By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
In a rookie class featuring the likes of Toni Breidinger, the most-followed NASCAR driver on social media, and an actor in Frankie Muniz, it isn’t too difficult to get lost in the shuffle.
But this year, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie field consists of not just two talented drivers, but five, with the additions of reigning ARCA Menards Series champion Andrés Pérez de Lara, road racing ace Connor Mosack and young Gio Ruggiero, who is making the transition from running in late models and ARCA to competing full-time in the truck series for Tricon Garage.
The common denominator among three racers who don’t share much else in terms of their racing backgrounds?
All three arrive at this stage of their careers looking to make a name for themselves and prove they have what it takes to move up the NASCAR ladder against stiffer competition.
“The competition, man,” Pérez de Lara said. “Every race (in the truck series) is a challenge and I’m up for that. What it means to go into such a competitive series is that I’m going to have to step my game up. So that’s what keeps me going, knowing that a good result has so much behind it. It’s hard to have those good days in the trucks, so when you have one, it’s very enjoyable.”
Andrés Pérez de Lara
For Pérez de Lara, his path to this point has been anything but typical. He first stepped foot in a go-kart when he was five years old living in Mexico. His first race was when he was 10 and it wasn’t long after, at 15, that he was strapping in for his first NASCAR-sanctioned race.
Fast forward to 2023, and after winning the NASCAR Challenge Series back in Mexico, Pérez de Lara was making the full-time move to the United States to compete in ARCA.
While it certainly hasn’t proven to be the road less traveled for the now 19-year-old driver, it’s a path that has given him the confidence he needs to continue on his racing journey as he gets set to embark on his rookie season in the truck series, in which he’ll be driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports.
“My racing career has been nothing but a lot of moves,” Pérez de Lara said. “There have been a lot of times where I’ve had to adapt. Moving from road course racing to ovals in Mexico, then moving to ARCA in the US, there’s been so many things that I’ve had to adapt to. So yeah, going to trucks is also a different thing, but at the end of the day I’ve been going through this adaptation process a lot, so I think I have a bit of an advantage from that standpoint. And now, I have a team that is just as motivated and as hungry as me to win so I’m really confident this will be a good year for us.”
Competing for race wins (a feat that, much to his chagrin, eluded him in ARCA despite winning the championship this past season), is just one of the factors motivating Pérez de Lara as he continues to progress through the sport.
“I want the fans to be able to root for a different story,” Pérez de Lara said. “For people that see me, knowing how much it means to me to race here and all that that involves. But also knowing me off of the track, knowing I love going back home and spending time with family and friends back in Mexico. I love water sports, like boating and jet skiing and everything close to the water. Oh, and I’m a big food guy.
“And then yeah, on the track, I’m gonna try to be up front, because you always want to see your favorite driver up front.”
Connor Mosack
Unlike Pérez de Lara, Mosack did not get his start in racing when he was five, 10, or even 15 years old for that matter. It wasn’t until he was 18 years old that he began his racing career, a late start almost unheard of in today’s racing landscape.
Now 26, Mosack enters the 2025 season with his first full-time opportunity in NASCAR, driving the No. 81 Chevrolet Silverado for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. It’s an opportunity he’s long waited for.
“It’s something that means a lot to me,” Mosack said. “Having my first real full-time opportunity is something I’ve been working towards for a few years now and it’s something I’m really excited about. It almost makes me feel like I’m an underdog in a certain sense, though, for where I feel I am. It’s kind of a goal of mine this year to be able to prove to people I can do this for a living, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
But while Mosack is new on the scene when it comes to having a full-time ride, he enters the season with more experience than your typical truck series rookie.
Mosack first appeared in the NASCAR mainstream in 2022, when he was tapped to drive the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway. Since, he has driven in 28 Xfinity races in the past three years, while also making select starts in ARCA and the truck series, collecting a pair of ARCA wins in the process.
After the past few seasons of balancing driving for numerous NASCAR teams in various series, along with handling driving duties in the Trans Am TA2 Series, Mosack is looking forward to the stability that comes with working in the same environment all season.
“It just makes everything easier,” Mosack said. “You have the same group around you all year and the same crew chief to work with and learn with and build a relationship with. You also get to be in the same series racing against the same guys every week, which is great for me to not have to always feel like I’m a step or two behind, coming into a car I haven’t been in for a while.
“So from my side, nothing really changes in my approach or preparation, but it’ll be easier to get into a routine and rhythm, knowing what to expect a bit more when I get to the racetrack, which is always nice.”
Gio Ruggiero
“I will do whatever it takes to win.”
That’s the mantra of the 18-year-old Ruggiero, who grew up racing on the short tracks of Seekonk, Mass., before making his emergence on the late model scene within the past few years.
It’s a mindset he takes from his racing heroes Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson, two drivers Ruggiero says “can win in anything.”
It’s also a mindset he’ll have to carry over into his rookie season in the truck series as he steps into a No. 17 Toyota Tundra for Tricon Garage that Taylor Gray drove to a sixth-place points finish last season.
Ruggiero makes the step up this season after driving a full-time schedule in the ARCA Menards Series East, in which he captured one win and finished third in the standings behind fellow top NASCAR prospects William Sawalich and Connor Zilisch. He also competed in select ARCA and ARCA Menards Series West races to round out his schedule, collecting nine additional top-five finishes between the two series.
And when it comes to setting goals for his first truck series season, Ruggiero has plans to enjoy the same kind of success.
“I am really excited to compete at a higher level in the sport and race at lots of new racetracks,” Ruggiero said. “I would definitely like to win rookie of the year and to win a race in my first season would be awesome. If I am in contention to win a race near the end, I will put on a show and make it happen.”
Toni Breidinger and Frankie Muniz
Breidinger and Muniz are two more members of one of the most competitive-looking rookie classes the truck series has seen on track in the past few seasons.
For Breidinger, she moves up after three full-time seasons in ARCA and will drive the No. 5 Toyota Tundra for Tricon Garage full-time in 2025. She is joined by the 39-year-old actor/driver Muniz, who will compete full-time in the No. 33 Ford F-150 for Reaume Brothers Racing after racing part-time across ARCA, Xfinity and the truck series last season.
Breidinger, best known for being crowned the 2016 USAC Speed2 Western US Asphalt Midget Series Champion, enters the season with a best career finish of 15th in four truck series starts, while Muniz, the former Malcolm in the Middle star, also enters the season with four career truck series starts under his belt.