Gio Ruggiero wins ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona

Less than 24 hours after he came up a few feet short of a win in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Gio Ruggiero got redemption. 

The 19-year-old driver earned his first ARCA win after a late crash took out leaders Jake Finch and Gus Dean and sent the race to overtime. 

Ruggiero pulled away on the restart and was never seriously challenged for the lead. He led only the final six laps.

"It's awesome, obviously I wanted to win last night and came up short," Ruggiero told Fox Sports. "It got hectic there at the end. I was trying to push our lane forward and the 15 got squirrelly and lost it."

Ruggiero, a full-time driver in the Craftsman Truck Series, will also compete in Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Daytona. 

Notable results

Jake Bollman finished runner-up, with Kole Raz, Daniel Dye and Glen Reen rounding out the top-five. Jack Wood, Jason Kitzmiller, Ryan Vargas, Bobby Earnhardt and Andy Jankowiak completed the top 10. 

Other notable finishers include Cleetus McFarland in 11th, Tim Richmond in 23rd, Alli Owens in 34th, Isabella Robusto in 37th and Mini Tyrrell in 38th. 

Robusto led laps before a mechanical issue ended her day. 

Finch and Dean finished 20th and 29th, respectively, after their late crash.