Mario Andretti congratulates Nick Sanchez on Daytona Truck win

Nick Sanchez's victory last weekend at Daytona International Speedway to open the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season was meaningful for a handful of reasons. It marked the first national series win for both Sanchez and Rev Racing, Sanchez no longer has to worry about points racing until the playoffs begin in August and the 22-year-old driver received a congratulatory message from one of motorsports' icons. RELATED: Sanchez opens Truck season with Daytona win | 2024 Truck schedule Sanchez revealed in a media teleconference on Thursday that he received a text message from Mario Andretti after his Daytona triumph among numerous people who reached out to him.

“I have a couple of friends on Sundays, not too many though, but I had a couple of people reach out. I think this is hard to top. I got a text from Mario Andretti and I don’t really know if you could top that," Sanchez said. "He’s a legend. To get a text from him and to just have his support and to know he’s watching is the best feeling ever.”

Andretti also posted a message on X shortly after the Truck Series race to congratulate the second-year driver. https://twitter.com/MarioAndretti/status/1758697755696844806?s=20 Last weekend wasn't the first interaction between the legend and rising star as Sanchez and Andretti met at Darlington Raceway last May as Sanchez and Rev Racing paid tribute to Andretti with a throwback scheme that paid homage to Andretti's 1967 Daytona 500 win. [caption id="attachment_421708" align="alignnone" width="1300"]Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images[/caption]

Sanchez will look to make it back-to-back victories to start 2024 as the Truck Series heads to another drafting-style track at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).