Track Specs: 2.66-mile tri-oval / 70 laps
Honeycutt's finish: 12th
LaPradd's finish: 24th
Team Standings: 7th (-63)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 8, 2024) -- When racing at Talladega Superspeedway—either on the actual pavement or a virtual representation—it's anything goes. On Tuesday night in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, there was quite a bit of anything goes, including three straight crashes in overtime. Kaden Honeycutt led JR Motorsports with a 12th-place finish in the fixed-setup event, and teammate Briar LaPradd finished 24th. (Watch the full race.)
Honeycutt, driving the No. 8 FilterTime Chevrolet, qualified 35th for the 70-lap, fixed-setup event on the 2.66-mile oval, content to ride in the pack and save fuel. Playing the strategy game, Honeycutt pitted at lap 40 for four tires and fuel before rejoining the race mid-pack.
Pushing forward, Honeycutt crested the top 10 at lap 51 only to pull out of the pack and drop in the order, thanks to aggressive racing around him. The first caution of the race waved at lap 58, 12 laps from the finish, and Honeycutt's FilterTime Chevrolet caught some damage. After pitting to fix it, he restarted at the back of the pack. At lap 67, Honeycutt stayed up next to the wall and drove through a multi-car accident off Turn 2 to make it into the top 10.
On a subsequent green-white-checkered restart, Honeycutt was amid the pushing and shoving in the pack when he got turned by another competitor, sending him into the middle lane to collect more damage. Starting 29th on the final GWC, Honeycutt drove his way to 12th, threading through the backstretch crash which ended the race.
LaPradd, piloting the familiar No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet, qualified 10th and rode there until the green-flag pit window opened at lap 40. Taking four tires and fuel, the Tennessee native returned to the top 10 once the cycle was finished, leading a couple of laps before sliding back in the lead draft.
At the first caution at lap 58, LaPradd would restart third and contested for the lead, only to have the caution wave again for an incident off Turn 2. The ensuing restart at lap 67 saw the Ledford Camaro get nudged in the right rear, spinning him into the middle lane and triggering another caution. After pitting to fix major damage, LaPradd restarted near the back on the final GWC, only to catch a piece of the final crash and finish 25th.
Dylan Duval nipped Tucker Minter at the line to win by .149 seconds, topping Garrett Lowe, Bobby Zalenski and Daniel Faulkingham.
In the team standings, the two-car JRM squad sits seventh at the halfway point of the season, 63 points behind the leader. Honeycutt is eighth in driver points, 44 points off the lead, while LaPradd is 11th, 56 points back heading to Charlotte.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will race again on May 21 at the virtual Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kaden Honeycutt, driver No. 8 FilterTime JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
"After starting in the back, we had a strategy that seemed to work pretty well for the FilterTime Chevrolet. We rode a while to hopefully pit as late as we could, and it worked out. Getting put in the wall at lap 58 didn't help us much, but we didn't take significant damage. We got it fixed and back out there, made our way to the front for the last GWC, driving from 28th to 12th in half a lap. I appreciate the awesome spotting from Steven Steffen that got us through all the mess, and we'll go to Charlotte in two weeks and get back after it."
Briar LaPradd, driver No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
"We put the Ledford Billiard Supply/Race Face Digital Chevrolet fifth in qualifying, the best starting spot we've had this season. It's Talladega, so that didn’t matter so much, but our plan was to stay up front all day. We hung around sixth for the entire first run. Taking two tires on our first stop kept us in the front and we led some laps. The late-race yellows got us into green-white-checkered territory. We started third on one of them and hesitated getting up in line and got caught in a wreck. Wrong time, wrong place for us, and we tried to salvage what we could. Got back up to 24th at the end. Overall, it was a great night, just disappointing. You’ll have that with this kind of racing. Looking forward to Charlotte in two weeks."