Jake Garcia wrecked his No. 98 Ford late in Craftsman Truck Series practice at Martinsville Speedway, leaving ThorSport Racing with a repair job before tonight’s Black’s Tire 200.
Garcia was released from the infield care center about 15 minutes after the wreck. Neither NASCAR nor the team had released an update on the damage as of early Friday afternoon, so the shape of Garcia’s race remains unsettled. The answer will come from the garage over the hours leading up to the 6 p.m. ET Black’s Tire 200.
According to reporter Bob Pockrass, Garcia’s team was readying a backup truck for the truck race later today.
Garcia, 21, snapped loose entering Turns 1 and 2 with roughly 2:30 to 3 minutes left in the session, according to multiple eyewitness accounts. He spun and backed into the wall, which brought out a caution.
Jake Garcia’s Martinsville Practice Crash
Observers described the impact as a hard hit. Garcia climbed out of the truck under his own power through the passenger-side window, and no injury has been reported. Reporter Steven Taranto posted photos of the wrecked truck.
On the radio, Garcia indicated he lost the brakes. Other witnesses said he seemed to arrive too fast and pointed to a possible brake issue.
The pattern is a familiar one. Garcia crashed at Talladega Superspeedway last week, finishing 26th after contact left him without brakes. In May, he and Conner Jones collided with heavy damage at Texas under a late caution.
ThorSport Racing’s Garcia Outlook for the Black’s Tire 200
The Black’s Tire 200 is one of the two final Truck races of 2026, with Homestead-Miami to follow. Single-truck qualifying was scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET on FS2, and the race is set for this evening. With no injury reported, Garcia is expected to race if the crew can ready his backup truck.
A late wall hit leaves a team little time to refine a setup, and Martinsville’s concrete half-mile makes brake and handling balance critical. A switch to a backup truck would affect starting position and strategy, since teams usually prefer their primary setup. Crew chief Joshua Hankish and the No. 98 crew now have to settle that question quickly.
Garcia, who missed the Chase, sits 11th in points with one win, two poles and multiple top-10s, including a fifth at Phoenix. His first career win came Sept. 17 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he led 104 laps and beat Bayley Currey by 1.305 seconds in his 94th start, ending a long winless stretch for the team.
Martinsville is familiar ground. Garcia finished third there in March 2025, then 18th in the fall race that October.
Born March 3, 2005, in Monroe, Georgia, Garcia started in midgets in 2016 and became the Southern Super Series’ youngest champion in 2021 at age 16. He debuted in the Truck Series in 2022 with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, finished 13th in points as a rookie in 2023, and moved to ThorSport in 2024. A 10th-place points finish followed in 2025, powered by three poles and 10 top-10s, along with his first playoff appearance, which ended in the opening round. He also tried an Xfinity Series debut at Talladega that year with RSS Racing in the No. 29 Ford but failed to qualify.
Front Row Motorsports announced Sept. 29 that Garcia will drive its No. 38 Ford full time in 2027, replacing Chandler Smith, with primary sponsorship from Quanta Services. A strong run tonight would add to his points total ahead of that move, while damage or a compromised setup would cut into his chances of contending.
NASCAR Truck Driver Jake Garcia Crashes in Martinsville Practice: What Happened?