Jake Garcia caps career day as Rockingham runner-up
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Pole position. Career-high number of laps led. Second-place finish.
Jake Garcia had a career day Friday at Rockingham Speedway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' first race at the 0.94-mile tri-oval since 2013.
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MORE: Unofficial results | At-track photos: 'The Rock'
The driver of the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford paced the field for 43 laps in the Black's Tire 200 and saved just enough fuel in the closing moments of Friday's race to notch the second runner-up result of his career to tie a career-best finish.
'Yeah, it was a good day,' Garcia said. 'Obviously we want to be one stop or one spot higher, but I'm proud of our guys. We brought a really fast truck to the race track. Strategy deal there at the end.'
Indeed, Tyler Ankrum stretched his fuel mileage across the final 88 laps at 'The Rock' to score his first win since 2019 to snap a 130-race winless streak, the longest in series history. Garcia is still searching for his first trip to Victory Lane, but a stretch of four consecutive top 10s is building momentum in the right direction for the 20-year-old Georgian.
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'These guys work really, really hard and put together really nice pieces for me to come drive,' Garcia said. 'I've got good trucks under me now and can run up front.'
That credit goes, in part, to crew chief Jeriod Prince, now heading the No. 13 team after spending the 2024 campaign with ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton. Garcia ended the 2024 season with a 19.7 average finish — a five-position drop from his rookie year in 2023. Through seven races in 2025, Garcia's average has skyrocketed to 9.4.
'I don't know that I really improved a whole lot driver-wise — maybe a little,' Garcia said. 'But we're running about 20 spots better every week, so this is certainly refreshing. I was getting to doubt myself a little bit there. So yeah, I'm happy to have fast trucks and glad to be at ThorSport Racing.'
Jake Garcia leads the Truck Series to green at Rockingham.
Once he climbed from the pit box, Prince was kicking himself after the checkered flag wondering if their Ford had enough fuel to chase down Ankrum for the victory — but those kicks were mixed with smiles after a season-best day for the third-year driver.
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'When it was like 30 to go and we weren't catching leaders, I said go to fuel-save mode and just lift early,' Prince told NASCAR.com. 'We slowed down half a second a lap and just rode there. And I really wasn't worried about the 18 (because) he pitted so early; I didn't think he topped off there. So I was just worried about the 38 (Chandler Smith) and 34 (Layne Riggs) and they ran out. I thought we were gonna be OK, but (Ankrum) made it.
'The last two or three laps, we just went full fuel-save mode. We were two seconds off the pace, but at that point, it was just 'get to the finish line.' (Grant) Enfinger was a whole straightaway behind us. So at that point, I just wanted to finish. Now looking back, we're gonna go to tech (inspection) here and see how much fuel it took. And probably had a gallon left, and we could have went hard the whole time, and I'll be kicking myself. But I'd hate to run out of last lap in the top five.'
Leaving Rockingham, the goal for Garcia and Co. is to continue capitalizing on the pace the No. 13 team is producing. That starts with the driver, who has put his trust in the group around him.
'They always say it in racing, but it's true: If he's got faith in it, he'll drive it harder,' Prince said. 'Now he's pushing it harder. Restarts are better. Qualifying up front. Today's the first day we actually had a really good stage-point day, so hopefully it's a good points day in total. We're all working better together, getting to learn what he likes and doesn't like, and just (building) experience together.'
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A good points day indeed: Garcia totaled a race-high 52 points Friday, netting nine points in Stage 1 with a second-place finish and eight in Stage 2 by placing third.
Next up is Texas Motor Speedway on May 2 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Garcia placed fifth in his first Texas start in 2023.
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