It’s five races in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, and series newcomer Nick Sanchez has already turned heads in his first handful of starts.
Sanchez won the 2022 ARCA Menards Series championship with Rev Racing, and the team has moved up to the Truck Series with an alliance to Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The new team has shown speed right out of the gate, and that’s apparent when looking at Sanchez’s results in qualifying. With the exception of Atlanta Motor Speedway where qualifying was rained out, Sanchez has recorded a top-five start in every race, a number that includes two poles at Daytona International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
Sanchez has had nothing but praise for Rev and the equipment it has provided.
“Really fast trucks,” Sanchez said. “That’s about the only thing I can credit [qualifying] to, you know, my team. Obviously in these truck qualifying sessions at some of the big tracks, it’s wide open. I mean, it’s all down to the handling of the truck, so I just hold it to the floor and the truck does the rest.
“And I think that’s just a testament to the speed. The speed and equipment the team brings for me every weekend.”
The speed has shown up in multiple races, including the third race of the season at Atlanta. Sanchez was the leader heading into the final restart of the race, but he had to settle for second place after Christian Eckes got by in overtime.
While disappointing, Sanchez viewed the ending as a learning experience.
“I look back at [the finish] and I just tried to pick the things that I could have done better as a driver,” Sanchez said. “Certain situations that you always say you could’ve, should’ve, would’ve, but I like to look back at it and see what I could’ve done different and just learn from that.
And after two poor finishes to start off the year, a runner-up at Atlanta was an impressive rebound, especially when considering the challenges the team battled throughout the day.
“We had qualifying rained out and started 30th,” Sanchez said. “Someone hit us on pit road, someone hit us on the track [and] knocked the battery off, [had to] shut off and restart, like all those things. . . my team never missed a beat.
“Those are the days it’s impressive for a team. . . [and] it kind of helped me mentally as a driver, you know. Not over until it’s over.”
And through Rev’s alliance with KBM, Sanchez has also received…
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