Track Specs: 1.54-mile quad-oval / 100 laps
LaPradd’s finish: 8th
Honeycutt’s finish: 31st
Team Standings: 5th (-46)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 13, 2023) – Both JR Motorsports drivers made the best of a wild and chaotic second half at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday night, with Briar LaPradd earning a hard-won eighth-place finish. Kaden Honeycutt saw his drive to the top five end in smoke on the white-flag lap of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event on the 1.54-mile superspeedway. (Watch the full race.)
LaPradd, driving the No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital Chevrolet, qualified 31st for the 100-lap event, the third race of the season, and rode in the middle of the pack after the green flag waved. Missing a caution flag on lap 13, the Tennessee driver stayed in the pack until pitting early in the green-flag cycle for four tires and fuel.
Staying in the pack and riding, LaPradd pitted for right-side tires and fuel on the lap-95 caution and prepared for the run to the finish. Catching a piece of a big crash on the first green-white-checkered attempt, LaPradd picked up some damage but stayed on the track.
Restarting 15th, LaPradd picked his way toward the front in the second green-white-checkered, rising seven spots to finish in eighth position. The result pushed LaPradd into 10th in the season-long point standings.
Honeycutt, driving the No. 8 FilterTime Chevrolet, started 39th and also avoided the early crash, pushing to the lead on lap 28. At lap 70, Honeycutt pitted from the lead and took two tires, which proved to be problematical.
Lacking grip, the Texan fell to 31st and rode there until lap 95, when the leaders crashed to bring out the caution flag. Restarting from 24th, Honeycutt avoided the crash on the first green-white-checkered restart, only to get caught up in the final skirmish on the white-flag lap. That sent him back to 31st at the checkered. The finish dropped him from fourth in the standings to 11th after the race.
Malik Ray came out on top of a thrilling finish at the line, beating Darik Bourdeau by 0.023 seconds to earn the win. Collin Bowden, Michael Guest and Kollin Keister rounded out the top five.
The result puts LaPradd 10th in series points, 22 off the lead after three races. Honeycutt is right behind in 11th, just a single marker behind his JRM teammate. With their combined finishes, the two-man JR Motorsports team sits fifth in the team points, just 46 out of the lead.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will race again on March 26 at the virtual Richmond Raceway.
Briar LaPradd, driver No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“Another rough qualifying effort for the No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital Chevrolet this week. We just rode around the back for the majority of the race. I still got somewhat involved in an accident halfway through and took a little damage, but the pace was still there. Green-flag pit stops came around and we had gotten disconnected from the main pack and were looking at about a 20th-place finish. Luckily, we got a late-race yellow to bunch us back up together. The first green-white-checkered was not pretty at all for us. We took a ton of damage but we decided to see if we could salvage a good finish. After restarting 20th, we somehow ended up eighth at the end of it. Super happy with that result as it could've been much worse. Looking forward to the new heat format in Richmond in 2 weeks!”
Kaden Honeycutt, driver No. 8 FilterTime JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“We started off in a hole in P39 after qualifying, but that didn’t stop the FilterTime Chevrolet from going from last to first in less than 30 laps. Made our pit stop under green and came out after a great stop. Unfortunately, tires meant something so we lost the draft. But with the help of a green-white-checkered, we made it back in the top 15. That last-lap wreck and there was nothing we could do to get out of it and ended up 31st. We are still in a good spot for points to make the playoffs so we will come back and get after it at Richmond in two weeks!”