HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kaden Honeycutt has a 20-point lead over Layne Riggs heading into Friday night's title bout. On paper, he just needs to outscore his opponent to clinch his first championship.
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That's certainly not the approach the Tricon Garage driver is taking.
"I think if you have any other mindset other than just win the race I think you take yourself out of it mentally," Honeycutt said during Championship Media Day. "Our job is pretty simple: Go out and win tomorrow."
This is not Honeycutt's first opportunity to win a championship; it just happens to be his best. Last season, he drove the No. 52 Toyota for an injured Stewart Friesen.
Honeycutt had kept himself eligible for the drivers' championship by piecing together a schedule after Niece Motorsports parted ways with him. He raced his way into the Championship 4 by performing consistently and scoring points.
He ultimately finished the year third in the championship standings after the season finale at Phoenix. Corey Heim won the title while driving the No. 11 Toyota for Tricon Garage.
This year, Heim is no longer a full-time competitor in the Truck Series. Honeycutt drives for the No. 11 team, and he has used the entry to win four races this season.
Riggs, his only competition for the Truck Series championship, has a series-high seven wins this season. The Front Row Motorsports driver has led more laps (988) than Honeycutt (577), but he has fewer top-10s and top-fives.
These two drivers have been the class of the field this season, so it is only natural that this championship battle comes down to them.
They will likely race around each other throughout Friday night's race while scoring several stage points apiece, and they will potentially be in the first and second positions in the closing laps.
And while Honeycutt and Riggs both know that a win is the path to the championship, that doesn't mean that they will try to make the path easier at each other's expense.
They aren't approaching this like an elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.
"I think if we can win the championship the right way, I think that would progress us to move up to the next level a lot easier than wrecking each other to win this deal," Honeycutt said.
"I don't expect anything like that on Friday at all. So I think if we can win this championship the right way for either me or him, it will definitely set us apart from the rest and I think that's what we would like to do."
