Wood Survives Martinsville Chaos to Finish 18th
Venue: Martinsville Speedway
FINISH: 18th
Start: 10th
Laps Led: 0
No. 91 NCTS Owners’ Points Position: 11th
Jack Wood survived a physical outing at Martinsville Speedway with an 18th-place finish on Friday night. The driver of the No. 91 Instacoat Premium Products (IPP) Chevrolet Silverado RST collected his third track-best finish in four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) starts this season. The result maintained the No. 91 team’s 11th-place position in the NCTS owners’ point standings.
Wood began his third start at “The Paperclip” with his best qualifying effort at the half-mile bullring and took the green flag from 10th position. In the opening laps, Wood was moved off the preferred bottom lane and settled into 15th position. He maintained that spot until a restart on lap 37 when contact from the rear sent him into a lazy, partial spin. Although Wood collected his Chevrolet, the close call kicked him back to 28th at the end of Stage 1 on lap 50.
Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt kept Wood on track during the first stage caution to regain the lost track position. The strategy call worked as Wood restarted 14th on lap 61 and ran inside the top 15 until lap 75. The IPP team serviced Wood with four tires and fuel during a caution period at lap 76 as the team began to set up their race-ending strategy. While he was scored 27th at the end of Stage 2 on lap 100, Wood stayed on track during the second stage break and restarted 18th on lap 110.
The trademark physicality and full-contact racing of Martinsville took place in the event’s second half after Wood inherited the 13th position on lap 134. He worked his way up to as high as 11th on lap 155 before getting caught in a multi-truck incident on lap 165, instigated by an accordion-like traffic jam in Turn 4. Wood restarted 27th on lap 173 after receiving repairs and fresh tires from the IPP team. Over the final 28 circuits, Wood went on the offensive to advance forward and took the checkered flag in 18th position behind MHR teammate and race winner Christian Eckes.
Jack Wood Quote:
“It’s frustrating to get turned around twice, but it was encouraging that we were going forward for most of the night. We wanted more tonight with our Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet, but we’ll come back stronger later this fall. Congrats to Christian (Eckes) and its great to see another MHR win. We’ll go back to work and bounce back at Texas next week.”