Wood Finishes Top-20 After Late Carnage in Michigan

Venue: Michigan International Speedway

FINISH: 20th

Start: 5th

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 16th

Jack Wood, driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet was on track for a solid finish in his inaugural start at Michigan International Speedway after laying down a stout qualifying lap that sent him into the top five to start the 125-lap event. An unfortunate shuffle on the opening lap of the race sent the driver of the No. 91 sinking back into the field with nowhere to land until settling in 21st to reset. The young driver knew it was an uphill battle from here and set his focus forward. Wood was relegated to a 20th-place Stage One finish and reported to his team that he was losing all right-rear security in his race truck. Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt called the Loomis, Calif. native down pit road for four fresh tires, fuel and a slight adjustment to help that right-rear issue. 

Wood restarted the second stage 19th and had a difficult time finding track position and a line that would help him get through the field to the front. A quiet second stage saw the driver of the No. 91 to finish 20th in line for Stage Two. Dealing with the same issue, Wood came down pit road under the stage break for four Goodyear tires, some Sunoco race fuel and a slight air pressure adjustment before the final stage was underway. Another streak of unfortunate events arose with 71 laps to go as Wood went for a spin coming off Turn 4 that sent his No. 91 Chevrolet into the wall leaving right side damage. The young driver was able to make his way down pit road for the team to change right side tires and fix damage. A few more trips to the pit box for damage control saw Wood to restart in the back of the pack, 27th in line. 

Carnage continued to unfold with 41 laps to go and unfortunately, Wood saw the middle of it. A multi-truck incident broke out and collected the No. 91 sending him back down pit road for more damage repair and a top off on fuel. The field was back green with 35 laps to go until another yellow flag fell for debris on the racetrack. Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) made the call to stay out whereas a lot of other trucks came in to pit, leaving Wood 11th in line to start the closing laps. The bad luck sadly did not stop here for Wood as the “big one” broke out on the restart, collecting half of the field that included the No. 91, causing him severe nose damage to his race truck. The team got the No. 91 Chevrolet bandaged up and sent him to the tail of the field in 23rd. A few yellow flags, another spin and triple NASCAR overtime in the final laps relegated Wood to a 20th-place finish at Michigan. 

Jack Wood Quote: “Tough day for the No. 91 team and a tough day for MHR overall. We had a super fast Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet today and I can’t thank Kevin on the box, Tyler on the roof and all my guys on this No. 91 team for getting us to the end there with the amount of damage we had. We will take this result, capitalize on it, learn from our mistakes and move on to Pocono here in a couple weeks.”