Wood Turns In Quiet, Clean Run at North Wilkesboro

Venue: North Wilkesboro Speedway

FINISH: 20th

Start: 22nd

Stage One: 25th

Stage Two: 22nd

Laps Led: 0

NCTS Point Standings Position: 16th

Jack Wood, driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST had a quiet, clean run for the Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway (NWB) Saturday afternoon. The young driver was forced to start in the back of the back after Mother Nature had a mind of her own and due to rain showers, qualifying was cancelled, resulting in a 22nd starting position for Wood in the 250 lap event. After a stack up on the start, Wood fell back to 24th and hunkered down as the opening laps flew by. Getting stuck in line in a track configuration that makes it very difficult to pass, did not do the young driver any justice as was forced to go a lap down by the leader. A lap-47 caution allowed the driver of the No. 91 to take the wave around an rejoin the field on the lead lap for a 25th-place Stage One finish.

Crew chief Kevin Bellicourt called the Loomis, Calif. native down pit road under the stage break for four fresh tires, a top off on fuel and a slight trackbar adjustment to help allow the driver more movement in his race truck. The driver of the No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet restarted the second stage in 24th as he continued to work with his spotter, Rick Carelli, on finding the best line and learning as the laps wound down. A yellow flag dropped with three laps to go in the stage that ultimately forced the field into a green-white checkered under yellow and Wood to a 22nd-place Stage Two finish. The 24-year-old reported to him team that he feels he needs more security on entry. The No. 91 made it’s way down pit road for four tires, fuel and a slight adjustment. A quick stop allowed the young driver to restart the final stage 20th in line.

A solid restart from the driver of the No. 91 Chevrolet saw Wood up to 16th with 88 laps remaining. Wood started to find his line and work really well on the bottom of the 0.625-mile short track but track position was starting to get really hard to hold and with 50 laps to go, Wood saw himself back another lap down after a tough battle with the leader. Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) reported to the young driver “focus forward, get em’ one by one”. Wood held on through the remaining, unfortunate cautions that occured throughout the closing laps of the Saturday afternoon event and ultimately settled for a 20th-place finish in NASCAR’s version of overtime at NWB.

Jack Wood Quote:

“Super disappointing finish today because I know we were so much better than what the result shows. This track is really hard to pass and make moves to get to the front if you are stuck in the back and we just didn’t have enough laps to get up there today. Shout out to Adaptive One Calipers, Chevrolet and MHR for all the support. We will keep our heads held high and head to Charlotte to hopefully be in contention to get this No. 91 back in the top 10.”