TALLADEGA, Ala. – In a sequence of overtime attempts, Leland Honeyman Jr. found himself among the front row when the final restart went green.
Even though he had built a couple runs to attempt the pass for the win, he ultimately lost the race as the field took the checkered flag.
But in a way, he still won.
“That was a lot,” Honeyman reflected on the overtime restarts, leading to the conclusion of the Ag-Pro 300. “I don’t know what to say about that, but a top five for us and starting on the front row with the last restart is pretty amazing. I can’t thank the Young’s Motorsports crew enough, they did a great job. Becky Young, Tyler Young, Randy Young, everybody back at home, I can’t thank them enough. I don’t know what happened at the end there in the oval, but if that was my fault, I’m sorry.
“But I just these guys do such an amazing job every week and we want to come out here and run top 20s and that’s our goal. A top five fourth-place finish is amazing for us. So, I’m very excited.”
His fourth-place finish not only marked a new career best result for the Phoenix native, but also gets his Young’s Motorsports garage much needed prize money from such a solid finish. He hopes to carry the momentum next weekend to the concrete oval in Delaware.
“I hope that we can go to Dover and finish really well,” said an obviously excited Honeyman. “It’s gonna be harder than Talladega, a superspeedway to the Monster Mile, but finishing in the top five for us is very big as like a team standpoint. Prize money helps us get further ahead and that’s what we want to keep doing is picking off all these top five’s and top 10’s as we can. Our goal every week is to finish inside the top 20 and I think we exceed that very much.”
That humility seems to be taking the 19-year-old far this early in his career. His ride in the No. 42 Youngs Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro partners himself with a veteran group of individuals, including crew chief Andrew Abbott and his eyes in the sky, spotter Frankie Kimmel who holds some ARCA starts himself.
“I think coming back to this soon to a super Speedway, I know what to do now,” Honeyman explained, who had just two career Xfinity starts on superspeedway-style circuits, being Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season. “Over the span of a run, I don’t really know what I’m doing. In a sense, I haven’t done this before. I take notes and study this every week, but with Frankie Kimmel on top of the roof and coaching me through this and trapped on top of the box, trying to guide me through this the best they can, they’re doing a great job.”
It’s just one step closer to the next milestone for Honeyman. As he leaves for the state of Delaware, his focus is simply taking one step at a time.
“I’ve never been in this position before. I haven’t ran a full time series since I was 12 years old in a bandolero and it’s really hard for me just to build that momentum back up and go full time and put the same effort in every single week. That’s what I’m trying to do and I just want to run consistent top 20s every week and maybe a Playoff spot would be amazing.”