Gio Ruggiero entered Daytona International Speedway without one thing that most of his Truck Series contemporaries had: experience.
The Seekonk, Massachusetts native signed on to replace Taylor Gray in TRICON Garage’s No. 17 entry and contend for Rookie of the Year honors in the series. Of the 36 drivers to successfully qualify for the season-opening event, only Ruggiero and Nathan Byrd had no National Series superspeedway experience. Ruggiero was also the only driver in the field making his Truck Series debut.
On top of that, in Ruggiero’s limited experience in the ARCA Menards Series, drafting tracks were not a part of it, with the largest oval under his belt being Kansas Speedway.
Thus, going into Thursday’s scheduled practice session for the series, Ruggiero needed all the reps he could get to get accustomed to not just a new vehicle, but to a brand new kind of racing for him, which also included live pit stops for the first time.
As luck would have it, though, rain caused practice to be canceled, leaving his first lap in a truck to be in the qualifying session the following day: race day.
As Ruggiero went out to set a time, he had a tire slowly going flat, causing him to post a slow time and start 34th out of 36 trucks.
Despite all the adversity thrown his way, none of it fazed Ruggiero at all. His first experience in the draft turned out to be the first lap of his Truck Series debut, but his race performance was that of a seasoned veteran.
Ruggiero scored stage points in the first segment, led 11 laps, the third most of any driver, and brought home what was originally a third place finish after leading late in the race.
“Stuff happens quick here”, Ruggiero said post-race. I was leading that pack for a couple laps, and I think five or six to go is when I lost the lead there. I knew it was coming, and I knew they were going to have lines forming up and that it was going to get crazy. I’m just glad we could hang on and have a strong finish and a good truck there at the end”.
With the disqualification to race winner Parker Kligerman, Ruggiero was elevated to the runner-up spot, just behind his TRICON Garage teammate Corey Heim.
“It feels good”, Ruggiero exclaimed. “Was looking for more there. But it’s Daytona and everybody is trying to win. I had a blast tonight. These TRICON Garage [Toyota] Tundras are so fast. The whole team performed really well. Everything is pretty new for me doing live pit stops and all but I’m looking forward to the season and looking forward to Atlanta”.
Whether Kligerman’s DQ appeal is successful or not, Ruggiero still accrued enough points to leave Daytona with the Rookie of the Year standings lead. With a rookie class that includes reigning ARCA Menards Series champion Andres Perez de Lara, Frankie Muniz, late model standout Dawson Sutton, ARCA veteran Toni Breidinger, and Connor Mosack, the 18 year-old will have his work cut out for him to maintain that lead throughout the year. Of the rookies in this season’s class, Ruggiero is the only one without a Truck Series start prior to this season.
“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”.
Ruggiero will have another opportunity to gain more superspeedway reps this weekend, as the Truck Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for its second race of the young season. Ruggiero and the rest of the field will take the green at 1:30 PM EST on Saturday, February 22, and the race will be broadcast on FS1, Sirius XM Radio, and MRN Radio.
