Wood Solidifies Best-Career Finish at Rockingham

Venue: Rockingham Speedway

FINISH: 7th

Start: 24th

Stage One: 23rd

Stage Two: 21st

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 15th

Jack Wood, driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST drove his way up to his best NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) career finish Friday evening at Rockingham Speedway after solidifying a seventh-place finish. The driver of the No. 91 Chevrolet started out the day with a tough qualifying run that led him to start the Black’s Tire 200 in 24th. The young driver quickly made his way up to the 19th position but started to struggle on entry in the corners as the stage went on and ultimately forced the driver to go a lap down. Wood settled for a 23rd-place Stage One finish and crew chief Kevin Bellicourt brought him down pit road for four fresh tires, fill up on fuel and a few adjustments to help the No. 91 with that loose handling on entry.

Wood was able to get the free pass at the end of Stage One to get back on the lead lap for a fresh start. The young driver battled in the top 20 for the majority of the second stage as he was still struggling with braking issues and loose feeling on entry. The Loomis, Calif. native reported to the No. 91 team that he just felt he had no security when driving into the corners. Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) called the driver of the No. 91 down pit road under the stage break for four tires, fuel and a slight adjustment. Wood restarted the final stage in the 19th position and quickly started his focus forward to the front until a lap-109 caution brought the field to a holt for track repair. After the red flag concluded, the young driver came down pit road under yellow for a small right rear adjustment and to top off on fuel as fuel conservation was creeping up on the NCTS pack.

Just as the field got going up to speed, a multi-truck incident arose in front of the No. 91 but he scraped away with no damage. Restarting 14th on the top with 78 laps remaining in the 200-lap event, Wood could see the top 10 and he was hungry for it. The 24-year-old stole three spots on the opening lap and cruised up to 11th where he remained, saving as much fuel as he possibly could with his teammates alongside him. In the closing laps, Wood’s competitors around him started to drop as their fuel saving strategy did not play out. The No. 91 Adaptive Caliper’s Chevrolet Silverado RST held strong and was able to hang on in the top 10 for a seventh-place finish at “The Rock”. Friday evening’s effort scored Wood his best NCTS career finish and bumped him up to 15th in the NCTS point standings.

Jack Wood Quote:

“It felt really good to get that top-10 finish today and to have it be my best career finish here in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck series is awesome. Super proud of this No. 91 team for keeping the momentum going and never giving up on me. I am so lucky to have such an awesome group behind me and I am really looking forward to more solid finishes this season.”