Road Course Return … Jake Garcia will make his second road course start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) on Saturday afternoon with his first appearance at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The driver of the No. 35 Quanta Services Chevrolet Silverado RST made his road racing debut at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) earlier this season and came away with a 19th-place finish. Garcia took part in an instructional class with Chevrolet at Mid-Ohio earlier this spring to expedite his learning curve on the 2.258-mile track.
Coming Back a Winner … The Georgia native returns to NCTS competition fresh off a victory at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in the ASA/CRA Super Series on Sunday night. Garcia led the final eight circuits to earn his first super late model win at the storied short track and will look to continue that momentum with the No. 35 Quanta Services team this weekend. The 18-year-old rookie recently scored his sixth top-10 result of the NCTS campaign two weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway. Garcia looks to extend his streak of two consecutive 10th-place finishes at Mid-Ohio with his first top-10 result at a road course.
Points Report / Season to Date … Garcia has a 63-point deficit to the playoff cutline with three races remaining before the playoffs begin. He has started 12 of the 13 races and owns the sixth-best average finish of all full-time NCTS competitors (13.6) and has compiled one top-five and six top-10 finishes. Despite a strong rookie season and mathematically still alive to make the playoffs, Garcia will likely need to score a victory in one of the next three races to qualify for the NCTS playoffs.
Crew Chief / Chassis Selection … Crew chief Mark Hillman and the Quanta Services team have prepared chassis No. 122 for the second road course event of the year. Garcia most recently drove this chassis to a 19th-place finish at COTA on March 25th. This Silverado RST also finished ninth at Mid-Ohio in 2022 with Colby Howard at the wheel.
Tune In … The entire weekend of on-track action will be covered live on FOX Sports 1 beginning with Friday’s practice and qualifying at 4:00 p.m. ET. Saturday’s coverage begins with NASCAR Raceday at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1 followed by the green flag at 1:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 35 Quanta Services team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Jake Garcia Quote:
On making his second road course start at Mid-Ohio:
“I’m looking forward to the challenge of road racing again. COTA was a bit of a struggle for us earlier this year, but we kept improving all weekend and we’ll be even more prepared for this weekend at Mid-Ohio with our Quanta Services Chevrolet. We have some ground to make up, but I think if we do everything right, we can race in the top-five and put ourselves in position for a win before the playoffs. We’ve had some consistent finishes recently, so hopefully we can keep that going this weekend.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
