{"id":42964,"date":"2025-07-06T08:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T08:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42964\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T08:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T08:58:11","slug":"supercars-news-jack-perkins-reflects-on-brutal-nascar-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42964\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Jack Perkins reflects on brutal NASCAR debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u2018Disappointed\u2019Jack Perkins in the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra.<\/p>\n

A regular in Supercars as a co-driver, Perkins was given a late call to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in the second-division series \u2013 getting an early debut ahead of a pre-planned Portland race.<\/a><\/p>\n

He stunned in practice with the fourth fastest time before qualifying fifth, 0.840s away from pole position winner Shane van Gisbergen.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, his hopes of a solid showing in the race were dashed when JR Motorsports\u2019 Sammy Smith tipped the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra into a spin and backwards into a concrete wall.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Speedcafe post-race, Perkins explained the circumstances that led up to the untimely incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor whatever reason, when they put the car back into race trim after qualifying we were really struggling through Turn 1 and Turn 6, the two left-handers. They call it \u2018tight\u2019 here, but I just had massive understeer,\u201d said Perkins, who was classified 32nd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to change the brake bias and get some more performance out of it through those two left-handers, but it was making me very vulnerable into Turn 1 and into Turn 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see, and didn\u2019t have any call from the spotter, that someone was up the inside. I looked in the mirror, he (Smith) wasn\u2019t on the inside and I got tagged in the back and spun around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just disappointing. Just didn\u2019t need to happen at that stage of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Jack Perkins wrecked in devastating NASCAR debut<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perkins suffered significant damage to his Toyota Supra stock car, which relegated him to the pit lane for repairs.<\/p>\n

He returned to the race but suffered a left rear puncture due as a hangover from the damage. In the end, he wound up four laps down on race winner van Gisbergen.<\/p>\n

Perkins said the crash wasn\u2019t a great surprise to his Joe Gibbs Racing team or teammates, who said they had been on the receiving end of incidents from the same driver all season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to lots of guys since. Ty Gibbs rang me and said, \u2018Hey, you know, it\u2019s just the Xfinity Series and there are some idiots out there\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a shame that happened to us. Obviously, we\u2019ve travelled a long way and put a lot of effort together and pulled a heap of Australian sponsors together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to roll around because that guy ended up finishing fifth and if we finished fifth we would have been over the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t unscramble the egg now and it is what it is. So the positives are that we were fast in and we really love working with the Joe Gibbs team and it puts us in a great spot now for Portland. We go to Portland with a view of being very, very competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

A look at the incident involving @jack_perkins<\/a> \u2026 as well as issues for his teammate, @WilliamSawalich<\/a>. pic.twitter.com\/F4Ipwx3pjm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) July 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That practice and qualifying pace is reason for optimism, especially given the Portland race will not feature Chicago winner van Gisbergen.<\/p>\n

Perkins said he went into the weekend without any expectations but was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to sort of set your goals at professional motor racing level. It\u2019s very rare that you go to a race and you\u2019ve never driven the car, so that was just so hard to get your head around setting any expectations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I could probably look at all the previous results at Chicago, I thought if I could get within six or seven tenths of Shane, that that\u2019s probably not a bad effort. I reckon I\u2019m probably half a second off him in Australia, so that\u2019s sort of what I thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just didn\u2019t get the most out of it in qualifying, unfortunately. On the first run, I just underdrove the car and then you don\u2019t get to change tyres, you\u2019ve gotta try and let them cool down and go again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I went again and went quicker and drove it better, but just didn\u2019t have the tyre underneath me. I would love to do qualifying again. I think we would have been second or third if we had a chance, but we didn\u2019t, and we can\u2019t predict that.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously to be fifth on the grid on NASCAR debut was a really cool feeling. Just disappointing. We wanted to have a clean race and we didn\u2019t get that, but we got to the checkered flag and it gave us good mileage for the next race we\u2019re doing in the original one we had planned in Portland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins will return to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing on August 31 (AEST) for the Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland.<\/p>\n