By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Despite the United Rentals 300 being postponed by rain twice, Jordan Anderson ‘rinsed and repeated’ as he stole the show in the late stages of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
Same Song, Different Verse for Anderson
On the final restart of the race at Daytona Int’l Speedway, Anderson found his No. 32 Capital City Towing / Bommarito Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro SS in the lead. The race played out much like both the 2020 and 2021 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season openers. In each, Anderson had the opportunity late-race to steal the win. The driver whose ‘life has imitated art’ ultimately settled for third.
After an excellent restart, Anderson gapped the field behind him. That allowed Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed to sweep by him. As the field wrecked behind him, the scene was reminiscent of the driver-owner’s days in the Cook Out Summer Shootout. Xfinity Series officials never waved the caution, allowing Anderson to race his teammate, Parker Retzlaff, back to the line for third.
“It does (remind me of 2020) and the 2021 race,” Anderson admitted. “I mean to come up one or two spots short of the win. When Austin pushed me, I just was like we’re going to win this thing. I just got so far out there, and I just let myself get too aggressive with it. But everything started happening back there and I saw the crash and I got forced down.
“I thought back as I joked with my spotter, I grew up running the Summer Shootout and I’ve won races and I’ve lost races at the Summer Shootout cause the caution would come out or it wouldn’t come out like you always raced back to that checkered flag. I saw some car get airborne. I’m like, I don’t care. I’m not lifting. I’m going to go for it. And me and Parker got side-by-side drag racing for third.”
Return to Form After Talladega 2022
In just his second start since a fiery crash at Talladega Superspeedway, Anderson wasn’t going to give up easily on the chance at a victory. Opting not to drag the brake to pair up with eventual winner Hill, the Forest Acres, S.C. native pulled away. That was until the draft overpowered his brief advantage. Though, the opportunity to win was just a piece of the story.
All three of the Jordan Anderson Racing (JAR) cars were up front throughout the 300-mile event at ‘The World Center of Racing.’ A late-race wreck took Jeb Burton out of contention while he, Anderson, and Retzlaff were running inside the top-10. The runs by all three drivers mark a dramatic reversal of fortunes from 2021 when the team failed to qualify for the season opener and then missed several races in which there was no qualifying.
“Final restart, I tell you the going down the backstretch also gave me that huge run, I just got too excited,” Anderson said. “I’m just not going to give it up, I’m not going to drag the brake and just got out there a little too much and didn’t know what was going to happen there. But what a night for our team too. I’ve only run one other race, at Talladega, since the crash and to come back here and to have this finish. I love the fact that the car doesn’t have a scratch on and that might be my favorite part.
“Parker sitting here clean, Jeb ran great all night, but just a testament to our little team that’s growing. We’re getting bigger. We’ve got great partners. We’ve got an incredible team of guys that build some racecars that are not only fast, but they stay together. 2024 is going to be a great year for us. We probably worked harder this offseason than we did last year, we’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep digging.
“This is a huge jolt on the arm. I mean, up until about a week ago, I didn’t have a sponsor for my car. And John Bommarito, my partner, stepped up. Capital City Towing stepped up and it was just so cool to come out here. And I told the guys the radio, I said I didn’t put a scratch on it. So maybe you guys will let me bring it back out of Talladega here later this year.”
Momentum Building
To date, JAR has one victory, at Talladega with Burton last year. The team that Anderson once owned is almost a distant memory in comparison to its’ strength today. The days of pulling a gooseneck trailer with a dually pickup truck is long gone, but the memories remain.
It’s those memories and the success that JAR has achieved that leaves Anderson wanting more. With a pair of top-five finishes to start the season, the team is poised to continue its’ upward trajectory.
“We want more wins, we got a taste of it at Talladega and for me to be able to get out here and race with these guys, Anderson said.” “We’re coming take a restart and I see Jeb up there, I see Parker there, I’m like ‘I can’t believe this opportunity, this life.’ You know what this thing is growing into?
“I remember my dad and I standing behind me here, him and I, driving down here in the dually gooseneck trailer. I mean, that wasn’t more than seven or eight years ago, and we were struggling just to get through tech and to be here today with a third place, fourth place with our other car. I don’t know where Jeb ended up, but I’m smiling here.”
Next for the 32-year-old and his teams is the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 24 on Fox Sports 1. The race will also be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.