Honeycutt Holds Off Ward for First Thunder Road 200 Victory

Crown Jewel Victory Comes in Dominant Fashion for Honeycutt, Who Takes Third Win in Last Three South Boston Starts

By Joe Chandler

Director, Public Relations

South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, VA (June 27, 2026) – Kaden Honeycutt had said it would be special if he could win the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 for the third straight year. Saturday afternoon his wish became reality.

The Texas native held off a fast-closing Trevor Ward to win Saturday’s 20th Running of the Thunder Road Harley Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway.

The win marked the third straight victory for Honeycutt in his last three South Boston Speedway starts.

“It’s special because of how prestigious this race is,” Honeycutt remarked, “and you see how many times Philip Morris and Lee (Pulliam), and Peyton Sellers and these guys have won this race. “To win at South Boston is hard. It’s such a hard racetrack, so mentally challenging, so fast. You’ve got to stay on top of your game all 200 laps.”

Honeycutt made a clean sweep when it came to awards. Along with the $10,000 winner’s prize he earned the $250 GutterworX Stage 1 Leader Bonus, the $500 Sparks Oil Company/Sunoco Race Fuels Halfway Leader Award bonus, the $250 Southside Disposal Stage 3 Leader Bonus and the $400 Franklin’s Garage Fastest Lap of the Race Award, making a total payday of $11,400.

Honeycutt made the victory look easy, taking the lead from pole winner Landen Lewis on the 14th lap and gradually pulling away to sizeable leads over Lewis and Caden Kvapil in the first half of the race. His lead evaporated thanks to a caution period for an incident on lap 95. That caution period led into the 10-minute halfway break at lap 101.

He charged into the lead again at the start of the second half of the race and rebuilt his edge.

Ward, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was 5th at the start of the second half of the race. He passed Connor Hall for third place on lap 110. Rapidly gaining ground, he passed Lewis seven laps later to take over second place.

On lap 146 Landon Pembelton, who had started 14th after the halfway break, passed Lewis to move into third place. The running order stayed that way the rest of the caution-free second half of the race. Ward made a large cut into Honeycutt’s lead in the final 20 laps but trailed Honeycutt by .464-second at the finish, with Pembelton finishing five seconds behind Honeycutt.

“I tried really hard to show them what we had,” Ward said. “I came up one spot short in another Triple Crown race at South Boston Speedway, and it’s pretty bittersweet. I wanted to bring a win home for the hometown guys that race here very week and show all of those guys we are just as good as they are. Unfortunately, we came up one spot short.

“We came out with a good points night, and Pembelton came out with a good points night,” he added. “We can continue to seek what we’re doing here at South Boston Speedway on an everyday basis and got through the hard one.”

Pembelton noted he didn’t feel very good about the race at the halfway break.

“Until lap 100, I felt terrible about it,” he pointed out. “I didn’t think we were going anywhere. I just didn’t have the luck we needed. We found a problem at the halfway break, fixed, it, and the car came to life. We were able to charge up to the front from 14th to third. I had to work for it.”

Carson Brown of New London, North Carolina finished fourth and Lewis, from Supply, North Carolina, finished fifth.

Caden Kvapil of Mooresville, North Carolina, Connor Hall of Hampton, Virginia, Trey Crews of Halifax, Virginia, Doug Barnes Jr. of Wellington, Florida and Blake Stallings of Danville, Virginia completed the top 10 finishers.

Only the top nine finishers completed the race on the lead lap.

The race was slowed by four caution periods and two brief red flag periods.

Tristan McKee of Williamsburg, Virginia won the $500 Sparks Oil Company/Sunoco Race Fuels Hard Charger Award for gaining 23 positions. The SRI Performance Hard Luck Award, a $250 gift card, went to Ryan Millington, who lost 31 positions.

Brunelli Takes Win In 40-Lap Limited Sportsman Race

Tristan Brunelli of Powhatan, Virginia started on the pole and led the entire way in winning Saturday’s 40-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race at South Boston Speedway.

The win was Brunelli’s third win of the season and his second win in his last four starts.

Division points leader Drew Dawson of Nathalie, Virginia finished second, 1.312 seconds behind Brunelli with Dan Rogers of Powhatan, Virginia, Chris Elliott of Bullock, North Carolina and Jacon Derrick of Hampton, Virginia rounding out the top five finishers.

Johnny Layne Breaks All-Time Pure Stock Division Wins Record

The record for all-time career wins in the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division has been broken.

Johnny Layne of Halifax, Virginia muscled his way past Jay Hemenway of Wake Forest, North Carolina to take the lead with six laps to go to win Saturday’s 20-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and earn his fifth win of the season.

The win, the 38th of his career, broke the record of 37 career wins that had been held by former division champion Nathan Crews of Long Island, Virginia.

Hemenway finished second, .831-second behind Layne with B.J. Reaves of South Boston, Virginia, Dillon Davis of Nathalie, Virginia and Jarrett Johnson of Danville, Virginia rounding out the top five finishers.

The race was an exciting one with two lead changes among three drivers. Pole winner B.J. Reaves led the first five laps before Hemenway charged to the front on the sixth lap. Layne worked his way past Hemenway with six laps to go and held on to take the win.

Chris Penick Scores First Career Dollar General Hornets Division Win

Chris Penick of Evington, Virginia won his second career pole award in the Dollar General Hornets Division Saturday night and turned it into his first career win in Saturday night’s 20-lap race.

Penick led the entire 20-lap race and cruised to a 2.454-second win over division points leader Landon Milam of Keeling, Virginia.

Cameron Goble of Ringgold, Virginia finished third with former division champion Jason DeCarlo of Nelson, Virginia and Cameron Moss of Danville, Virginia completing the top five finishers.

Unofficial Results

Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Feature - 200 Laps

1 17H Honeycutt, Kaden

2 77W Ward, Trevor

3 0 Pembelton, Landon

4 5 Brown, Carson

5 29 Lewis, Landen

6 88 Kvapil, Caden

7 22H Hall, Connor

8 10 Crews, Trey III

9 88B Barnes, Doug Jr.

10 77S Stallings, Blake

11 51B Bumgarner, Michael

12 41 Howard, Woody

13 20 Loftin, Carson

14 6L Lopez, Brandon

15 95 Yarbrough, Sam

16 7 McKee, Tristan

17 26 Sellers, Peyton

18 00 Burrow, Chase

19 6M McCarty, Bobby

20 4E Eatmon, Parker

21 9 Millette, Ayden

22 17 Myers, Jason

23 12B Bassett, Ronnie Jr

24 57J Johnson, Chase

25 2 Pierce, Brandon

26 05 Bailey, Mason

27 51S Strauss, Donovan

28 4D Dudley, Kyle

29 57H Huffman, Landon

30 1G Grady, Andrew

31 13 Murphy, Chase

32 03 Queen, Brenden

33 8W Weddell, Conner

34 8F Fogleman, Tate

35 9M Millington, Ryan

36 8P Pulliam, Lee

37 12P Peregoy, Zach

38 01 Beane, Thomas

39 44 Jones, Conner

40 16 Tyrrell, Mini

41 63 Matthews, Tyler

42 47 Music, Ryley

43 25 George, Devin

*BOLD - Eligible for SBS Track Championship Points

Budweiser Limited Sportsman Feature

1 18B Brunelli, Tristan

2 8D Dawson, Drew

3 33 Rogers, Dan

4 91 Elliott, Chris

5 88D Derrick, Jacob

6 88R Rundstrom, Brian

7 1 Holdren, Dennis

8 2 Daniel, Trace III

9 81 Murray, Adam

10 18G Goble, Cameron

11 8M McGowan, Landon

12 5S Slagle, Eddie

13 5 Peregoy, Beverly

14 88 Dawson, Justin

15 39 Hopkins, Chris

16 08 Dettor, Austin

17 45 Towler, Justin

18 27 Laprade, Matthew

19 62 Mountcasel, Ross

Southside Disposal Pure Stock Feature

1 9 Layne, Johnny

2 12 Hemenway, Jay

3 11 Reaves, Barry

4 63 Davis, Dillon

5 88 Johnson, Jarrett

6 76 Turner, Andrew

7 31 Sanford, Caleb

8 09 Sanford, Jacob

9 28 Milam, Kendall

10 10 Mayo, Anna

11 17 Allred, Joe III

12 97 Haley, Aaron

13 77 Reaves, Zach

Dollar General Hornets Feature

1 24 Penick, Chris

2 83 Milam, Landon

3 18 Goble, Cameron

4 54 DeCarlo, Jason

5 29 Moss, Cameron

6 88 Milam, Kendall

7 33 Sangillo, Christian

8 3 Layne, Steven

9 76 Armstead, Kristian

Next Event at South Boston Speedway

NASCAR Local Racing Series powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts racing action returns to South Boston Speedway on Saturday night, July 11 with the CAS NAPA Race Night event.

The July 11 CAS NAPA Race Night event will be headlined by twin 75-lap races for the Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division.

Also slated in the 3rd Running of the Kenny Meadows Memorial Limited Sportsman Feature which will feature the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division in a 75-lap race, the season’s longest and richest race for the division.

The five-race card will also include a 25-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and a 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division.

It will be First Responders Appreciation Night with free admission for first responders and healthcare personnel with ID.

The Saturday, July 11 event schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m., practice starting at 3:25 p.m., frontstretch grandstand gates opening at 3:30 p.m., trackside parking gates opening at 5:30 p.m., qualifying at 6 p.m., pre-race ceremonies starting at 6:45 p.m. and the first race of the night starting at 7 p.m.

Adult advance tickets are priced at $12 each. Adult admission at the gate on race day is $15. Suite passes are $40 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, veterans and military personnel, and students with ID may purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate on race day. Kids ages 12 and under are admitted free.