DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With under 10 laps to go in the Fresh from Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night (Feb. 14), there was an unfamiliar name at the top of the leaderboard: Gio Ruggiero.
In his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut, the 18-year-old from Massachusetts was looking to become the sixth driver in series history to win their debut.
Ruggiero ultimately lost the lead coming to four laps to go and was rooted out of the lead pack. But he made up ground in the last few laps and survived a last-lap wreck to take the checkered flag in third. Parker Kligerman‘s disqualification from the win moved Ruggiero to second in the results.
“Stuff happens quick here,” Ruggiero said. “I was leading that pack for a couple laps, and I think five to go is when I lost the lead there. But I knew it was coming, I knew they were going to have lines forming up like crazy. I’m just glad we could hang on and have a strong finish and clean truck there for the end.”
For those who follow the ARCA Menards Series, Ruggiero is no stranger. He finished third in the ARCA Menards Series East standings last year, winning at Five Flags Speedway. He additionally raced in half of the main series races, finishing on the podium in half of those.
But none of those starts had been on a superspeedway. Ruggiero had only made one start at a track over one mile in size: Kansas Speedway last fall.
“This is my first time on a superspeedway in anything, so it was a lot of stuff for me to take in tonight,” Ruggiero said. “Drafting in the pack, side drafting and leading the pack as well, so I definitely learned a lot for Atlanta.”
Despite that lack of experience, the TRICON Garage driver’s goal on Friday was “to win.”
Ruggiero started the race in 34th after a flat tire in qualifying. He also had one early in the race that he had to overcome.
“That’s why we didn’t get out front till later,” Ruggiero said.
He and TRICON teammate Toni Breidinger got together to cause a lap 17 caution. Despite all that, he scored stage points in the first stage and found himself in the lead on lap 74 of the 100-lap event.
Ruggiero led 11 laps total, followed closely by TRICON teammate Tanner Gray.
“He did a good job,” Gray told Frontstretch. “We put a lot of preparation into coming here and executing, and I feel like, for the most part, we did that.
“Probably need to clean up a few things here and there, but all in all, I felt like we worked together really good together as a group. Really fun to be able to have teammates lined up right there and have a shot at a win.”
His other TRICON teammate and race winner Corey Heim also sang praises of Ruggiero after the race, saying, “I feel like the [No.] 17 did a great job there at the end to kind of put ourselves in position.”
Team co-owner David Gilliland was at Ruggiero’s truck almost immediately after the race to greet his new driver.
“He [Gilliland] just told me I did a great job and he’s proud of me,” Ruggiero said. “I want more, but the whole team does, and I think we’re going to get better every week this year. And I think we’re gonna be in contention for some wins soon.”
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
Excellent journalism good read on this kid Ruggiero he’s going to be a name we are going to be hearing more of.