Jack Wood: Driver, No. 51 Sevwins Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: SpeedyCash.com 250, Race 5 of 23, 167 Laps – 77/45/45; 250.5 Miles
Location: Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile, quad-oval)
Date/Broadcast: April 1, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Get to Know Jack:
Jack Wood will make his third start for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) behind the wheel of the No. 51 Sevwins Chevrolet in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Wood is coming of a strong run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he made his way to the front of the field before getting spun while leading with just over 20 laps remaining. The California native was able to rally in the closing laps to equal a Truck Series career-best result with a 10th-place finish. In his first start of the year, he qualified third for the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway but was relegated to a 27th-place finish after unexpected rain shortened the event while the No. 51 team was employing a strategy of riding at the back of the field to miss wrecks before moving forward late in the race.
The Texas race will the third of a 13-race schedule for Wood with KBM in 2023. Sevwins, a mental skills program for students, coaches and teams will serve as the primary sponsor for Saturday’s 167-lap event at the 1.5-mile quad-oval. Sevwins was also the sponsor last year when he finished 16th in his lone Truck Series start at Texas.
Wood will be looking to etch his mark in the KBM historical archives this weekend at Texas as he looks to collect the organization’s 100th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory. KBM-owner driver Kyle Busch collected KBM’s record-extending 99th-career victory with his dominant victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway leaving his organization one shy of the century mark. Overall, 18 different drivers have won at least race behind the wheel of a KBM truck, led by Busch’s 47. Four drivers rank second on the list with seven victories: Byron, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. KBM’s nine Texas wins are the most the organization has at any track they’ve raced at. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has four Texas wins (2010, 2014, 2019 & 2020), while John Hunter Nemechek (2021), Greg Biffle (2019), Christopher Bell (2017), William Byron (2016) and Erik Jones (2015) all have one Texas triumph.
Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie will call the shots for the No. 51 team this year in his first season at KBM after spending the last 14 seasons atop the pit box in the NASCAR Cup Series. It took the veteran signal caller just two races to get his first win at KBM, winning with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the Cup Series, his drivers produced six wins, nine poles, 57 top-five and 131 top-10 finishes across 528 starts. In 2012, he guided Clint Bowyer to three victories and a runner-up finish in the Cup Series championship standings. In 2017, he guided Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to two wins and a berth in the playoffs. The Florida native has also recorded 11 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and he now has two wins as a crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Pattie’s lone race atop the pit box in the Truck Series at Texas was a 21st-place finish with Ron Fellows in 1999. In the Cup Series, his driver’s collected four top-10 finishes across 27 starts and in the Xfinity Series posted three top-five and three top-10 finishes across 11 starts.
The No. 51 team currently ranks fifth in the Craftsman Truck Series owner’s point standings after four races.
William Byron will get behind the wheel of the No. 51 HendrickCars.com Silverado for his first of three races this year April 8 at the Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Owner-driver Kyle Busch will return to the No. 51 at Martinsville Speedway April 14.
Jack Wood, Driver Q&A:
You’ve been traveling with the team to the races where you aren’t behind the wheel. What have you been able to learn by doing that?
“It’s been really good for me to go to the track and watch these races from a different angle that I normally don’t get to see. Being able to sit on the pit box with Brian (Pattie, crew chief) and understanding the communication that goes on between him and the engineer, as well as with him and the spotter and what the pit crew does during the race and all the kind of stuff you might not even think about. It’s been a good perspective for me to see. Starting to understand more of the behind the scenes of what happens on a race weekend. When you go as a driver, you are really just focused on driving the truck, but these couple races I’ve been able to learn quite a bit as far as team communication goes.”
Does the strong run you had at Atlanta give you confidence heading into this week’s race at Texas?
“Coming off a strong run at Atlanta, I’m definitely looking forward to Texas. I’ve just been really pleased with the speed that the KBM trucks have had this year, so as a driver that gives you a lot of confidence and makes you really excited for each race. I know that we are going to show up with a fast Sevwins Silverado. Texas is going to be a good one for me, it’s going to be different than anything I’ve raced on so far this year in the KBM equipment, but KBM has been really strong at Texas in past years. It’ll be interesting with us being there without Xfinity and Cup — the track preparation that SMI will be doing I feel like will be a little bit different than what we are used to. I think it’ll be a good day for us, we just need to keep the nose clean and maintain track position. The way that the pit stops are set up, your not going to be able to gain spots on pit road like we have been able to at the last couple of races, so that is going to throw a little curveball in there. It’s also going to be a lit bit longer of a race than what we are used to in the Truck Series as well, so I think you just need to keep your head in the game, maintain your track position and try to give the best feedback that you possibly can to your crew chief throughout the race so that you have what you need when it gets down to the end of the race.”
Jack Wood Career Highlights:
- Has produced two top-10 finishes across 37 career starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Posted a series-best 10th-place finish in August of 2021 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, equaled it at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March of 2023.
- Has compiled five laps led, one top-five and five top-10 finishes across 11 career ARCA Menards Series events.
- Has totaled one top-five and four top-10 finishes across nine ARCA Menards East Series races.
- Has totaled two top-five and seven top-10 finishes across 10 career starts in the ARCA Menards West Series.
- Compiled one top-five and three top-10 finishes across 24 starts in the SRL Spears Southwest Tour from 2017 to 2021.
- Jack Wood’s No. 51 Sevwins Chevrolet Silverado RST:
KBM-66: The No. 51 Sevwins team will unload KBM-66 for Saturday’s race at Texas. This is the same chassis that Wood led two laps and scored a 10th-place finish with at Atlanta in his last start. This chassis has been victorious twice, both at Atlanta, winning with Corey Heim last year and with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch in 2021. Heim raced this truck to a seventh-place finish in last year’s Truck Series event at Texas.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected nine wins, four poles, 1065 laps led, 20 top-five and 38 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.8 across 59 starts in the Lone Star State. KBM’s nine Texas wins are the most the organization has at any track.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch’s has four Texas wins for his organization (2010, 2014, 2019 & 2020). John Hunter Nemechek (2021), Greg Biffle (2019), Christopher Bell (2017), William Byron (2016) and Erik Jones (2015) all have one Texas triumph.
- KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (99) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last year, Corey Heim became the 18th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- With 40 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.
