After a late-race caution in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Next Era Energy 250 at Daytona prompted an overtime restart, Jordan Anderson advanced through the field to claim second place.
Anderson has only two top five finishes in his Truck Series career. The first one was also a runner-up finish at Daytona International Speedway in 2020. You might assume that falling short of capturing his first career win in the series would be a huge disappointment. And while I’m certain he would have preferred victory, Anderson was ecstatic with the result.
After the race, when asked what he would say to his eight-year-old self about that last lap, his answer was, “Never give up.” He then pulled down his mask to show everyone, “I’m still smiling.” Anderson went on to say, “It’s a dream come true.”
He concluded with a message to all the young drivers who aspire to drive in NASCAR.
“I’m almost speechless. This is so much energy, so much emotion, to see what God has done in my life and my career. I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t be racing in a national series. Coming from Columbia, South Carolina, nobody in my family raced. To go through all that we’ve gone through, to never give up.
“If you want to be here, never give up, just keep digging.”
His team, Jordan Anderson Racing, has expanded their program this year to include a full-time racing schedule in the Xfinity Series with Anderson behind the wheel of the No. 31 Chevrolet. They will also continue to compete in the Truck Series with various drivers.
“It’s pretty crazy. It’s a huge boost,” Anderson said. “We almost shut this truck deal down. We wanted to keep it going because we had so much blood, sweat and tears put into this program the last three years and wanted to keep it going to hopefully provide an opportunity for drivers like myself that just needed a shot to come run a truck some this year. Excited to see how that might shake out.”
His next race will be the Xfinity Series, Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300, Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
