Jake Garcia delivered his second consecutive 10th-place finish on Friday night in his first start at Nashville Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 35 Quanta Services Chevrolet Silverado RST tallied his sixth top-10 result of his rookie season in his 11th track debut. The Georgia rookie continues to hold the 14th position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) standings after starting 12 of the 13 events.
Garcia qualified 21st after making a stunning save on his time trial lap Friday afternoon. He methodically dug out of his hole in row 11 and made forward progress in the opening laps. By lap 10, Garcia had advanced to 16th position and consistently ran out the balance of the opening stage, despite contending with a loose balance. He was scored 15th at the end of Stage 1 on lap 45.
Crew chief Mark Hillman and the Quanta Services team armed Garcia with four tires, fuel, and adjustments to improve his balance during the first stage caution. Garcia restarted 17th on lap 54, but struggled to fight through an excessively tight handling condition. After pitting during a caution period on lap 84, Garcia was scored 17th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 95.
The final stage went green on lap 103 with a chaotic restart, during which Garcia pounced on his competitors and moved to the 10th position by lap 105. He ran no lower than 11th for the remainder of the evening and put himself in contention at the front of the field by staying on track when the final caution flag waved on lap 141. Garcia restarted sixth with three laps to go, but got bottled up in the middle lane. He quickly managed to regain his momentum and took the checkered flag in 10th position in back-to-back races.
Jake Garcia Quote:
“A top-10 is just a good finish. But at the same time, I felt like our speed was a bit better than that. It was tough to get track position today, so hard to pass. Just got to thank McAnally-Hilgemann Racing guys for all they do. Also got to thank Quanta Services. It’s been great to partner with them this year, and I’m really proud to be a part of the Quanta Family. Just really excited to be out here, competing for top-10’s is also very special. Hopefully we can continue to improve, get better and better. We’ve got a couple good tracks coming up for us. Just really thankful for the opportunity and hopefully we can keep it up.”
McAnally Hilgemann Racing PR
