Jake Garcia had waited 93 races for his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory.
Apparently, he decided 94 was the magic number.
Garcia finally broke through Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, taking control in the final stage and driving away from Stewart Friesen over the closing 20 laps to win the UNOH 250.
For the 21-year-old driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford, it was the sort of victory that makes 93 previous attempts suddenly seem considerably less important.
It was Garcia’s first career Truck Series win in his 94th start, and it also ended a lengthy winless drought for ThorSport Racing.
“I’ve been pushing for it for 94 starts,” Garcia said after climbing from his truck. “But really proud of all my guys. They brought an amazing truck tonight.”
The victory wasn’t handed to Garcia with a bow on top, either.
Rain washed out qualifying, leaving the field to rely on strategy to determine the starting order. Garcia’s team used that situation rather nicely, working its way forward before putting the No. 98 in position to start the final stage from the lead.
From there, Garcia did what race winners are generally required to do: drive the thing quickly and avoid doing anything spectacularly stupid.
He led 104 laps and survived a late restart challenge before pulling away from Friesen.
“Had some adversity on that last restart, but fortunately, truck was fast enough to overcome that and just really proud of this moment,” Garcia said.
Bayley Currey finished second for TRICON Garage, with Friesen third, Justin Haley fourth and Tristan McKee fifth.
Gio Ruggiero was the highest-finishing Chase driver in sixth, followed by William Sawalich, Kaden Honeycutt, Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger.
And then there was Layne Riggs.
The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver entered the Chase as the top seed and looked every bit like it early, sweeping the opening two stages.
Then Bristol did what Bristol does.
A bad pit stop during the Stage 2 caution knocked Riggs out of the lead. After the restart, he reported a loose wheel and was forced to pit under green, dropping two laps. Things got even worse late when Riggs was involved in an incident with Nick Leitz.
He finished 16 laps down in 32nd.
His Front Row teammate Chandler Smith also had a night he’d probably like to throw into the nearest dumpster. Smith was penalized for speeding during the Stage 2 caution, then suffered a loose wheel late in the race. An unscheduled stop in the closing laps dropped him from the top 10 to 24th.
Kaden Honeycutt, the No. 2 Chase seed, wasn’t immune to Bristol’s nonsense, either. A vibration forced him onto pit road during a final-stage caution, but Honeycutt managed to claw his way back to ninth.
He leaves Bristol just three points behind Riggs for the Chase lead.
For Garcia, though, the points can wait.
ThorSport’s drought is over, and after 94 attempts, the driver who finally ended it was understandably emotional.
“ThorSport Racing is a really strong team, especially historically,” Garcia said. “It feels really good to be the one to get it done.”
Next stop: Kansas Speedway, where the Chase continues next Saturday.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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