By Logan Morris
Leland Honyman Jr. was recently announced as one of the drivers for the newly formed Cope Family Racing. Coming into his second season in the Xfinity Series, Honeyman feels much more confident with some experience and extended practice times. In an exclusive interview with Racing Refresh, he talked at length about how the practice times were a challenge last year.
“That was the biggest challenge—building a notebook for both the team and myself as a rookie. Every weekend, I focused on learning and creating notes to prepare for the next race. This year, it feels weird not being a rookie anymore. I still feel like one because I’m only 19 years old! I’ll be heading to Daytona as a 19-year-old, which is surreal. I’m excited, though. Our practice time is slightly extended this year—by maybe 5 or 10 minutes—but it’s still not much. Twenty minutes just isn’t enough time, especially when you’re making changes.”
With his new team, he’ll have a Daytona 500 Champion as a mentor in the form of Team General Manager Derrike Cope and Honeyman is excited to use him as a resource.
“I think that having Derek, just because of him being a manager in the past at a Cup team, that's a really big deal too. He’s so smart. When you talk to him, I feel like I’m talking to someone on Wall Street. He just knows what he's doing. He's super smart, and the way he runs his business really, really well too. The things that he tells me and shows me are really cool. Everything he does is in-house, family-wise. He keeps things smaller and in-house. I like that. It's not all scattered everywhere where you don't know who you're talking to half the time.”
“I just like the way he does things. Him being a mentor towards me and coming off with that Daytona win in 1990—I think that's going to help me a lot going into Daytona this year. Just learning and thinking about the things that he did in the race car then and preparing myself for that moment when it comes."
I also asked Honeyman how this deal with Cope Family Racing came about. He explained, “I’ve been friends with [Cope Family Racing co-owner] Nick Tucker for a pretty long time now. His relationship with Derrike kind of paved the way. Nick was at the NASCAR races last year, hanging around, and I saw him a bunch. He talked to me and mentioned that Derrike had an opportunity in the Xfinity Series for 2025. I thought, ‘Oh, that’d be awesome.’ So, we got in touch with Derrike, and he pointed us in the right direction.”
“We talked to him about his expectations for the season, and everything came together. We weighed our options and decided that not going full-time this year would probably be the best move for me. Financially, and with my sponsors, it made sense to go part-time with 17 races for Cope Family Racing. They’ve got better motors this year, so that’s exciting. I’m really looking forward to working with Derrike, George, and Nick. It feels like a great fit for 2025.”
In 2025, Honeyman is hoping to be consistent and learn.
“The biggest thing for me is being consistent this year. I felt like I did a really good job learning that last year and just being more consistent in the Xfinity car. I felt like I grew up racing really consistently too—just every lap, being so consistent, so consistent. I think that's what makes you the best race car driver. I think that's what makes the greats ‘the greats.’ Being consistent is the biggest thing for me in 2025—just knocking out as many top-15s, top-10s, top-5s, and wins. Whatever that is, I want to do it.”
Honeyman and Derrike Cope have talked about not setting too many expectations on the team.
“I don't want to set any expectations because if I go out there and something happens, then it messes with my head. I don't want to do that. I'd rather go out there and keep my standards low. If I go out there and I run really well, I’m like, 'heck yeah, this is amazing,' and maybe it makes me a better race car driver mentally. We'll see. That's something I want to test myself on this year."
You can follow Leland Honeyman Jr on his social media @lelandhoneymanjr on Instagram and @lelandhoneymnjr on X.
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