ThorSport Racing's Jake Garcia qualified for the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs for the first time in his three-year career in 2025, and after entering as the 10th and last place driver in the playoff standings, he jumped above the round of 8 cut line with a 10th place finish in the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway.
He kept the momentum going by taking the pole position for Thursday night's middle race of the round of 10 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but it was unfortunately short-lived.
Garcia led 14 laps around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval, and he even won the first stage, but mechanical issues resulted in him finishing 31 laps down in 33rd place.
Jake Garcia faces uphill battle after dropping below cutoff
It marked his worst result of the 2025 season, the third-worst result of his career, and his worst career non-DNF result. And he is now unfortunately once again below the round of 8 cut line with only next weekend's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway remaining on the round of 10 schedule.
Moving ahead of the round of 8 cut line in Garcia's place was Halmar Friesen Racing's Kaden Honeycutt, who is now seventh in the standings.
It's Spire Motorsports' Rajah Caruth who is now in the eighth and final spot above the round of 8 cutoff, and he finds himself 14 points ahead of Garcia. Garcia is ahead of only Front Row Motorsports' Chandler Smith, who has had a disastrous start to the round of 10 and plummeted from third to 10th in points as a result.
The Team EJP 175 is set to conclude the round of 10 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and it is scheduled to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 20. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the Truck Series playoff action at FS1!