Jack Wood qualified third for Friday night’s season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 and finished the opening two stages in ninth. Wood along with his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Chase Purdy and technical alliance partner Nick Sanchez all were employing the same strategy of hanging out at the back of the pack at the beginning of the Final Stage to stay clear of the aggression beginning to build at the front of the pack.
The plan was working as they avoided a seven-truck incident and six-truck accident as they were biding their time waiting until later in the race to make a move to the front. Unfortunately, rain rolled into the area and brought out red-flag conditions. As the rain subsided NASCAR attempted to send the trucks back on track to complete the race. As the field readied to return a broken splitter bar brace was found on the No. 51 Eberlestock Chevrolet and NASCAR mandated it to be fixed before continuing the race.
After fixing the issue under caution, the rain picked up and the race called complete with 79 of the 100 laps completed. Wood would be relegated to a 27th-place finish in his KBM debut.
Jack Wood, Driver of the No. 51 Eberlestock Chevrolet:
Talk about your race.
“Proud of the guys on this No. 51 team, they brought me a really, really fast Eberlestock Chevy this weekend. I felt like it handled really well through practice, qualifying and the race. The team brought us what we needed this weekend. Our strategy in the race was going exactly how we wanted it to – a lot of cautions kept cycling, but we never really had a chance to get back up where we wanted to go. Of course, the rain getting called kind of put us in a bad spot when it did. I think it was a good learning race for us, I think it was a bummer we didn’t get to show the speed that we had. Have to thank Eberlestock for coming on board for this race and look forward to having them again later in the year at Charlotte.”
NextEra Energy 250 Recap:
- Zane Smith won the season-opening event for the second straight year. It was the eighth victory of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career. Tanner Gray finished second, while Christian Eckes, Colby Howard and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five.
- There were seven cautions for 41 laps and 20 lead changes among nine drivers.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Owner Point Standings:
The No. 51 team leaves the first race of the season 25th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owner point standings.
