Wood Shows Muscle in Contention at Daytona
Venue: Daytona International Speedway
FINISH: 18th
Start: 23rd
Laps Led: 0
NCTS Point Standings Position: 18th
Jack Wood had one of the best performances of his young NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) career on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). The driver of the No. 91 Klotz Synthetics, Cometic Gasket Chevrolet Silverado RST finished 18th after being collected in a multi-truck accident on the final lap while running third. Wood scored 23 points and has the No. 91 team 18th in the owners’ points standings.
Wood’s run towards the front of the field was methodical as he and the Klotz Synthetics, Cometic Gasket team managed the entire event efficiently. He evaded an early accident on lap six and broke into the top-10 on the lap 13 restart. Wood kept his nose clean on the final one-lap sprint to close Stage 1 and collected one point by running 10th on lap 20.
Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt brought Wood to pit road under the first stage caution for four tires, fuel, and minor repairs to the left side fenders. Although he restarted outside the top-20 on lap 27, Wood directed his Klotz Synthetics, Cometic Gasket Chevrolet back towards the front and ran 15th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 40.
A fuel-only pit call by Bellicourt under the second stage yellow allowed Wood to gain track position and restarted ninth on lap 45. He immediately worked his way inside the top five and raced around the top half dozen until a caution flew on lap 57. The No. 91 team took advantage of the caution to pit for a final tank of fuel and Wood restarted 21st on lap 61. He tagged onto the outside lane led by teammate Christian Eckes to get back inside the top-10. By escaping a multi-truck incident on lap 75, Wood had positioned himself inside the top-five for the last 15 circuits.
He lined up fifth on the final two-lap dash to the checkers and was in position to make a move to the outside for the lead off Turn 2 on the final lap. However, Wood was violently tagged in the quarter panel which triggered a multi-truck accident the ended his career-best run. He was able to limp to the checkered flag and finish in 18th position.
Jack Wood Quote:
“I think probably tonight and tomorrow, I’ll be like, ‘damn, I was that close to winning’. Come Monday, I’ll be at work preparing for Atlanta. Handling I think was an issue for some guys, but it really wasn’t much for us. I’m confident with what we’re going to have for Atlanta. Obviously very different racetracks, but somewhat similar style of racing. We kind of proved to ourselves tonight that we have a shot next week. Hopefully we can give everyone at Klotz and Cometic Gasket just as good of a run next week as we did tonight.”