By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
Andre Castro, a University of Chicago alum, is set to pilot the No. 35 Chevrolet for Joey Gase Motorsports in Saturday afternoon’s Xfinity Series race at the Chicago Street Course.
Castro, who is attempting to make his fifth career Xfinity Series start and first of the 2025 season, returns to the Windy City in an attempt to qualify his way into the Chicago Street Race for the third consecutive year.
The 26-year-old made his Xfinity Series debut at the Chicago Street Course in 2023 driving for Jesse Iwuji Motorsports, where he was involved in an accident that relegated him to a 37th-place finish. He returned last season driving for SS-Green Light Racing and was once again able to make the race on speed before again being caught up in a wreck that ended his day early, finishing 35th.
His career-best Xfinity Series result is a 23rd-place finish, which came last season at Portland driving for SS-Green Light Racing.
Castro is a first generation Colombian-American race car driver and has been racing since he was seven years old. He grew up in New York City before moving to Chicago for school, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics with a Specialization in Business from the University of Chicago.
Castro comes from a very versatile racing background, having previously competed in the USF2000 National Championship and USF Juniors championship, as well as in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and Formula 4 United States Championship in addition to his limited Xfinity Series experience.
While there isn’t any on-track activity scheduled for the Fourth of July, the Xfinity Series will kick things off on track in Chicago on Saturday morning with practice at 10:30 a.m. EST, followed by qualifying at 11:30 a.m. EST. In qualifying, Castro will be one of 40 drivers attempting to lock themselves into the race and avoid being one of the two drivers getting sent home.
The green flag for The Loop 110 from the Chicago Street Course will fly shortly after 4:30 p.m. EST Saturday with coverage live on The CW Network.