FORT WORTH, Texas — On Friday (May 2) afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, it rained. A lot.
Practice and qualifying for both the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series were cancelled by the wet weather, and that night’s Truck race was an attrition marathon with 11 cautions and 12 crash DNFs.
Nearly half the DNFs were the result of drivers destroying their truck’s splitters after accidently clipping the wet tri-oval grass.
The biggest incident of them all occurred on lap 31, when Truck rookie Gio Ruggiero tried to go three-wide and clipped the grass entering turn 1, which triggered a violent wreck that collected Kaden Honeycutt and Brandon Jones.
This incident brings out the yellow on Lap 31. pic.twitter.com/Niroxbadcc
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 3, 2025
“Kind of misjudged my run there on my part, being off to the right of [Carson] Hocevar there,” Ruggiero explained. “Tried to set myself up to have a run and get underneath them, go into [turn] 1 and make a pass. Just too aggressive turning down there and just clipped [the grass] just enough to wear it. Obviously, after that, I lost control and had no brakes to slow it down after that.”
“Everyone’s just being so aggressive, and there’s no reason for it and I don’t understand it,” a frustrated Honeycutt said. “That kid (Ruggiero) has way more awareness than that and I expect more.
“I’m pissed and because this is my home race, this was [Niece Motorsports’] 10th year as a company, and we wrecked out on lap freaking 30 [because] of a kid hitting the grass in the infield and destroying a race truck.”
Layne Riggs was next, as his truck was totaled after the splitter dug into the grass during a spin toward the infield. Matt Mills also crashed through the grass in overtime, and he clipped the grass and damaged the splitter in an eerily similar manner to Ruggiero.
Layne Riggs is done for the night after this slide through (and into) the wet grass in Texas. #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/vKDH1D40zL
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 3, 2025
It’s rare, but it happens, even at NASCAR’s highest level. Erik Jones destroyed his splitter after attempting a pass in the grass in the 2017 All-Star Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. totaled his car after clipping the grass in the early laps of the 2014 spring Texas race.
“We’ve seen a couple of guys do it throughout the years, but I do think not having any practice or qualifying probably hurt the younger guys that have no experience here, just because whenever you’re following guys through the dog leg, it definitely makes it tough to see and know where you’re at,” Christopher Bell said. “So I can see how that happens for sure.”
Despite the issues on Friday, multiple Cup drivers weren’t concerned about the grass or accidently clipping it for Sunday’s (May 4) Wurth 400. The current forecast — knock on wood — calls for no precipitation the rest of the weekend, so the grass should be drier and less likely to catch the front end of cars.
“I think the race last year here, it didn’t rain, right?” Bubba Wallace said. “But you could see people running through it just barely, like maybe half a tire width. I think because it rained, it’s just soft and it digs in.”
And, unlike last night’s trucks, the Next Gen’s splitter is higher off the ground, giving the cars more leeway for treacherous off-road excursions.
“Not saying it’s any easier with our car, but we don’t have the splitter issues like the other cars do anymore,” Wallace said.
“The left side of the splitter is pretty low, so you wouldn’t want to do that and test it,” William Byron said. “But I think our cars, you could potentially get away with it.
“But yeah, not super worried about it. I would say you just got to pay attention where that sort of cut comes out. It’s a great place to go three-wide, guys have proven that, but it’s also a little bit sketchy.”
There’s less risk in hitting the quad oval grass for Sunday than there was on Friday, but it’s a risk nonetheless. And there’s one sure-fire way for the drivers to avoid any trouble: by staying on the pavement and not cutting through it.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf