The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opening race was a war of attrition, and Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez survived the mayhem to score his first career win.
Friday night’s (Feb. 16) Fresh From Florida 250 was a wreck-filled race, slowed by a dozen caution flags — a record at Daytona International Speedway for the series. After a brief shootout in overtime, Sanchez took the caution and checkered flags together to score his first win his 24th career Truck Series start. The win was the 100th at Daytona for Chevrolet.
It was a Bowtie 1-2, with Rajah Caruth finishing second, followed by Corey Heim in third position. Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd rounded out the top five.
The draft created opportunities for massive runs and big pushes all night, which made the trucks unstable as they tangoed around the track. The action was frantic from the get-go. Three trucks tangled on the backstretch on lap 6 and set off a 12-truck melee that included eventual race-winner Sanchez, as well as other notable drivers Matt Crafton, Caruth and rookie Layne Riggs.
Single-truck incidents and debris cautions were sprinkled throughout the remainder of the first two stages.
In his first Truck race since North Wilkesboro Speedway last year, Johnny Sauter won the first stage and led six times for 24 laps before a lap 78 crash took him out. This one-off for Niece Motorsports is Sauter’s only scheduled 2024 start for the time being.
Ty Majeski won the second stage under caution as the field stopped on pit road due to rain. After a brief red flag, racing resumed.
A three-truck wreck on lap 95 led to the race going into overtime. Sanchez shot out to the lead on the final restart.
On the white flag lap, contact between Caruth and Spire Motorsports teammate Corey Lajoie directly behind leader Sanchez sent Caruth’s truck up into Jack Wood, who then spun down into Taylor Gray. That sent even more trucks spinning and crashing across the entire backstretch of the speedway, with Gray flipping and landing on top of other trucks in the melee.
The Big One happened on the last lap of the race, sparing only a handful of vehicles from damage and handing the win to Sanchez unchallenged.
Up next, the Truck Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, Feb. 24, for the FR8 208.
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