By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Friday night at Daytona International Speedway was the start of something new for Andres Perez De Lara.
Though it wasn’t his debut in the Craftsman Truck Series (making two starts in 2024), it was the kick-off to his rookie season with Spire Motorsports, driving the team’s No. 77 Chevrolet.
The Mexico native was proud climbing out of his relatively clean truck following a 14th-place finish at Daytona. A heavy last-lap crash eliminated multiple contenders, he spun to avoid and came across the line in one piece.
For him, he considers the night a success for Daytona’s standards.
“I think we can call that a good night,” Perez de Lara said. “We were expecting big things out of this night. We wanted to be closer to the front, but I have to take that day as a good one here in Daytona. Clean truck.”
Perez de Lara enters 2025 with two seasons of ARCA Menards Series experience behind him. The 19-year-old was crowned the champion in ’24 and has 20 top-five finishes in 41 starts.
Two of those starts came at Daytona — experience that Perez de Lara says benefited him greatly for his Truck superspeedway debut.
“There is a lot of stuff different with these trucks, so much you have to learn,” he said.
“[ARCA experience] definitely helped. It was useful and everything. But it’s so much more calculated here, everything is going on with a lot of energy and everyone is pushing very aggressively. Overall, it definitely gave me a good idea. Especially since we had no practice, we went straight to the race.
“This thing is on another league, it’s crazy. I really had a lot of fun. I’ll take it for my first superspeedway in the trucks. I feel Atlanta is going to be even better for us given the more experience on superspeedways.”
The rookie has a growing organization backing him for ’25 in Spire, who partners with sophomore driver Rajah Caruth on the track and crew chief Chad Walter off the track.
But additionally, the Mexican has fellow countrymen paying attention to his steps up the ladder. NASCAR Mexico Series champion Ruben Garcia Jr. met with Perez de Lara prerace along with Cup winner Daniel Suarez.
“There is a lot of support from my country,” he said. “Daniel was there on the grid. I just feel coming from Mexico, everybody from Mexico appreciates the work it takes to be here. I’m really proud to have that many people’s support.”