Wood’s Late Move for the Lead in Portland Comes Up Short

Venue: Portland International Raceway

FINISH: 12th

Start: 4th

Laps Led: 0

Jack Wood drove to a 12th-place finish at Portland (Oreg.) International Raceway after a hail-mary pass for the lead on the final restart went awry and he ran off the track. Wood qualified the No. 16 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet SS in the fourth position, then quickly overtook the third-place position, where he remained for most of the ARCA Menards West Series race on Friday afternoon.

During the halfway stage break, Wood visited pit road for fuel and service from crew chief Kevin Bellicourt and his crew. Following the break, Wood maintained his third-place position, fending off challenges from several different drivers on the 1.98-mile course.

On the final restart, Wood launched himself from the second row, passing both the second- and first-place competitors, but miscalculated, and was unable to maintain the lead, sliding off-track. He was able to keep his Chevrolet SS undamaged and continued as the last vehicle on the lead lap. In the final five laps, Wood was able to improve his position from 15th to 12th, where he finished the 57-lap race.

Jack Wood Quote:

“Our NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet ran up front all day. Proud of the speed that we had and all the work these BMR guys put into our car. We definitely should have run in the top three, but just got into the corner too deep on that last restart and it got away. It’s a shame to not get the finish we should have, but we’ll go to Sonoma and try to have the same speed there next week.”