RUGGIERO SCORES SECOND STRAIGHT TOP-TWO RUN AT DAYTONA
The reigning Rookie of the Year battles for win late, leads for Tundras in top-10
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 13, 2026) – Gio Ruggiero battled for the win in a wild green-white-checkered finish before coming up just short of his second career win as the Toyota Development Driver finished second in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Friday evening. Ruggiero, who will run both the ARCA and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races tomorrow, has finished second in both of his national series Daytona starts.
Ruggiero led four Tundras in the top-10, including Cup Series driver John Hunter Nemechek in fifth, while Kaden Honeycutt was eighth and Stewart Friesen, who made his first Truck Series start since suffering an injury in a dirt racing accident last July, finished 10th.
The Truck Series returns on-track for more superspeedway racing next Saturday at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS)
Daytona International Speedway
Race 1 of 23 – 250 Miles, 100 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Chandler Smith*
2nd, GIO RUGGIERO
3rd, Christian Eckes*
4th, Ty Majeski*
5th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
8th, KADEN HONEYCUTT
10th, STEWART FRIESEN
11th, NICK LEITZ
23rd, TANNER GRAY
28th, TAYLOR GRAY
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
GIO RUGGIERO, No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 2nd
How tight was that finish?
“It was tight there at the end of the race. Everybody was just trying to do whatever it takes to win and that’s what I did for myself and my team. I probably would’ve pushed John Hunter (Nemechek) to the win there, but he just wrecked me twice. I think overall as a group we need to do better as Toyota’s. I thought me, Tanner (Gray) and Taylor (Gray) worked really well together but everybody else just seemed like they were out there on their own. I definitely think we learned some things for the next superspeedway.”
What are your emotions after the race?
“Actually coming to the line it looked like nobody was going to beat me and then obviously we got four-wide and just the 38 (Chandler Smith) had a big head of steam on the bottom. Nothing you can really do there. Just try to put myself and my team in the best position at the end. It definitely was a sketchy move down the backstretch. I almost got wrecked there so thankful I was able to save it and come back up on the track and still get second.”
What happened on the backstretch and how did you save it?
“The 62 (John Hunter Nemechek) – I knew he had a good run coming so I just tried to get down there before him and just kind of had some contact there. Overall, it was a good day. I’m just so proud of everybody on the 17 JBL Tundra. They work so hard. We’ve been so fast on the superspeedways so we’re really proud of that and just looking forward to Atlanta. I’ve got two more (races) to win tomorrow.”
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 62 DriveValue.com Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar-Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Had to settle for a fifth-place finish after that last lap. What were your thoughts?
“I haven’t seen the whole replay yet, but pretty frustrated with myself. Just hard to cover all of the lanes there – should have got to the middle and blocked the 17 (Gio Ruggiero) faster than I did. Didn’t anticipate it quite as I probably should have off of turn four, but man, it was one heck of a race. I had a lot of fun all night. We came from the back to the front multiple times. Thank you to DriveValue.com, EPI – all of their partners. LEGACY for letting me come run this race for Halmar-Friesen Racing, and huge shoutout to TOYOTA RACING. Thankful to be a part of truck racing again in this Tundra. Like I said – it was a lot of fun, learned a lot – so hopefully, I can apply some of this to Sunday. Hayden (Reeves, spotter) and I will probably go back and watch some film there, but overall, a really fun race. Just dejected that we didn’t come home with a checkered flag.”
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