Track Specs: .75-mile tri-oval / 120 laps
Honeycutt’s finish: 5th
LaPradd’s finish: 13th
Team Standings: 3rd (-50)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 27, 2024) – Short-track racing proved to be a boon for both JR Motorsports drivers on Tuesday night in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, as Kaden Honeycutt earned a fifth-place finish and teammate Briar LaPradd was a solid 13th at the virtual Richmond International Raceway. (Watch the full race.)
Honeycutt, who was in contention at Atlanta in the previous round, started his No. 8 FilterTime Chevrolet 19th in the 120-lap main after finishing 10th in his heat race.
On his pit stop early in the second stage, under caution at lap 38, Honeycutt took two tires and no fuel, which kept him in sync with the rest of the lead pack. Over the remaining distance, the Texas native took advantage of frequent caution flags to keep inching up through the field. He was in position to make a run at the top spot in the latter stages.
At the end of the race, a flurry of cautions sent the race to overtime and necessitated the maximum three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish. Honeycutt used the second restart to get to sixth and lined up fifth for the final chance. He made a move for fourth that didn’t quite hit home and wound up in the fifth position at the checkered.
LaPradd, driving the No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital Chevrolet, finished seventh in his heat race to earn the 13th starting position for the 120-lap race on the racy .75-mile tri-oval. Riding in the pack despite solid race pace, LaPradd pitted at lap 38 and took four tires rather than the two-tire stops most of his competitors made. That put him at a disadvantage in track position, but the Tennessee driver made the most of it. Dodging a couple of crashes helped, and a crazy save in one of them to maintain his position, LaPradd clawed his way back to 13th at the finish.
The result was good news on the points front for both drivers and the team. Honeycutt’s top-five run pushed him to sixth in the standings, 26 off the leader, and LaPradd jumped to eighth after four races, 30 points off the top spot.
The team standings were even better, as the two-car JRM effort sits third after four races, 50 off the lead.
Steven Wilson, the defending series champion, won the race with Tucker Minter, Zack Novak, Casey Kirwan and Honeycutt the top five.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will race again on April 9 at the virtual Brands Hatch circuit in England, the opening road-course race of the 2024 campaign.
Kaden Honeycutt, driver No. 8 FilterTime JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“After starting in the back for the heat race, we made our way up to 10th at the finish to put ourselves in the front half of the field for the start. Started off great at the green flag and moved up to 13th right off the bat. At the caution around lap 40, we came in and took two tires, hoping there were cautions, and we got them, thankfully. We moved up to fifth and thankfully we stayed there after an eventful night. Thank you to Deadzone Racing for the awesome race car and Steven Steffen for the great spotting. We moved up sixth in the point standings and third in team standings! Onto Brands Hatch!”
Briar LaPradd, driver No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“Once again, another rough run in qualifying, so maybe one of these weeks we can say something different about our lap. Luckily, we had a little bit of help with the new heat formats in the series. We finished seventh in the first heat to put us 13th for the feature. Our race pace was surprisingly good, as I was a good bit off pace-wise when preparing for this race with my Team Conti teammates. In the race, we rode around where we qualified for the majority of the race, and I should have taken two tires rather than four, but played it safe. Track position was pretty important during the race. We had a good points day and that puts us up to sixth, which is a career high for me. Brands Hatch is next and I hope I can improve on my road-course racing skills before we get to racing there! The Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital No. 88 team wants a playoff run this year!”