Gio Ruggiero soldiers to runner-up finish for Tricon in Truck Series debut

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Gio Ruggiero was sitting 10th in the middle of the pack three-wide midway down the Daytona backstretch on the final lap. Half a lap later, Ruggiero finished second in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut.

Driving the No. 17 Toyota for Tricon Garage, the 18-year-old recovered from losing the lead late and avoided the carnage around him in the final mile of Friday’s Fresh from Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway for a top-five finish in his inaugural truck start. Ruggiero was third on track when the yellow flag waved with the checkered, but Parker Kligerman’s No. 75 truck failed post-race inspection after measuring too low on both sides of the rear of the vehicle, bumping Corey Heim from runner-up to winner and Ruggiero into second place — a sudden 1-2 finish for Tricon Garage.

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Ruggiero, the Seekonk, Mass., native, led 11 laps Friday but was shuffled from the top spot with five laps remaining. Bayley Currey surged the inside lane forward past Ruggiero before Ruggiero’s Tricon teammates Tanner Gray and Heim decided they needed to work past Ruggiero too. But through guidance from spotter Frankie Kimmel II, Ruggiero stayed in the game, missed multiple wrecks through the final set of corners and persevered.

“Stuff happens quick here, and I was leading that pack for a couple of laps,” Ruggiero said. “And I think five to go is when I lost the lead there. But I knew it was coming. I knew they were going to have lines forming up and it was going to get crazy. So I’m just glad we could hang on and have a strong finish and a clean truck there for the end.

“My spotter, Frankie Kimmel, this was my real first race with him other than our race last year, and I thought he did a great job helping me and coaching me tonight. I just dragged brake and tried to keep the guys behind me tucked up and pushing me.”

Tricon Garage owner David Gilliland was thrilled seeing the immediate results from one of his two full-time rookie drivers in Friday’s season opener — but he wasn’t surprised. Ruggiero’s background stems mainly from Late Model racing on his way through the racing ladder but moved to the stock car ranks in 2024 with 10 ARCA Menards Series starts.

“From the Rockingham test to him being around the shop, I’ve been super, super impressed with his demeanor and his attitude,” Gilliland told NASCAR.com. “Today, he impressed me, but really, 0% shocked at what he accomplished today. Really proud. He had a lot of adversity thrown at him today.”

Indeed, Ruggiero had a flat tire during his qualifying run Friday and subsequently had another flat early in Friday’s 100-lap contest.

“A lot of these young kids can come out here and go fast,” Gilliland said. “But to execute and put a whole race together … he never got panicked, never nothing. Just very, very proud of him. Very proud of our team. Tricon Garage executed very, very well as a team today. I was just talking to our guys — from our crew chiefs communicating to our drivers to spotters, everybody working together is tough. I was very proud of everybody at our team.”

Heim, a championship threat in each of the past two Truck Series campaigns, locked into the playoffs once again, this time via a win in the opening race. But on Friday, he couldn’t help but notice how well Ruggiero adapted to the unique challenge of superspeedway racing.

“For Gio’s first race, I think he did a great job,” Heim said. “There’s definitely a lot to work on in general, but I mean he’s fresh out of late models and a part-time ARCA schedule. I can’t expect him to be perfect. To be able to put himself in position at the end of the race is impressive, along with Tanner and William (Sawalich) as well. This is by far the best the organization has worked together which is pretty surprising because there’s a lot of rookies. But regardless, proud of Tricon Garage.”

Next is Atlanta Motor Speedway on Feb. 22 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Ruggiero will attempt to go for a second straight top five to kick off his Truck Series career.

“It’s really good momentum headed into the year, and as well to Atlanta being another superspeedway next weekend,” Ruggiero said. “But, like my old super late model team owner Donnie Wilson used to tell me, (if) you finish in the top five, then the top threes will come. You finish in the top three, then the wins will come. So if we can keep building off this, we’ll get a win soon.”