On Friday (Feb. 13), Gio Ruggiero came close to winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, finishing runner-up.
On Saturday in the ARCA Menards Series opener at Daytona, he finished one spot better, winning for the first time in his national series career.
“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Ruggiero told FOX Sports after climbing victoriously out of his No. 18 Toyota. “Obviously, I wanted to win last night and came up short so got one more to win in the afternoon.
“Yeah, for sure, it got hectic there at the end. I was just trying to push our lane forward, and the No. 15 [Jake Finch] just got squirrely in front of me and lost it. So, that kind of is unfortunate for him, but glad we came out with the win.”
Ruggiero led six laps in the 84-lap race, but he led the most important one to become a winner at Daytona.
“Yeah, it’s awesome,” he continued. “I wanted to do a bigger burnout for the fans, but didn’t want to tear the car up too much. So, just happy to be here.”
Jake Bollman finished second, driving up from starting deep in the field due to his No. 20 Toyota failing inspection after qualifying.
Kole Raz finished third, his career-best main series finish.
Daniel Dye and Glen Reen completed the top five in fourth and fifth. Jack Wood, Jason Kitzmiller, Ryan Vargas, Bobby Dale Earnhardt and Andy Jankowiak rounded out the top 10 in sixth through 10th, respectively.
A year after the 2025 season opener featured seven cautions with a multitude of torn-up racecars, the 2026 edition was much cleaner as the largest caution only took out two drivers.
Nitro Motorsports brought six Toyotas to the race, but Bollman was the only one who finished in the top 10. Gus Dean and Finch arguably had the fastest two cars, but they wrecked late, sending the race into a one-lap green-white-checkered overtime finish.
Nitro troubles began with Wesley Slimp suffering a blown tire, which drew the caution, then subsequent troubles afterward. He wound up 38 laps down in 35th.
Slimp didn’t finish the worst of the Nitro stable, however.
Isabella Robusto endured an up-and-down 2025 season, including six DNFs. Her 2025 was emblematic of her beginning to the 2026 season. She led 11 laps, most by a female in ARCA competition since 1989. Yet a mechanical gremlin ended her race after 42 laps, a disappointing 37th-place result.
Bollman, Robusto and Thomas Annunziata are the three-full time Nitro drivers. Annunziata began the race 31st, and while he drove toward the front, he too wasn’t spared from misfortune, as a bump-gone-wrong from Kitzmiller sent him into the wall.
Ruggiero captured the victory, but he will step out of the No. 18 for the series next race at Phoenix Raceway as Max Reaves will begin his slate piloting that Toyota.
ARCA Results from Daytona
ARCA drivers next travel west to Phoenix Raceway. That will take place on Thursday, March 5, at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.
Nothing mentioned about driver Taylor Reimer again in this column,, this is the driver to watch in ARCA SERIES and elsewhere in the future, if mechanical problems had not hit her, she would have had another great consistent finish