Written by Sean McKean
In 2025, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series saw the entry of seven rookies in the field, most of which coming from the ARCA Menards Series field in 2024. This bunch includes names such as Gio Ruggeiro, Connor Mosack, Toni Breidinger and Frankie Muniz. Of the 2024 ARCA bunch, however, that year’s champion – Andrés Pérez de Lara – currently sits in a position akin to Ruggeiro: a rookie season with a championship winning organisation.
Pérez triumphed in what was his second ARCA season in 2024. Showcasing an incredibly consistent display of results – only finishing outside the top ten on three occasions – the Rev Racing driver took the title by 41 points over rookie teammate Lavar Scott.
Now, Pérez graduates from ARCA to Trucks with Spire Motorsports, and although he has showcased strong pace in the season openers at Daytona and Atlanta, multiple crashes out of his control have taken him out of contention. In Daytona, the Mexican-born driver finished 14th but got caught up in the final-lap melee in Turns 3 and 4. In Atlanta, his teammate – Rajah Caruth – hit a patch of oil and spun in front of the pack, which collected him and forced a 27th-placed result.
Pérez explained the Atlanta accident from his point of view.
“We didn’t have a great start in Atlanta, but we were in the front pack racing, pushing my teammate [Rajah], in a really good spot to have a good day,” Pérez told DIVEBOMB. “But then Rajah hit oil on the track that was left there – just unfortunate for him – and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, there was nothing I could do.”
With two superspeedways opening this year’s schedule for all three series, it is to be expected that someone faces the brunt of bad luck in both events. Despite how demotivating a start like this could be, Pérez has kept a positive mindset.
“I think overall, I’m having a really great time, just how the year has been going,” he said. “Obviously, we haven’t had the results we wanted on track, just two superspeedways to start the season, it always brings a lot of different things and uncertainties to the beginning of the year. And we were just on the back end of that, we were involved in two incidents there [Daytona and Atlanta], just wrong place, wrong time.
“I’m really looking forward to the next races where I know my team’s going to bring me a really fast truck, and I know we’re going to be really good, working really hard all season for that. So yeah, we just leave those two races behind and now look forward to the rest of the season.”
On top of the drafting-heavy start to the season, the difference of intensity from ARCA to Truck racing at these tracks had a bit of a learning curve, as Pérez stated:
“It’s intense. Like in the Truck Series – especially Daytona – it was very intense, you know, three-wide and a lot of pushing, just take and take. It was just very intense, a little bit sketchy for it being my first time, I wasn’t expecting it to be like that, but I had a lot of fun. We really learned a lot throughout the race too. And yeah, it’s intense.
“Everybody wants to win, so when you’re in the middle of the pack and you’re getting pushed and you’re pushing and then there’s a guy on your right, on your left, you have to be on your A-game and super focused….
“With the Truck stuff, it was super fun. Like I said, we were not on the good side of things the last two races. Apart from that, I think we’ve been running okay,” he concluded.
In these opening races of the season, Pérez had the unique opportunity to work with two Cup Series drivers: two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch and 2021 Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell. With the pair’s expertise at drafting tracks, the 19-year-old doesn’t downplay how important the mentorship they provide is.
“Kyle won the race, it puts a little pressure on us drivers, me and Rajah, since we race there full-time, but it’s a really cool thing. Especially for Michael, since he goes to the shop and everything, I’ve been able to get some information from him, ask him a couple questions, so he’s been very helpful in that aspect,” he said.
“It just proves that Spire does a great job, they always have a lot of experience on superspeedways. I think on my side, going to Atlanta, starting the race with only one lap on that track, it was obviously tough the first couple of laps, but I think we progressed throughout the race and was able to kind of go run where those guys were running.
“It’s a really cool thing Spire does, there’s gonna be some cool guys racing in the trucks, so I’m really excited. It’s great for us young drivers,” Pérez finished.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, many of these tracks are ones that Pérez has very little to no experience on. However, his preparation for these races is no different.
“I think sim work is the main thing, but also watching races, studying, analysing past years that the race has been there, SMT data,” he said. “There’s so many things we can do before we get to the track, but once we get to the track, it’s very limited. It’s 20 minutes at most of the race tracks.
“It’s obviously not the best thing, in my case, that I’m new to most of the race tracks and even the truck, but we’re okay, you know. I don’t see that as a bad thing for me, it’s just an extra thing we have to manage. The preparation we do, the simulator work, studying, talking to the Cup guys and asking questions, that's the way I prepare.”
As for his goals for the season, he states that he’s taking this year as both one to compete for victories and to just gain track time.
“I need to take this as a learning curve, but I also know that this is a very important year for me and I really have to go out and show what I can do. We’re working because we want to win. We know we are going to have fast trucks, and hopefully there’s a track where everything gets put together and we can get that win and be in the playoffs, which is the ultimate goal for the year,” Pérez concluded.
Pérez and the rest of the Truck Series grid will be back in three weeks to tackle the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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