Garcia to Make First Hometown Start at Atlanta
Hometown Favorite … Jake Garcia’s rookie season kicks into high gear at his home track at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) on Saturday afternoon. The Monroe, Ga. native cut his teeth in asphalt late model ranks on the Georgia short tracks at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton and Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele. Garcia is making his home track debut at AMS in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) competition and hopes to continue his impressive start to 2023 and tally a third straight top-10 finish for the No. 35 Quanta Services team.
What a Way to Start … Garcia turned heads in his season debut with an impressive performance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) two weeks ago. The 18-year-old tallied a 10th-place finish in his first start on a 1.5-mile track and immediately vaulted himself to 17th in the NCTS drivers’ championship standings, despite sitting out the season opener at Daytona International Speedway due to NASCAR’s age restriction. Garcia’s best career NCTS finish at LVMS netted him 27 points and already placed him ahead of eight other drivers in the standings that have competed in both races. Garcia and Chase Elliott have combined for two 10th-place finishes in the season’s first two events with the No. 35 squad.
Rookie Race … Not only did Garcia’s run in Las Vegas position himself well in the series standings, but it also put him right in the thick of the battle for Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) honors. With just the single start, Garcia sits second in the ROTY standings, just four points behind fellow Chevrolet driver, Nick Sanchez.
Crew Chief / Chassis Selection … Crew chief Mark Hillman and the Quanta Services team prepared chassis No. 326 for Garcia’s AMS debut. This Chevrolet Silverado RST most recently raced at Kansas Speedway in September of 2022 where Colby Howard drove it to a ninth-place finish with Hillman calling the shots.
Tune In … FOX Sports 1 coverage from AMS begins on Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. ET with pole qualifying. Race coverage begins on Saturday with NASCAR Raceday at 1:00 p.m. ET followed by the green flag at 2:00 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 first start at his home track:
“Our Quanta Services team had a great start to the year at Las Vegas and it’d be great to follow that up with another good run at home this weekend. I’ve never raced at Atlanta before, so it’s exciting for my family and friends to be able to race right in our backyard. I think we can build on on run at Las Vegas and take another step forward this weekend. Atlanta has turned into a lot more of a drafting game than a typical mile-and-a-half race, but we’ll definitely still need our Quanta Service Chevrolet to handle well and be balanced in the pack on Saturday to run towards the front.”