In what can only be described as an incredibly stacked Rookie of The Year class in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, Sam Hunt Racing driver Dean Thompson got a major jump on the competition with a solid result at Daytona.

Thompson, who moves to the second-tier series after three seasons competing for TRICON Garage in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, managed to impressively collect some stage points and bring home an eighth-place result.

In what ended up being a pretty uneventful evening for the Sam Hunt Racing driver, Thompson was able to mix it up at the end of the race’s first stage to collect three points (eighth), and then another six points at the end of the race’s second stage (fifth).

As Saturday’s 120-lap contest reached its final moments, Thompson was situation just inside the top 15 and racing with his Sam Hunt Racing teammate, Ryan Truex, when a massive wreck broke out in front. Luckily, Thompson was able to maneuver through the carnage and collected his top 10 result.

“I can’t even tell you what happened, I just saw smoke and I hung a left,” Thompson said about the last-lap wreck. “It’s honestly so hard to see, you’re just so stacked out behind people.”

It’s that strong showing that has launched the 23-year-old driver to third in NASCAR Xfinity Series points – behind race-winner Jesse Love and Sheldon Creed – as the series returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway for another superspeedway event this coming weekend.

“It means a lot,” Thompson said about his top-10 finish at Daytona. “I’ve never finished Daytona in three years of Trucks. It’s always a really big emphasis for me for this race to start the year off right. You can really dig yourself a hold wrecking early and then you’ve got to claw your way back.”

The strong result marks the first top 10 finish for Thompson in his third NASCAR Xfinity Series start, while also matching the best-ever finish for Sam Hunt Racing on a traditional superspeedway (Daytona or Talladega) – which was initially set by Brandon Gdovic in the February 2021 Xfinity Series season-opener at Daytona.

“I’m glad we finished, got good points with our Thompson Pipe Group Toyota and finished inside the top-10. It was a good effort by everybody at Sam Hunt Racing,” Thompson added.

Leaving Daytona, while Thompson is well inside the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, the driver of the No.26 Toyota GR Supra is also leading the Rookie of The Year standings, holding a one-point advantage over Taylor Gray, and a five-point advantage over Carson Kvapil.

Saturday’s result at Daytona is destined to give both driver and team a boost of confidence heading into the final 32 rounds of the NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign, giving even more momentum to a pairing that Thompson says is already gelling extremely well.