Jack Wood: Driver, No. 51 High Fives Foundation Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: Baptist Health 200, Race 22 of 23, 134 Laps- 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile, oval)
Date/Broadcast: Oct. 21, 2023, at noon ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Get to Know Jack:
Jack Wood will make his 12th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start of 2023 for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) behind the wheel of the No. 51 High Fives Foundation Chevrolet in Saturday’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Wood has finished inside the top 10 in two of his 11 Truck Series starts this season, including a career-best ninth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April. The California native has qualified inside the top 10 for seven of 11 Truck Series events this season, with a season-best qualifying effort of second coming at Texas. Across 46 career Truck Series starts, Wood has produced five laps led and three top-10 finishes. He has just one prior start at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The High Fives Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to be the leader of education and recovery of life-altering injuries in outdoor action sports, will serve as the primary sponsor on Wood’s No. 51 Silverado Saturday. As a non-profit organization, the High Fives Foundation has become the safety net of the outdoor community. Through grants that supply adaptive sports equipment, their rehab center, and a variety of programs, they help our athletes get back to physical activities. The bedtop of Wood’s Chevrolet Saturday will feature the names of over 700 of the High Five Foundation’s Adaptive Athletes.
Wood has two top-five and six top-10 finishes with an average result of 10.4 across eight ARCA Menards Series starts this season for Rev Racing. Across 17 career ARCA Menards Series starts he has recorded three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.2.
The No. 51 team qualified for the owner’s playoffs after finishing seventh in the regular season owner point standings but did not make it out of the Round of 10. Across 21 starts in 2023, the team has recorded two wins, one pole, 170 laps led, seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 14.2. Owner-driver Kyle Busch recorded both of the 51 team’s victories winning the second race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and most recently collecting his organization’s historic 100th win July 22 at Pocono Raceway.
Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie is calling 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 owner-driver Kyle Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The duo won again in July at Pocono Raceway and collected KBM’s 100th career Truck Series victory. In the Cup Series, his drivers produced six wins, nine poles, 57 top-five and 131 top-10 finishes across 528 starts. The Florida native has also recorded 11 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and now has three wins as a crew chief in the Truck Series. This will be Pattie’s first time atop the pit box for a race at Homestead-Miami in the Truck Series. Across 14 Cup Series starts, his best result was a runner-up finish with Clint Bowyer in 2012. In Xfinity Series action at the Florida track, he has two wins, both coming with Joe Nemechek behind the wheel (1999 and 2001).
Jack Wood, Driver Q&A:
Homestead is unique for a mile-and-a-half track. Talk about how you will prepare for this weekend?
“I feel like this is the track I struggled at the most last year. As far as my preparation, I have done film study, iRacing, and talked to as many people as I can — much like I’ve done for other races in the past. We’ve had multiple sim sessions for this race which is something that we normally don’t get. Hopefully, that means I have a better feel for what I need and I’m sure the truck will be fast. It will just be about getting me to where I need to be to execute the right way. It will be a lot of work going into it, but I think the uniqueness of this racetrack will make it fun. I always like a new challenge.”
High Fives Foundation is back on the truck this week. Does this partnership mean more after attending one of their events recently?
“It was cool to be able to go down to Waco, Texas to wake surf with them. We had them on our truck at Kansas and I got to meet Roy Tuscany (Founder & CEO, High Fives) but then to go meet a lot of the athletes firsthand just makes it more meaningful. I’m excited to have them back on the truck a second time this year, it’s going to mean a lot more to me now. Hopefully, we can go out there and get a good run for them.”
What does it mean to be carrying the athletes’ names on the bedtop of your truck this weekend?
“I think it’s cool. A lot of them got injured doing what I did growing up, ski racing. There’s a connection to what I used to do with what I do now. Just being around these people and their positivity. To be able to honor them and do something cool for them, even if it’s just seeing a text with a picture of their name on the back of the truck, is special. It means a lot more to me doing this a second time around, now that I’ve got to meet these athletes firsthand.”
Jack Wood Career Highlights:
- Has produced three top-10 finishes across 46 career starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Posted a series-best ninth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April.
- Has compiled 14 laps led, three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes across 17 career ARCA Menards Series events.
- Has totaled three top-five and eight top-10 finishes across 12 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 High Fives Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST:
KBM-74: The No. 51 High Fives team will unload KBM-74 for Saturday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch led a race-high 84 laps en route to victory with this Silverado earlier this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Most recently Wood was relegated to a 30th-place finish with this truck after getting caught up in an early accident at Nashville Superspeedway in June.
Click Here for KBM-74 Profile
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected five wins, one pole, 416 laps led, 12 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.6 across 32 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has three victories at Homestead-Miami, winning most recently in 2020 as well as in 2010 and 2013. Darrell Wallace Jr. (2014) and William Byron (2016) each have one victory at the Florida track.
- KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (100) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). Kyle Busch picked up his organization’s first-ever win at Nashville Superspeedway in April of 2010 and also picked up its 100th Truck Series victory at Pocono Raceway in July of 2023. 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 42 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.
