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FORT WORTH, Texas – Nick Sanchez led 168 of 172 laps at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday (April 1), but his bid for his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win ended in heartbreaking fashion after a crash on the final lap.
A day with potential for a title finish for the No. 2 Rev Racing team ended with a heavy car total and a disappointing 16th place finish.
The 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion looks like a veteran of the truck series in his five career starts, winning his first race at Daytona International Speedway and then taking his second pole at Texas on Friday (March 31).
And for the event (almost) the No. 2 truck was untouched.
Sanchez was flawless on every restart as he put himself into the lead and stretched a wide gap over the rest of the field. And for Christian Ickes, Zane Smith and Ben Rhodes – the fastest trucks behind Sanchez – that’s all the race looked like: a battle for second.
That is, until the last step.
Sanchez took the lead for the restart with 45 laps to go but Smith was on him and looking for a way around. The No. 38 truck started the race in 18th but quickly worked its way into the points pole to give Sanchez his biggest test of the day.
The final stage was followed by caution after caution, most notably Dean Thompson’s crash on lap 144. Thompson was sent to a local hospital for further evaluation, but later tweeted that he was doing well and undergoing scans.
With each pass reset, Smith came closer to turning to Sanchez. Two more cautions forced overtime, and when the white flag waved to finish 171, Sanchez beat Smith by just nine one-thousandths of a second.
Heading into Turn 1 for the final time of the afternoon, Sanchez and Smith met. Sanchez clipped the grass and nearly went out, but managed to keep the car upright. The contact slowed him down, and Carson Hocevar moved into the back of the No. 2. Sanchez then spun the track and took Smith and Akes with him.
The sea parted for Hossevar, who scored the first victory in his track career.
Leading all but four rounds and failing to win would have been a tough pill to swallow for anyone, let alone a driver looking for his first win. But despite the frustration, Sanchez was able to take solace in how dominant he was.
“I’m proud of my team,” Sanchez said. “We dominated all day, and that’s something to be proud of. I’m still getting used to these trucks, so it’s only going to get better. I look at the positives from the day and go into the next with the same mindset.”
Sanchez says he’s not the first (or last) driver to walk away empty-handed after asserting dominance, and says all that’s left to do is focus on how to improve next time.
“It’s racing,” Sanchez said. “That’s part of it, as there are many other people in the racing world who have done the same thing and come up short. All I can do is step back and look at what I can do better and what I can control.
Another sad end for Reeve Racing and the No. 2 team is that the car that was part of the field could be sent straight to the scrap yard.
“I think [the truck’s] Write one, that thing is so tired,” Sanchez said. But I guess good about my team [is that we’ll] Rebuild them better, rebuild them faster.
“I don’t like to see how hard it is to build a car because I’m angry because I tore it up. [wrecked]; I love seeing them in victory lane.”
With an impressive start to the season, Sanchez is looking forward to the upcoming weekend.
“We will continue to build from it and continue to chase wins.”
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