Kaden Honeycutt arrived at Kansas Speedway three points behind Layne Riggs in the Craftsman Truck Series Chase. He drove away 37 points ahead.

Honeycutt won Saturday’s Race to Stop Suicide 200, which rain interrupted for nearly five hours. He led 111 of the 134 laps and won both stages, but he rarely had room to relax. Riggs spent much of the second half within about a second of him. Riggs took the lead from him twice on restarts, and the two made contact once while fighting for it.

Riggs was still right behind Honeycutt with three laps to go when his Ford slapped the wall in Turn 4. A second brush a lap later sent him to a 19th-place finish. Honeycutt’s 75 points for the day beat every other driver’s total by at least 27, while Riggs collected 35.

“We just executed,” Honeycutt said. “We executed all night. I can’t thank my pit crew enough.”

Decided on the final restarts

The win turned on strategy during the last round of stops. Riggs’ crew changed only right-side tires, which sent him out first. Honeycutt’s crew gave him four new tires.

Riggs used that track position to take the lead on the Lap 122 restart. Honeycutt, on fresher tires, passed him a lap later.

The final restart came with seven laps left. Honeycutt, lined up on the inside, cleared Riggs before the backstretch. Riggs stayed close behind for the next several laps, looking for a way around.

Christian Eckes took second, 1.358 seconds back, after starting 25th.

Riggs blamed himself. “I just went for it,” he said. He admitted he pushed harder than the moment called for. “I should have just settled for finishing second right there and had a shot at it later on.”

He also conceded Honeycutt’s edge in speed. “I felt like we weren’t as good as the 11 all day. We were just too free.”

Rain, a red flag, and a pit road mistake

Rain canceled qualifying, so Honeycutt started fourth. He took the lead from pole sitter Nick Sanchez before the first lap ended. He averaged a running position of 1.56 for the day and posted 33 of the race’s fastest laps. His best lap, 31.297 seconds on Lap 103, worked out to 172.54 mph.

Riggs climbed quickly from his 22nd starting spot. He reached eighth within seven laps and third by Lap 23. He briefly took the top spot on a restart before Lap 50. The two then made contact entering Turn 1, and Riggs’ truck grazed the wall as Honeycutt reclaimed first.

Riggs lost his track position during the stops after Stage 2. His crew lowered the jack before the left front wheel was secure, and he had to reverse into his box. He came back out 25th.

A restart crash then collected six trucks. Two of them, driven by Nick Leitz and Tanner Gray, later recovered to finish in the top 10. Rain returned soon after, and NASCAR halted the race with 64 laps left. The red flag lasted four hours, 47 minutes.

“It started raining again in Victory Lane,” Honeycutt said afterward.

When racing resumed, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes sat up front because they had skipped the earlier stop. Honeycutt restarted third and led again before the lap was complete. Riggs worked his way back to second, and he was within 0.68 seconds of Honeycutt by Lap 88.

Winners and losers in the standings

Eckes made the biggest jump, climbing from eighth to fifth. Daniel Hemric finished fourth and moved up one spot to sixth.

Chandler Smith finished sixth and rose to third, 71 points back. A botched tire change early in the race had cost him 12 positions, and he was the only contender to score no stage points. Gio Ruggiero sits fourth, one point behind Smith. He finished 13th after running second for much of the first stage. Rhodes placed fifth and holds eighth in the standings.

Ty Majeski lost the most ground among the top contenders. A flat tire and a commitment line penalty left him 29th, and he dropped from fourth to seventh.

Enfinger slid from sixth to ninth after a 31st-place finish. He led 14 laps, but he also drew a speeding penalty on pit road and damaged his truck. NASCAR then docked him two laps for deliberately stopping on the track to draw a caution.

Tyler Ankrum remains 10th, 127 points out. He lost a tire while running third with four laps left and finished 25th. He did earn the bonus point for the race’s fastest lap.

Among drivers outside the Chase, Brent Crews finished third. Jake Garcia, Leitz, Gray, and Corey LaJoie also placed in the top 10.

Honeycutt skipped the customary burnouts. “We’ve got to save this thing for Homestead,” he said, referring to the season finale. “The motors cost a lot, too.”

Chase standings after two of seven races

Pos.	Driver	Points	Behind	Change
1	Kaden Honeycutt	2,197	Leader	+1
2	Layne Riggs	2,160	-37	-1
3	Chandler Smith	2,126	-71	0
4	Gio Ruggiero	2,125	-72	+1
5	Christian Eckes	2,115	-82	+3
6	Daniel Hemric	2,110	-87	+1
7	Ty Majeski	2,109	-88	-3
8	Ben Rhodes	2,099	-98	+1
9	Grant Enfinger	2,079	-118	-3
10	Tyler Ankrum	2,070	-127	0

Photos from the Race to Stop Suicide 200 at Kansas Speedway