Jake Garcia Secures Hometown Pole for Truck Race at EchoPark Speedway

In his homestate of Georgia, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Jake Garcia will be leading the field to green in the series' second event of the season, the Fr8 208 at EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway).

Garcia, who this season moved over to the Mike Curb co-owned No. 98 Ford F-150, laid down an absolute heater in the final round of single-truck qualifying from the 1.54-mile superspeedway-adjacent racetrack, earning him his fourth career pole in the NASCAR Truck Series -- and his first on a superspeedway.

With a blazing lap time of 32.049 seconds (172.985mph), Garcia quickly sprung to the top of the speed charts in the final round of single-truck qualifying from EchoPark Speedway, after being eighth-fastest in the first round.

That Georgia crowd gets to see one of their own lead the field to green tomorrow!! pic.twitter.com/wXkK7WJWTE
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) February 20, 2026

“It’s huge to start out front here at Atlanta. I think it’s hard to pass, so if you can control a lane, you can put yourself in a good position to get stage points,” Garcia told FOX Sports. “It’s really special to start on the pole here, it’s a home track for me, and I’m excited to lead the field to the green.”

Ben Rhodes, a teammate of Garcia of ThorSport Racing, will start alongside Garcia on the front row for Saturday's event at EchoPark Speedway. Rhodes was the quickest driver in the first round of qualifying and looked poised to put the No. 99 Ford F-150 on the pole for the first time since last February.

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, running his first of eight races in the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, will start from third-place on Saturday,

Tyler Ankrum and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. rounded out the top-five qualifiers for Saturday's first race in an EchoPark Speedway doubleheader. Cole Butcher, Ty Majeski, Adam Andretti (making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut), Andres Perez De Lara, and Gio Ruggiero rounded out the top-10.

Chandler Smith, winner of the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway, qualified an uncharacteristic 22nd for Saturday's event, just three spots behind his teammate Layne Riggs. The two drivers are joined outside the top-10 by several notables including Kaden Honeycutt (11th), John Hunter Nemechek (12th), Daniel Hemric (13th), Grant Enfinger (14th), Christian Eckes (15th), Stewart Friesen (16th), and many others.

With only 36 trucks entered in Saturday's Fr8 208 at EchoPark Speedway, all drivers that showed up to the racetrack wil be able to take the green flag in the event, despite the fact that four drivers (Caleb Costner, Tyler Tomassi, Justin Carroll, and Clayton Green) all failed to turn a qualifying lap.

The Fr8 208 will take place Saturday at 1:30 PM ET on FS1.

FR8 208 Starting Lineup:

1. #98 Jake Garcia
2. #99 Ben Rhodes
3. #7 Kyle Busch
4. #18 Tyler Ankrum
5. #45 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
6. #13 Cole Butcher [R]
7. #88 Ty Majeski
8. #5 Adam Andretti
9. #44 Andres Perez De Lara
10. #17 Gio Ruggiero
11. #11 Kaden Honeycutt
12. #62 John Hunter Nemechek
13. #19 Daniel Hemric
14. #9 Grant Enfinger
15. #91 Christian Eckes
16. #52 Stewart Friesen
17. #15 Tanner Gray
18. #77 Carson Hocevar
19. #34 Layne Riggs
20. #1 Corey Heim
21. #81 Kris Wright
22. #38 Chandler Smith
23. #26 Dawson Sutton
24. #76 Spencer Boyd
25. #16 Justin Haley
26. #25 Ty Dillon
27. #42 Tyler Reif
28. #12 Brenden Queen [R]
29. #14 Mini Tyrrell [R]
30. #10 Daniel Dye
31. #22 Josh Reaume
32. #33 Frankie Muniz
33. #2 Clayton Green
34. #69 Tyler Tomassi
35. #90 Justin Carroll
36. #93 Caleb Costner