ARCA Menards and Craftsman Truck Series driver Kaden Honeycutt was among the several NASCAR drivers to participate in the annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola this past weekend.
Along with fellow Craftsman Truck Series driver Ty Majeski, Honeycutt can now call himself a Snowball Derby and Super Late Model champion.
Honeycutt edged out Super Late Model standouts in Stephen Nasse and defending Snowball Derby champion Ty Majeski to take the win.
Honeycutt spoke on his win saying, “it’s definitely unbelievable. I grew up walking [at Five Flags]. This is literally where I took my first steps. There’s a lot of history here for my family here. I knew I could do it, and I knew [my team] could do it.”
He added, “this was a matter of putting the pieces together. We worked our asses off, and it paid off.”
It had been three years since Honeycutt last raced at Five Flags.
Honeycutt posted a qualifying time of 16.203 seconds to join defending champion Ty Majeski, who posted a time of 16.175 seconds on the front row. Majeski led most of the 300 laps in the race, but Honeycutt led where it counted the most…at the checkered flag.
Honeycutt was leading on the last lap when Stephen Nasse tried a “dive bomb” pass; but Honeycutt held Nasse off to cross the finish line first. Speaking on the race end, Honeycutt said, “I was trying not to look in the mirror. Once [my spotter] told me [Nasse] was two back on the backstretch on the white, he said to drive it in hard, so I drove it in hard. He was tight to me, so I throttled up to make sure he couldn’t get to me. It was crazy.”
While this is his first Super Late Model race win, Honeycutt has won Late Model Stock, ARCA Menards, and Pro Late Model races with a Pro Late Model championship.
Unsure of his chances at a win, Honeycutt noted, “on Sunday during pre-testing, all we worked on was mock runs. That’s the same thing we did Thursday and Friday. We did no race runs until [Saturday], and I was honestly kind of concerned about it. I knew [Majeski] was going to be tough to beat, and I didn’t think we’d be that good. Once the race came around, we were good. That’s what all these races are about, making it there, staying up front all day and giving yourself a chance.”
Honeycutt will be driving full time in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2025 for Niece Motorsports.
While the Snowball Derby draws numerous NASCAR drivers; the drivers who take home the big trophy is much smaller including Ty Majeski, Darrell Waltrip, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Rich Bickle, and Jeff Purvis.