On Friday, September 17, Jake Garcia won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. His breakthrough came in Fall 2026, four years after his NASCAR journey started in 2022. The Georgia native has been a full-time Truck Series driver since 2023. In his first 93 starts, he secured five top-fives and 26 top-10s between McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and ThorSport Racing.
First Starts and First Full Season
Before NASCAR, Garcia made his first premiere starts in the 2020 Cars Super Late Model Tour. In five events, a teenage Garcia went five-for-five putting his No. 35 in the top-10, three of which were top-fives. Next season he earned three top-fives in four Cars SLM Tour starts and a sixth-place finish in one ARCA Menards Series West start. 2022 saw his first major victory, with a win in the Cars Pro Late Model Tour at Tri-County Speedway.
2022 was also the year of Garcia’s Truck Series debut. MHR fielded a third expansion team, the No. 35 Chevrolet Silverado, in six races. After a rain-out in qualifying at Martinsville Speedway sent the team home, Garcia debuted with a 29th-place at World Wide Technology Raceway. Two of the next four races were top-20s, which was enough for the No. 35 team to run the full schedule in 2023.
“To have the chance to race full-time at this level is very special to me and my family,” Garcia told Motorsport at the time. “This is a huge opportunity for me.”
Garcia had an impressive rookie season. 2023 was McAnally’s breakout season with Christian Eckes behind the wheel, and that success also appeared in Garcia’s results. In 22 starts (he missed the season opener at Daytona International Raceway), Garcia earned three top-fives, nine top-10s, and finished 13th in points. The highlight of his season was a runner-up at Phoenix Raceway.
Move to ThorSport
Despite impressive results, Garcia and MHR did not stay together for a second full season. While Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Dye joined the team as full-time drivers, while Garcia moved to the defending championship team of ThorSport Racing to take over their No. 13 Ford F-150.
“To have the chance to race for a championship organization like ThorSport Racing is huge for me,” Garcia said of the move. “I’m extremely excited for this opportunity and cannot wait to get the 2024 season started.”
2024 was a struggle for Garcia. A season with only two top-10s relegated him to 17th in the standings. Despite the difficult season, Garcia retained the No. 13 for 2025. The decision to stay together was rewarded with a first postseason appearance. That year the team earned three poles, two top-fives, 10 top-10s, and a 10th-place finish in the points.
Notably, two victories slipped through the third-year driver’s fingers due to fuel strategy from Tyler Ankrum at Rockingham Speedway and a mechanical failure in the fall Bristol Motor Speedway race. Runs like these, combined with the potential he has shown, made it an easy call for the driver/team combination to reunite in 2026.
2026 Season
The 21-year-old’s third season for ThorSport started with a number switch. Ty Majeski moving to the No. 88 left the No. 98 open. Garcia’s 2026 regular season was a regression from 2025, causing him to miss the Chase. Surprisingly, he entered the Chase without a single top-five on the season.
“It’s a really good opportunity to be able to drive for ThorSport,” Garcia said. “Last year, all my teammates were champions so you obviously can get it done at ThorSport, so there was a bit of pressure to perform to that level. Obviously, we as a team have been in kind of a slump these past couple years.”
Garcia placed third in practice the Chase opener at Bristol, but a rained-out qualifying forced him to start 12th. After finishing fourth in both stages, Garcia made his way to the front and held off charges from Stewart Friesen and Bayley Currey to secure his first career victory and shake ThorSport’s two-year slump.
“It’s just surreal. Doing the burnout, doing the interview on the front stretch, going to victory lane. All that stuff is really cool, it’s really cool to check all that off the bucket list,” Garcia said. “It’s really cool to be able to say you did it. After all this time having not gotten a win, it wears on you a bit. We’ve been really close a handful of times but just haven’t had things go our way. Tonight, everything went well for us.”
Looking Forward
Garcia has six more chances in 2026 to replicate his Bristol success. “It feels good to get a win and know you can beat the best,” he said after the win. Garcia is the defending Kansas Speedway pole winner and finished third and sixth last season at Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway respectively. Looking ahead to 2027, Garcia will likely return for a fifth year in the Truck Series. If he does, he stands a strong chance of returning to the postseason. If his win at Bristol proves not to be an isolated event, he could even contend for the championship.
