Lady Luck Deals Raw Hand to Wood at Las Vegas

Venue: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

FINISH: 30th

Start: 14th

Stage 1: 25th

Stage 2: 24th

Laps Led: 2

NCTS Point Standings Position: 16th

Jack Wood, driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST had a rough ride and an unfortunate continuation of his bad luck come at Las Vegas Friday night in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) event. Wood settled his No. 91 Chevrolet mid-pack in Friday afternoon’s qualifying event that led him to start the race 14th in line. On the opening laps of the rain-obscured event, Wood got shuffled in the field and shot up the racetrack, leading him into the outside Turn 1 wall that shook him back to the 25th position. With minimal damage, the driver of the No. 91 continued on in search for the front until a rain shower hovered over the speedway and forced the field down pit road and to the stage end. Once the red flag was lifted, crew chief Kevin Bellicourt called the young driver down pit road for four tires, fuel and a slight adjustment just help handling.

Restarting in 22nd, Wood started to notice more beads of rain on the front windshield of his No. 91 Chevrolet RST and the field was placed under another red flag for a shorter term and soon after went back green with just 23 laps left in Stage Two. Wood was still continuing to struggle with the handling of his race truck but he held on for a 24th-place stage finish. Bellicourt (Kevin, crew chief) made the call to stay out under the stage break as more rain cells started to pop up. Mother nature waited until the No. 91 was forced to come down pit road to start sprinkling rain drops, ultimately leading the young driver to the back of the pack, post pit stop. Once the rain cleared, the field was yet again, on their way to the green flag and the closing laps of the Friday night event.

With 44 laps to go, Wood was making his way back into the top 20 until the No. 91 saw himself get loose and quickly backed into the Turn 4 wall on a heavy hit. The young driver made his way back to the NCTS garage where the damage was deemed unrepairable and relegated Wood to a 30th-place finish at Vegas.

Jack Wood Quote:

“Luck was just not on our side here in Vegas. I really struggling with the handling all night long and could not get this truck where I needed it to be in contention for a solid finish tonight. This No. 91 team works so hard and it’s unfortunate to not be able to make it to the end of the races to get the finish to show for it. We will pick our heads up and get back to the drawing board to be ready for Homestead.”