Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
UNOH 250 — Bristol Motor Speedway
Thursday, September 17, 2026
JAKE GARCIA CAPTURES FIRST NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES VICTORY
- Jake Garcia won the first race of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career tonight.
- Ford has nine wins this season and has won seven of the last 10 events overall.
- This marks the first win for ThorSport Racing since Ty Majeski won the championship race at Phoenix Raceway to end the 2024 season.
- Ford’s other NCTS wins this year have been by Layne Riggs (6) and Chandler Smith (2).
- Overall, Ford has won 138 series races.
JAKE GARCIA, No. 98 Quanta Services/Curb Records Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – YOU’VE BEEN PUSHING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG. HOW DOES IT FEEL? “I’ve been pushing for it for 94 starts, but I’m really proud of all my guys. They brought an amazing truck tonight. It was good today, but qualifying got rained out. We had a good strategy that helped us come from the back, got some track position and started stage three with the lead and kind of took off from there. We had some adversity on that last restart, but, fortunately, the truck was fast enough to overcome that and just really proud of this moment.”
YOU BREAK THE WINLESS STREAK FOR THORSPORT AS WELL. WHAT DOES THIS WIN PROVE TO YOU? “ThorSport Racing is a really strong team, especially historically, so I’m just proud of all my guys on the 98 team for being able to end that winless streak. It’s been so long since we’ve gotten a win, so it feels really good to be the one to get it done.”
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Jake Garcia
9th – Ty Majeski
11th – Ben Rhodes
19th – Luke Baldwin
24th – Chandler Smith
28th – Cole Butcher
32nd – Layne Riggs
33rd – Frankie Muniz
36th – Jackson Macenko
LAYNE RIGGS, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops/Peak Ford F-150 – “We lost that one on pit road tonight. I don’t know what happened there. We had a really slow stop first of all, and then we didn’t even get the wheel tight either. Once you’re mired in the back and your two laps down, you’re just riding around with the guys in the back. I guess the 1 just lost talent and wrecked. I don’t really know what happened there. It’s probably one of the top three hardest hits of my life. I can’t believe the truck was still rolling after that. I feel like we had the truck to beat. This one stings really bad.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE WHEN YOU TRAPPED TWO LAPS DOWN AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN REALLY DO? “At that point you’re just riding around and staying in front of the people that were two down. At that point, there’s really nothing you can do. You just have to beat the guys that are on your lap, so you’re not doing much racing back there.”
ANY CONSOLATION THE OTHER GUYS AROUND YOU HAD ISSUES TOO? “It could have been a lot worse of a day. We’ve got to clean that up if we’re gonna win a championship.”
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 38 QuickTie Ford F-150 – “It was an interesting day to say the least. Our No. 38 QuickTie Products Ford F-150 was solid the first two stages. We were right where we needed to run, top three, a third place truck. We came in and the crew did a great job on the pit stop and the driver sped, so I ended up losing all of the track position. I was coming back through the field and the crew chief did a great job on making a call on the adjustment and got the truck way better. I felt like I was capable of getting to the right place with some cautions and all that and doing a good job on restarts we could go up there and contend for the win. That didn’t turn out to be the plan. We ended up having a problem with the right-front tire. The stud completely broke off and the rim is completely broke and shattered and everything and had to pit with I don’t know how many laps down we finished. Nevertheless, we had a really good truck before we started having mechanical issues, so I’m proud of that. We had good speed today, so, regardless, we still have forward momentum going to Kansas.”
JAKE GARCIA WINNER’S PRESS CONFERENCE
JAKE GARCIA: “Obviously, that last restart was really hectic. We dropped back to second and were getting passed for second, and so we just had to rebound and figure out a way around the 52. After a couple of laps behind him I kind of felt like we were faster, but this is a place where it’s really hard to pass, especially if someone starts rolling the top well. So, I had to wait for him to go to the bottom and I went to the top and I was able to get the momentum to get beside him, and then after that I kind of inched my way by him. We ran side-by-side for couple of laps, but it was definitely a stressful situation. We were three-wide coming out of two on that restart, but, fortunately, my truck was fast enough. I was able to come back and get around the 52 and get the win.”
WHAT IS THIS WHOLE EXPERIENCE LIKE? “I have done a press conference before after a pole, but I wasn’t sure what you guys wanted me to do. It’s just surreal doing the burnout, doing the interview on the frontstretch, going to Victory Lane. All of that stuff is really cool and it’s really cool to check all of that off the bucket list. It feels even better to be able to say you did it after all this time. Not having a win wears on you a little bit. We’ve been really close a handful of times, but just haven’t had things go our way and tonight everything went well for us.”
DO YOU START TO WONDER IF IT’S EVER GOING TO HAPPEN? “Maybe a little bit. Obviously, it’s a really good opportunity to be able to drive for ThorSport in the NASCAR Truck Series. Last year, all of my teammates were champions, so, obviously, you can get it done at ThorSport Racing, so there was a little bit of pressure to perform to that level. We as a team have kind of been in a slump the last couple of years, but being able to break that and show that we can bring really fast trucks to the racetrack, I think that’s a morale boost and confidence boost for the whole shop. It feels really good to kind of get the monkey off of our back a little bit and hopefully it’s the first of many.”
THE LAST RESTART YOU HAD TO FIGHT OFF THE 52. IT SEEMED LIKE YOUR TRUCK WAS ABLE TO WORK ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE TRACK. WHAT WAS THAT MOMENT LIKE? “I was really frustrated when we lost the lead on that last restart. I didn’t really even foresee us getting put three-wide until I was almost off the corner and it was kind of a big moment. I kind of got sandwiched and then immediately I’m thinking, ‘Oh, we’re gonna have a tire go down or something.’ But being able to come back from that, fortunately all of our tires stayed up. I did have a truck that was able to maneuver well. That’s something that we struggled with in the spring and kind of focused on bringing back a really similar setup, but just trying to make sure we could work well on the top and the bottom and I think that’s what helped us at the end of the race. When he would go to the top, I could go to the bottom and try to work on him that way, and if he would go to the bottom, I could go to the top and try to get runs on him by running the top. Having a truck that can move around is really important here, especially in traffic.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN THE FIRST CHASE RACE AND BEAT ALL OF THE GUYS WHO ARE COMPETING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP? DO THAT ADD ANYTHING TO THIS MOMENT? “I don’t really care, honestly. It’s the Chase. We’re not in it, but we didn’t really deserve to be in it, either. I’m sure those guys bring their A-game every week, but it does feel good to get a win and know that you can beat the best. Even though we got the lead off of pit road, I still felt like coming from 12th to fourth in that first stage showed how much speed we had. Even that next run I thought we were really good and I was just trying to manage my stuff because I knew what our strategy was gonna be. I definitely thought we had the best truck, but the weather delay in qualifying set us back quite a bit.”
