Wood Set for First Short Track Start of 2024 at Martinsville
Venue: Martinsville Speedway
Event: Long John Silver’s 200
Date: Friday, April 5th
Location: Ridgeway, VA
Track Description: 0.526-mile oval
Distance: 200 laps, 105.2 miles (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network)
Back at Short Tracks … Jack Wood is making his return to short track racing in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) competition on Friday night at Martinsville Speedway. The driver of the No. 91 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet is fresh off his best-career road course finish two weeks ago at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and is eyeing more of the same on Martinsville’s tight confines. In the season’s first short track event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Zane Smith piloted the No. 91 to a third-place result. Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt hopes to replicate Smith’s results in Wood’s first short track appearance of 2024.
On the Cusp … Through five races, Wood and Smith have combined to have the No. 91 team on the cusp of the NCTS owners’ point playoff, just three points behind the provisional cut line. In three starts this season, Wood has positioned himself in career-best situations by running third on the final lap in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and knocking on the door of the top-10 at COTA. The Californian is pursuing his first top-10 result on a short track in NCTS competition but has six top-10 finishes at tracks under one mile across the ARCA Menards Series platforms.
Season to Date … The No. 91 team has accumulated one top-five and two top-10 finishes through five races this season. Wood’s best finish of 13th occurred in the most recent outing at COTA and has the team in playoff contention. Wood also began the ARCA Menards Series West season with a seventh-place result in the season opener at Phoenix Raceway and is projected to be the series point leader when the tour resumes on April 20th at Kevin Harvick’s Kern County Raceway.
Tune In … Live coverage of all on-track activity from Martinsville begins on FOX Sports 1 at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon followed by NASCAR Raceday at 6:30 p.m. ET and the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 91 Instacoat Premium Products team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Jack Wood Quote:
On making his first short track start of the season at Martinsville:
“Martinsville is always a tough place and has some physical racing. I haven’t gotten the results I’ve wanted to in the past, but I think our Instacoat Premium Products team has elevated my game this year, so I’m optimistic for this week. We had a strong day at COTA and I think we can continue that this week at Martinsville. Running these short track races in the truck series is also going to help our program in the ARCA West Series to compete for a championship this year. We have some fast teammates to lean on too, so I’m excited to see what we can do Friday night.”