing. I’ve also been dirt racing throughout this whole stretch all these years. Then in 2020, I raced for Donnie Wilson in a Super Late Model and kept doing dirt racing in a Dirt Late Model. Then, I had a Dirt IMCA Modified that I was racing with. Then, in 2021, I moved up to the Cars Tour in the Late Model Stock Division. Ran very well in that—second in points with three wins. Still in the midst of that, I was still dirt racing, doing Dirt Late Models. Then in 2022, I raced in the Cars Tour in a Late Model Stock for Mr. Nelson, of Autos by Nelson Motorsports, and along with that, I did a part-time Truck Series schedule for On Point. Then this past year, I did the same deal, Cars Tour and part-time Truck Series schedule, all in the midst of dirt racing. So, I’ve done a heck of a ton of different racing in all different types of cars.
Q: You’ve been racing part-time in the Truck Series for a couple of different teams. How did those opportunities come to be?
A: Well, at On Point, it actually came from Tate Fogelman not racing from the mid-part of the year on, so they needed somebody to fill in for those races. I stepped in for the last, I’d say, eight races for On Point in 2022. Those were my first Truck Series starts. Then in 2023, Mr. Roper and I had talked about—he wanted to start his team back up. So, we went to Daytona and then restarted that team from there. They ran almost a full season, around 17-18 races. Then, I also raced for Tyler Young. Tyler needed some help with regrouping and getting his stuff back together and rebuilding the program, and I was very fortunate to step in for him and help him out, and he helped me out as well.
Q: What’s the game plan for 2024? What does your racing agenda look like?
A: Right now, we’re going to be doing the CARS Tour again for about 10 races for Mr. Packer at Tom Usry Racing and R&S Race Cars. Then, I’m going to have a part-time schedule again for the Truck Series. It will be the most races I’ve ever competed in in the Truck Series. So, that will be exciting. It will be for an amazing team (Niece Motorsports) that I’m really excited to announce later, hopefully next week. Then, I’m going to be running a Pro Late Model for Bryson Lopez Racing in the CARS Tour full-time this season. So, I’m looking forward to doing that and also running on dirt in between.
Q: What’s an average week like leading up to a race? What’s the preparation like?
A: well, I’m really not involved with the manufacturer as much as I wish. So I dedicate my time to doing iRacing and getting ready off of that.
Q: How much has iRacing helped you?
A: Oh yeah, it’s definitely a tool that I use to get the idea of how to run a racetrack. Not to perfect it, but it gives you an idea of how to run it. And that’s really what iRacing is for, for building the race craft and understanding what you’re going to do before you show up and get ready to go out there and practice for 20 minutes and have it figured out as quickly as you can.
Q: How do you keep yourself in shape, both physically and mentally, for racing?
A: I do a lot of workouts and cardio. I try to do that as much as I can. I feel like I’ve done a good job at it. This year, I want to do an even better job at it because I’ll be running two races in one night in the CARS Tour, most likely for 10 weekends out of the year. So, I just have to try and get ready and get all the strength out of me as possible to be prepared and be in the best shape that I can.
Q: What’s your own personal “zone” like?
A: My personal zone is talking with my crew chief and my owner. I’m not doing anything else there other than racing. I don’t really care what other people are doing. I don’t care to talk to other people. I’m there to do my job and I just wait until the time comes for me to go out on the track and get ready.
Q: When you’re traveling to races, do you have any downtime to do a little sightseeing? Or is it just go in, run the race and get back out?
A: I don’t really sightsee as much as I wish I could. But you know, for me, I don’t really worry about sightseeing as much because of racing, because that’s what I want to do.
Q: Who was your favorite driver when you were growing up?
A: Definitely Jeff Gordon. I grew up watching him ever since I was born. He was my favorite.
Q: Did you play any other sports when you were a kid?
A: I played basketball, football and baseball, all in the midst of racing, during my middle school and high school years.
Q: Do you think that playing in all these different sports disciplines helped shape you into a better athlete?
A: Yeah, football was definitely the biggest one, just because football is a team sport, not one you do just by yourself. So, just learning leadership in football was the biggest thing I’ve learned.
Q: What do you enjoy the most about racing?
A: Man, I just love to just be able to compete, be competitive and try to just be the best on the racetrack. And racing, for me, is just a part of winning, winning as a team and winning as a company that I’m racing for. It’s just a neat thing to do and it’s a very different thing to do in sports entertainment. That’s what I like about it.
Q: You’ve raced in a lot of different series and you’ve raced many different track styles. What’s your favorite type of track to race on?
A: The short tracks on the NASCAR circuit. I like those more than anything just because it’s hard-nosed racing. Everybody competes so hard and it’s always so close and that’s what I like about it.
Q: Let’s say they made you the President of NASCAR. You can make any changes you want to anything about the sport. What would your first change be if you were in charge?
A: Oh man, that’s tough. I would bring more short tracks back to the Truck Series.
Q: There used to be a ton back in the day, and then they shifted away from it.
A: Yeah, there’s a lot of places that we still can’t go. Trucks are going to Pocono and larger tracks like that. I don’t think the trucks should go to Pocono or do so many mile-and-a-halfs throughout the season. I think they should do more short tracks.
Q: Are there any specific tracks you’d like to see added to the schedule that aren’t on the schedule?
A: I would like to see Iowa on the schedule for the Truck Series. I would like to see a couple different short tracks show up. I can’t think of any off the top of my head. I actually was thinking about this the other night. But no, I think more short tracks should come back, like Iowa.
Q: How do you feel NASCAR has been doing in terms of trying to grow the sport and bring in a new fanbase, bring in new sponsors, bring in new racers? Have they done a decent job of trying to grow it?
A: I feel like they’ve done a good job of trying break into new and different fanbases. Sometimes, stuff changes, right? I mean, they know what their numbers are looking like, they know what type of people are showing up to the racetrack and watching the race. So, if they’re trying to appeal to those fans and give them the best enjoyment they possibly can and show them how cool our sport is, then yeah, they do a good job at it for sure. And they’re going to continue to get better at it through the years.
Q: They used to have the SRX Series, but it’s been put on hiatus. They’re also kind of bringing back IROC. Do you feel like there should be more crossover type events in the sport so that you can see drivers from NASCAR going up against drivers from Indy Car versus drivers from Formula 1 versus drivers from all these other different series?
A: Yeah, I think NASCAR should definitely do some more head-to-head races with IndyCar. Like when we go to COTA, I think we should do something cool with COTA for F1 and NASCAR, I think that would be a cool combination. As well as with SRX, like when we go to some of these asphalt, short tracks, I do think SRX should be a combo race to give fans an extra show. I think that would be really, really cool.
Q: What sort of advice do you have for younger drivers that are making their way up through the ranks?
A: Honestly, that it’s a tough road. I’m still experiencing it. Nothing is easy. Don’t expect anything to be handed to you, and continue to work and try as hard as you can. Listen to the people that are in your best interest, you know they’re going to help you at heart.
Q: What kind of hobbies do you have when you’re not racing?
A: Honestly, I really don’t do much other than racing and then doing iRacing during my offseason.
Q: Are you into any pop culture like TV, movies or music?
A: Not as much as what I used to be. I used to follow sports, but not as much anymore. I don’t really care who wins the Super Bowl or World Series.
Q: What’s your favorite racing movie?
A: Definitely Days of Thunder, for sure.
Q: Do you ever see yourself moving up the chain and maybe becoming a team owner or crew chief further down the road after you’re done with your driving career? Or is it just strictly driving for the time being?
A: Well, I would definitely love to own my own race team. Probably not NASCAR, but maybe in short track racing, like in Late Models. I haven’t really thought about that, but I think if it would come to that point, then I would want to do something.
Q: What goals have you set for yourself this season?
A: It would definitely be to win a truck race this year, if not two. I think that’s pretty reasonable for myself. I also want to win some CARS Tour races this season, multiple of them in both Pro Late Model and Pro Late Model stock. I want to win across the whole board this year. Very doable, and I think I have a very good opportunity to do that.
Q: I was preparing for this interview looking through some of your stats, mostly in the Truck Series. You’ve had four top 10s in 16 starts, a 25% clip rate. I also noticed you had multiple top 10s at Phoenix. What is it about that track that appeals to you?
A: I don’t really know, honestly. I’ve just been in that position at Phoenix both times this past year, in two seasons, and it’s just worked out. I feel like we’ve done an excellent job at managing races at Phoenix and getting along with it and doing what we needed to be able to do to finish races. So, not so much just me running great at Phoenix every time as much as it is that I’ve been fortunate to be in the position I was in to make the most out of it. That place has just been good to me, and we’ll just see if we can keep that running for the 2024 season.
Q: You did some work with RFK in the Coca-Cola iRacing Series. What’s that like, doing a series that’s completely online, so to speak?
A: It’s fun, and it definitely is a form of racing. Like I said before, I just want to compete in racing. That’s what I want to do, even if it is sim racing. The Coca-Cola Championship is over $100,000, so that’d be nice to win. But also, that’s a form of racing that is the most competitive, one of the most competitive series I’ve raced in. So, it was certainly a cool thing to do, and I’ll continue to do it as long as I can.
Q: If you want to give a shout out to your sponsors, feel free to list them off. If someone would want to sponsor you, how can they go about doing that?
A: I want to thank, first of all, my mom and dad, for all the sacrifices they’ve made for me. I want to thank Motorsports Management International for all the help and work they’ve put in to get me where I’m at today. I also want to thank Butlerbuilt, Hercules Foundation Repair, Speed Ranch, Tom Usry Racing, R&S Race Cars, Marcus Richmond, Tracy Richmond, Fayetteville Heating & Air Conditioning and Bryson Lopez Racing for all the support and help they’ve given me to fulfill my dream. Bruce Cook at CRT for all the help in staying in the ARCA Series this past season, MMI Services in Bakersfield, California, and Steve McGowan for all the help in doing the ARCA Series last year. That’s pretty much all I got. So, if I missed anybody, I’m sorry! But I want to let you guys know you can go over to Kaden Honeycutt Racing on Facebook. You can message us there or just follow us. We really appreciate it. Also, on Instagram and on X @KadenWHoneycutt, and my personal Facebook is just Kaden Honeycutt. So, follow me on all socials to get whatever you want to see, and we appreciate the support from everybody.
Please note this interview originally took place on January 18, 2024.
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