Jason Kitzmiller was hoping for a chance to make his NASCAR National Series debut, as he was entered into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway in the No. 97 CR7 Motorsports entry. However, Kitzmiller’s dream came to a skidding end in the early moments of Thursday’s opening practice.
A CR7 Motorsports team representative has confirmed to TobyChristie.com that the No. 97 team will not move to a backup truck and are done for the weekend.
Kitzmiller, 48, who was just in front of a large pack of trucks, lost control of his truck heading through the tri-oval, just after completing his first lap in practice. After clocking a lap of 178.175 mph, Kitzmiller clipped the grass, and went hard into the wall, obliterating his No. 97 truck.
Luckily, the rest of the screaming pack was able to avoid Kitzmiller who came to a stop on the frontstretch.
The West Virginia-native has made 13 starts in the ARCA Menard Series over the last two seasons. Kitzmiller has racked up three top-10 finishes in those 13 starts, and was an intriguing story to watch heading into Daytona.
If Kitzmiller is to make a NASCAR National Series start someday, it’ll have to wait as his bid to run the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona is over.