Track Specs: 1.5-mile tri-oval / 100 laps
Honeycutt’s finish: 7th
LaPradd’s finish: 20th
Team Standings: 5th (-30)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 28, 2023) – Kaden Honeycutt played the fuel strategy game to perfection on Tuesday night in the 100-lap eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event at the virtual Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning a seventh-place finish. Teammate Briar LaPradd ran in the top five late in the race, but a quick splash of gas in the waning laps put him 20th at the checkered flag. (Watch the full race.)
Honeycutt, who had a stellar run at Daytona to open the season, qualified 25th in the FilterTime Chevrolet and missed the first big crash before settling in for the long run. After missing yet another crash, the young driver began to rumble toward the front. He made it to 10th place at lap 65, just in time to make a pit stop to make it to the end.
Setting his No. 8 FilterTime Chevrolet on the fence, Honeycutt rejoined the race in 20th and drove all the way to seventh in the remaining laps. It was his second straight seventh-place finish of the season and puts him in good position in the point standings. The early strength has Honeycutt fourth in the driver standings, just eight markers off the lead.
LaPradd qualified his Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital Chevrolet in the 34th position, but moved to 24th on the initial start after avoiding a multi-car crash in the opening laps. Continuing to move ahead, LaPradd pitted and returned to the track in 17th position.
Ten laps after the restart, another caution flag waved and gave the Tennessee driver a restart spot on the outside lane. Using the upper line, LaPradd raced all the way up to fifth. Fuel strategy was paramount in the event, and LaPradd was forced to make a green-flag stop in the closing stages. Once back on the track, the changes made on the stop loosened up his Chevrolet and he crossed the line in 20th after several competitors elected to stay out for the run to the finish.
Keegan Leahy won the race by a scant 0.062 seconds over Nick Ottinger after the latter tangled with Cody Byus off Turn 4 headed to the checkered flag. Kollin Kiester was third, with Matt Bussa and Parker White rounding out the top five.
With their finishes, Honeycutt and LaPradd kept JR Motorsports in fifth place in the team standings after two races. The duo is 30 points off the lead.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will race again on March 12 at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Kaden Honeycutt, driver No. 8 FilterTime JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
"Starting 25th, it was a tough task to get to the front, but we slowly made our way one by one. I made it all the way up to 10th before coming to pit road, and it ended up being a fuel-mileage race, which hurt us a little bit. But when we came back out, the FilterTime Chevrolet was fast and we made it all the way up to seventh. Thank you to Huston Hammer and Deadzone racing for the amazing car. Without them it would not have been possible. Thank you to JR Motorsports, FilterTime.com and Team Chevy for the support. Looking forward to Atlanta in 2 weeks!”
Briar LaPradd, driver No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“Hopefully, our qualifying effort was the worst it will be all year. Our Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital Chevrolet was pretty solid despite where we started. We gained spots all night, but unfortunately there were a lot of wrecks to be avoided, and we were fortunate to do so. After the pit stop, getting on the outside line was key. We flew up the order to the top five before we had to come down for fuel. We probably made one too many adjustments and it swung hard to the loose side. We’ll note that down for Atlanta in a couple of weeks and get this Ledford Billiard Supply Chevy up front at the end.”