DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There was plenty of significance behind Gio Ruggiero’s victory Saturday in the General Tire 200 at Daytona International Speedway.

Not only was it Ruggiero’s first triumph in the national ARCA Menards Series, but it also marked the first time Joe Gibbs Racing prevailed at Daytona on the platform.

RELATED: Complete results from the General Tire 200

Joe Gibbs Racing has emerged as one of the most efficient ARCA Menards Series programs during the 2020s with multiple victories and championships, but Daytona was a track that had consistently eluded them. Now the organization has an ARCA Menards Series win added to its long list of Daytona accomplishments that includes four Daytona 500 trophies.

Ruggiero was no stranger to success on drafting tracks entering Saturday’s 80-lap race, having earned his maiden NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at Talladega Superspeedway last year. The comfort Ruggiero has found on drafting tracks is why he felt confident about winning the General Tire 200 in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“Obviously last year, my first ever race in the Truck Series, I finished second,” Ruggiero said. “I think there was a little bit of luck in that with the winner being DQ’d. Since then, I’ve had really strong cars and feel like I’ve just made the right moves on the superspeedways.”

Building momentum from Friday required a different approach. The runs in the draft for the General Tire 200 proved to be at an increased premium compared to the Truck Series race, but Ruggiero successfully stayed at the front of the field all day and found himself in third during the closing laps.

What stood in the way of a checkered flag for Ruggiero was the Nitro Motorsports combination of Gus Dean and Jake Finch. Dean was seeking to claim a second Daytona ARCA Menards Series victory, the first one coming at the expense of Finch with the two teammates not working with one another on a one-lap shootout.

This time around there was no misunderstanding between the two teammates, each knew the other would hold steady. On the penultimate restart, Finch controlled the bottom line as the leader, all while Dean would try to maintain the top line with the goal of delivering Nitro Motorsports a Daytona win in their second visit to the track.

Disaster struck nonetheless.

A big push from Ruggiero down the backstretch sent Finch around in the middle of the pack. The only other car that hit Finch was Dean, with both cars suffering significant damage that cost them an opportunity to win the General Tire 200.

With limited options at his disposal, Ruggiero knew his best chance was to stay glued to Finch’s back bumper and hope for a chance to pull out of line before the checkered flag. Instead, Ruggiero’s car was the only of the three to emerge unscathed, a scenario Ruggiero chalked up to hard racing for the victory.

“I was trying to push [Finch] to get our lane rolling, get us out to a good lead and try to make a move for the win,” Ruggiero said. “I don’t know if it looked like [Dean] came down on him and got him sideways on our nose. It’s unfortunate they got wrecked.”

Dean, who had not competed in an ARCA Menards Series event since 2024, was confident that either he or one of his five Nitro Motorsports teammates would visit Daytona’s Victory Lane. He felt the communication was efficient all afternoon, a quality that got both him and Finch to the front when it mattered.

A conscious decision was made by Dean to abandon the teammate restart, information that was relayed directly to Finch. Dean believed it was the right decision, especially with how aggressively he felt Ruggiero was pushing the restart before, but was disappointed that neither one of them got to celebrate a victory.

“One of our strengths at Nitro is the amount of cars we have and the quality of those cars,” Dean said. “We really shine when it comes to restarts and being able to link back up, so [we were] trying to do the teammate restarts all day. We did one last teammate restart with about seven to go, but it was pretty hairy trying to [let Finch down].

“Him and I are all good, and I can’t wait to race with him again.”

Finch sustained less damage than Dean and was able to finish the General Tire 200 in 20^th on the lead lap, but he was also more irritated. The outcome of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series Daytona race has long lingered in Finch’s mind and he believed everything was lining up for him to finally prevail at the historic track.

Even if he placed second to Dean, Finch would have been content with a one-two finish for Nitro. Coming up short at Daytona once again fueled the frustration he felt towards Ruggiero over how the final laps unfolded.

“I don’t think there’s any helping [Ruggiero],” Finch said. “He’s not going to change. It’s not his first time in this situation. I’ve been friends with him, and I’ve always been fine with him, so I don’t mind him as a person, but it just sucks.”

While Finch and Dean were left to compartmentalize their situation, Ruggiero enjoyed a brief-but-vibrant celebration before climbing into Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series car to chase another checkered flag in his series debut.

Ruggiero took time to reflect on his journey towards Daytona’s Victory Lane, one that started in Super Late Models. Those events tested Ruggiero against many of the best drivers the discipline had to offer, helping build tenacity and resilience that would lead him to Toyota’s driver development program.

Now he is forever cemented into Joe Gibbs Racing’s proud history as the first driver to win an ARCA Menards Series race for the program.

“I feel like I’m someone who will do whatever it takes to win,” Ruggiero said. “That’s kind of been my mentality since I started. It’s awesome to have all that hard work pay off. I work really hard at this and put my whole life, time and dedication into it. Seeing the hard work pay off is amazing.”

Jake Bollman placed second behind Ruggiero, the only Nitro car of six to record a top-five finish. Kole Raz settled for a third place finish with Daniel Dye and Glen Reen completing the top five.

The rest of the top 10 consisted of Jack Wood, Jason Kitzmiller, Ryan Vargas, Bobby Earnhardt and Andy Jankowiak.

Up next for the ARCA Menards Series is the General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway on March 5, which serves as a combination event with the ARCA Menards Series West. The green flag will wave at 8 p.m. MT/6 p.m. ET, with FS1 providing live flag-to-flag coverage.