Daytona International Speedway was the site of the season-opening ARCA Menards Series race, a NASCAR-sanctioned series. After a late-race crash that took out two top contenders, the race came down to a one-lap shootout.
In the end, it was Giovanni Ruggiero wheeling the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory, fending off Jake Bollman and Kole Raz to claim the checkered flag on Saturday, February 14. It was Ruggiero’s first win in the ARCA Menards Series in his 13th start.
Ruggiero is moving up to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this year to run select races for Joe Gibbs Racing. Meanwhile, he’s competing full-time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series for Tricon Garage in his second season.
Gio Ruggiero on winning at Daytona: ‘It’s awesome’
After finishing runner-up in the Truck Series race the night before, Ruggiero wanted to get one spot higher on Saturday.
While he was thrilled to leave as the victor, Ruggiero was already looking forward to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race later in the day, taking place at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, February 14.
“It’s awesome. Obviously, I wanted to win last night and came up short, so got one more to win in the afternoon,” Ruggiero said.
It was a frantic final few laps that Ruggiero had to navigate to come away victorious. During his post-race interview, Ruggiero recounted what was going through his mind in the late laps, which included a crash that took out leaders Jake Finch and Gus Dean.
“It got hectic there at the end. I was just trying to push our lane forward. The 15 [of Jake Finch] just got squirrelly in front of me and lost it. That was kinda unfortunate for him, but glad we came out with the win,” Ruggiero said.
Anytime a driver wins a race at Daytona, it’s special. Ruggiero expressed gratitude for the position he’s in, and wanted to give the fans a little bit more of a celebration than he did.
“I wanted to do a bigger burnout for the fans, but didn’t want to tear the car up too much. Just happy to be here. Thankful for everybody at Toyota, First Auto Group, Joe Gibbs Racing, and everybody on this 18 team,” Ruggiero said.
Ruggiero finished first with Bollman in second and Raz in third. Fourth was Daniel Dye and fifth was Glen Reen. Jack Wood placed sixth, followed by Jason Kitzmiller, Ryan Vargas, Bobby Earnhardt, and Andy Jankowiak rounding out the top 10.
Late-race incident took out two contenders
Jake Finch and Gus Dean were the class of the field for much of Saturday afternoon’s race. Yet, on a restart with just three laps remaining, disaster struck both of them.
While running on the inside line down the backstretch, Finch got a push by Ruggiero. The shot from behind got Finch sideways and into the path of Dean, who was occupying the outside line.
The two cars collided and crashed into the outside wall, causing significant damage and ended their respective chances at winning. Finch posted a 20th-place finish, while Dean came home 29th.
Internet personality Cleetus McFarland salvaged 11th-place finish
After going a lap down mid-race, internet star Cleetus McFarland found his way back up towards the front by the end of the race. McFarland wheeled his #30 Ford to an 11th-place finish in his fifth career ARCA Menards Series start.
During a mid-race pit stop, McFarland went a lap down after the pit crew suffered a broken jack while servicing the #30 car. After falling back to as low as 32nd, McFarland eventually earned the free pass, putting him back on the lead lap.
McFarland crashed out of Friday night’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race on lap 6, resulting in a 37th-place finish. It was McFarland’s first-ever start in one of NASCAR’s top three major series.
Joe Gibbs Racing Prospect Nabs First ARCA Win at Daytona