Wood Breaks Out at Bristol with Season-Best Finish

Venue: Bristol Motor Speedway

FINISH: 11th

Start: 19th

Stage 1: 11th

Stage 2: 17th

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 16th

Jack Wood, driver of the No. 91 Motion Industries Chevrolet Silverado RST drove his way through the pack Friday night for his best season to date NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, bringing home an 11th-place effort. After practice and qualifying was washed out by wet weather, Wood was forced to start in mid-pack in 21st. A lap-17 caution arose and the young driver reported to the team that his balance was pretty decent but passing is going to be a challenge. A yellow flag fell in the closing laps of Stage One and crew chief Kevin Bellicourt made the call to stay out which allowed Wood the chance to restart ninth in line. On the green-flag shuffle, the driver of the No. 91 fell 11th in line where he finished Stage One.

Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) chose to keep the young driver on track to gain a little more track position for the restart, leading him to restart ninth. A quiet Stage Two saw Wood floating in the top-15 but he was starting to lose a lot of grip on the tires of his No. 91 Motion Industries Chevrolet Silverado RST. Due to the tire fall off, Wood fell back to 17th where he ended Stage Two but this only gave the Loomis, Calif. native more motivation for the drive forward in the final stage. The No. 91 came down pit road for four tires and some Sunoco fuel to roll off 17th in line for the restart.

More yellow flags started to fall in the opening laps of the final stage and Wood reported to his team that he needed to be a lot tighter to extend his charge to the front of the pack and be able to pass. A quick stop for four tires fuel and an adjustment gave the young driver just what he needed. Wood battled in the top-15 with 44 laps to go until another caution for a few rain drops came out with 23 laps to go. Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) took advantage of that yellow flag and brought the No. 91 down pit road for his last set of tires with a little air pressure adjustment. In the closing laps, Wood battled his way through the chaos to end his night 11th in line, his best finish of the season.

Jack Wood Quote:

“Bristol has been really tough for me in the past but tonight felt really good to finally get that bad luck chip off our shoulder and get a good run in that led to a great finish for this No. 91 Motion Industries team. Super proud of everyone on this team and I am glad we were able to put on a good show for Motion Industries in their first run with us. Hope to have many more shots like this with them along side the 91 truck.”