The rebirth of North Wilkesboro Speedway (NWS) resulted in a 23rd-place finish for Jake Garcia on Saturday afternoon. The driver of the No. 35 Quanta Services Chevrolet Silverado RST sits 14th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings, still within range of a playoff position, 45 points behind the bubble.
Garcia started the afternoon in 21st position and fought a lack of forward drive from the drop of the green flag. The Georgia rookie ran inside the top 20 until the race’s first caution on lap 24 and came to pit road to address his handling issues. Crew chief Mark Hillman and the MHR team bolted on a fresh set of tires along with a track bar adjustment. Due to the pit strategy, Garcia restarted outside the top 25 and was scored 29th at the end of Stage 1 on lap 70.
After restarting 21st on lap 81 to begin Stage 2, Garcia continued to battle with a lack of overall grip on NWS’ abrasive, aged surface. He ran 20th by the halfway point at lap 125 but lost a lap to the race leader. A fortuitous caution flew on lap 133, and Garcia took advantage of the wave around as all the lead lap trucks elected to pit. Garcia regained his lap, was scored 20th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 140, and pitted for tires, fuel, and another track bar adjustment during the caution.
The final stage went green on lap 152 as Garcia lined up 19th. While the lack of rear grip persisted, the Quanta Services team continued to hustle and raced inside the top 20 and ran 17th when the final caution waved on lap 244. The physical restarts hampered Garcia’s run for a top-15 finish and relegated him to take the checkered flag in 23rd.
Jake Garcia Quote:
“Today was a hard day. We fought rear grip a lot throughout the day, mostly forward bite and just couldn’t turn like we needed to in the center. The guys made adjustments on every stop to our Quanta Services Chevrolet, but we just couldn’t get the balance where we needed it. We’ll regroup and hopefully get back to running towards the front at Charlotte next week.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
