Jake Bollman Shows Speed but Faces Bad Luck in CARS Tour Opener

The 2026 CARS Tour season opener brought high expectations for Jake Bollman coming off the heels of a runner-up finish in the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona. The VanDyke Racing Performance team unloaded with impressive pace, running top-5 laps in practice and qualifying 8th. During the early stages of the Folsom Fence Supply 125, Jake moved his way through the field, restarting on the outside of the front row at lap 45. On the restart, he faced a broken shifter, immediately causing him to dive down to the pits and put him multiple laps down. Despite a strong effort from the team to salvage what they could, the track position proved to be too significant to overcome. Jake ultimately finished in 28th, five laps down. With speed, confidence, and valuable race experience gained from running up front, Bollman leaves Southern National motivated rather than discouraged. If the opening round is any indication, the No. 71 team has the pace to contend for race wins as the CARS Tour season rolls on. Jake will compete in the next race on the CARS Tour calendar on March 28th at Wake County Speedway.