Gio Ruggiero took late charge in Saturday’s Window World 250, scoring a seventh-place run. (Photo Credit: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Gio Ruggiero’s first 10 races in his 2025 rookie campaign for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series have been nothing short of consistent and impressive, continuing his efforts with a seventh-place finish in Saturday’s Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The 18-year-old rookie out of Seekonk, Massachusetts, took the honors of the highest finishing Toyota in the field after his TRICON Garage teammate Corey Heim went spinning off Turn 2 on the final lap, allowing Ruggiero to scoot past to score his fifth top 10 of 2025.
Ruggiero kicked off the 250-lap event from the fourth spot alongside Sammy Smith after the lineup had been set by the NASCAR metric due to weather affecting qualifying.
The driver of the No. 17 Toyota Tundra made immediate work of both Spire Motorsports trucks of Smith and Kyle Busch, running in the tracks of his teammate Heim, who had checked out on the rest of the field by a large margin early in the first 80-lap stage.
After the first caution of the event was declared due to a stalled Tyler Tomassi on the backstretch, most of the field opted to make their first pit stops of the race, including the race leader, Heim. However, Ruggiero and the No. 17 team chose to remain on the track for the final 20 laps of the stage, taking a gamble to maximize their stage points for the day.
Ruggiero was able to hustle on older tires for the remainder of the stage, holding off Heim and Stewart Friesen for his first career Truck Series stage victory, picking up 10 points along with his first playoff point of 2025.
After the stage break, Ruggiero came in for service aboard his No. 17, restarting in 16th place for the beginning of Stage 2, playing catch-up for the majority of the stage, finishing 15th after the conclusion of Stage 2.
Corey Heim (No.11) leads over Gio Ruggiero (No.17) and Kyle Busch (No. 07) early in the Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. (Photo Credit: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
Ruggiero geared up for the final sprint of the event, restarting in 10th, picking off trucks one by one slowly but surely as he worked his way closer to the inside of the top 5 with just under 90 laps to go.
Ruggiero moved up to third place after the fourth caution of the day, but began to slide back toward the lower end of the top ten. With six laps remaining in the race, Brent Crews, who was making his debut as Ruggiero’s teammate, was spun out, setting the stage for an exciting battle to the finish.
As the race entered NASCAR overtime, Ruggiero found himself in front of another spinning TRICON Garage truck, driven by Heim, as the white flag waved. He narrowly avoided the spinning No. 11, managing to ride through the final two turns to secure a seventh-place finish.
“I felt like we were good there in the beginning and just fought hard.” Said Ruggiero after his strong effort throughout the afternoon. “Strategy could have played out a little differently for us there. Had a lot of cautions there at the end. I’m just proud of all of the guys. I felt like we had a strong First Auto Group Tundra and had a lot of speed.”
“Probably should have finished up in the top-five, but the way the strategy worked out for us there at the end, we got passed by a couple of guys with newer tires. Another top-10 for us to build off of, going into the next one.”
Ruggiero currently leads the Sunoco Rookie Of The Year standings, sitting 12th in the Truck Series points as the season continues onto Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 23, for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Coverage of the event will air live on FS1 at 8:30 pm EST, NASCAR Racing Network, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
