Truckin’ Thursdays: Jake Garcia Finding Rhythm Again in Lucky No. 13

In 2023, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing expanded to two full-time entries in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

After several seasons with Derek Kraus driving the No. 19, MHR replaced Kraus with Christian Eckes in its flagship truck.

For its second truck, the No. 35, MHR tapped rookie Jake Garcia to drive the truck full-time. Despite this, Garcia was forced to sit out for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway due to not yet turning 18 years old. He was shown by Cup Series veteran Chase Elliott that he was going to drive a hot rod for 2023, as Elliott brought the truck home 10th to start the year.

And it certainly was fast. Garcia immediately went out and captured a top 10 in his first start of 2023 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Garcia posted an impressive stat line for a rookie in 2023 — three top fives and nine top 10s in 22 starts, coming home second in the Rookie of the Year standings (behind Nick Sanchez, who made the playoffs) and securing a respectable 13th in the final point standings.

To date, 2023 was when he earned his career-best finish — in the disastrous championship race at Phoenix Raceway, Garcia finished second behind teammate Eckes to give MHR a one-two finish.

The number 13 was a sign of things to come for Garcia, as it was announced he was leaving MHR at season’s end and joining ThorSport Racing in 2024, driving the No. 13. Garcia was replacing Hailie Deegan, who moved up to the Xfinity Series for (what was supposed to be) a full-time run.

That No. 13 proved to be very unlucky for Garcia in his sophomore season, as he was only able to muster two top 10s and zero top fives — a mere shell of the stats he put up in his rookie season. It looked as if a once-promising career for the now-20-year-old was going to flame out before it even had a real chance to take off.

Fortunately for Garcia and his team, 2025 seems to be a turnaround for the No. 13 team — for Garcia, he seems to be reverting back to his rookie self.

In just five races, Garcia has already matched his 2024 top 10 total, and added a top five onto the tally in the most recent race at Martinsville Speedway — his first top five since that Phoenix runner-up in 2023.

Garcia sits ninth in points after five races — in 2024, he was 14th after five races, a measured improvement for team No. 13. It appears that Garcia has found some sort of rhythm again, and could potentially be one to watch as a first-time winner in 2025 if he keeps this pace up.

As it stands, Garcia is on track to do something he hasn’t done before in his young career — make the playoffs. Even if he isn’t able to find victory lane, he’s in a position now where he can point his way in if he continues to have the speed he’s had so far. Sure, we’re still only five races in — there are 13 more races to decide who will be the 10 drivers that compete for the 2025 championship.

But humor me for a second — if Garcia can maintain his performance and make the playoffs, even if he doesn’t take home a checkered flag, that’ll be dangerous.

Why, you might ask?

Well, consider ThorSport’s recent history of titles dating back to Matt Crafton in 2019. Each year ThorSport has won a championship since 2019 (2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024), it’s come at the expense of a much more dominant driver that season.

If Garcia reaches the playoffs without reaching victory lane, look out — the trend of ThorSport snatching championships might just continue with perhaps its biggest upset driver of them all.

But let’s come back to the present instead of worrying about hypothetical future.

The season is already off to a much better start for Garcia and the No. 13 team — and as it stands he’s on pace to have a career year. There’s no doubt that 2024 likely shook his confidence, but slowly but surely he’s gaining it back as we roll on in 2025.

And as we all know, a confident driver is a poised driver and a poised driver is able to succeed with the right resources around him.

Perhaps the No. 13 isn’t so unlucky after all?

Truckin’ Tidbits

• By now you’ve probably seen the … um, mess … that was the Xfinity race at Martinsville. It’s a good time to remind everybody that the Truck Series has gone 19-straight races without an overtime finish. The record, 20, was set in 2017. That Phoenix 2023 race really sent a wake-up call to the Truck Series — perhaps the Xfinity Series needs a similar awakening. As of right now, the Truck Series is the cleanest-racing series in NASCAR — a statement that wouldn’t even have been thought about prior to Phoenix 2023.
• Speaking of that Xfinity race, what does Taylor Gray have to do to win a NASCAR race? Martinsville wasn’t the first time Gray has been moved for a victory — he’s had two truck wins snatched from him. At Martinsville last fall, Gray was moved by Eckes for the win, taking him out of a chance at his first career victory and a Championship 4 berth. In 2022, Gray was on track to perhaps steal a win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park before getting dumped by John Hunter Nemechek. All three instances have seen Gray race relatively clean, only to get dumped. That win is coming for the younger Gray.
• The penalty report this week just had one Truck Series offender — Rajah Caruth, whose No. 71 team was fined $2,500 for a loose lug nut after the race at Martinsville. It feels like this is far from the first time Caruth’s name has popped up as a loose lug nut offender. That No. 71 pit crew needs to tighten things up over there — literally.
• Black’s Tire, the entitlement sponsor for the Truck Series’ return to Rockingham, will sponsor the elder Gray, Tanner, in the same race. Extra pressure has now been placed on Gray as he tries to deliver a win (his first career win, at that) to his sponsor who’s also sponsoring the whole dang show.