Andres Perez de Lara spoke with Frontstretch‘s Stephen Stumpf on Friday (May 24) before the ARCA Menards Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Perez de Lara scored his second pole in the ARCA Series and finished third, thereby extending his points lead in the series.
Perez de Lara is running double duty in 2024, with a full-time schedule in both ARCA and the NASCAR Mexico Series. Stumpf also sat down to chat with him about his upbringing in Mexico City, how he got into racing, the current racing scene in Mexico and his upcoming NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut with Spire Motorsports at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway this Saturday (June 1).
Stumpf: Your dad raced back in Mexico City. What was your experience with racing like growing up, and at what age did you kind of come to the conclusion that this is something you wanted to do as well?
Perez de Lara: I grew up in like cars, road courses and stuff, just kind of following what my dad did back in Mexico. And then a couple of years ago, maybe like five years ago, I made my switch to NASCAR. And then I’ve been working hard to get here to this level in terms of NASCAR stuff. …
There’s a lot of stuff different, not even on track, but also the culture outside of it. Language is one thing. And since being at that adaptation process, I think now it’s starting to get so much better, and again, the results are coming.
Stumpf: For those that may be unfamiliar, could you kind of explain what the racing ladder in Mexico is like? And obviously, you’ve done plenty. You were in the NACAM Formula 4, the Mikel’s Truck Series, where you won a title there, and the NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series, where you also won a title there.
Perez de Lara: So in Mexico, NASCAR Mexico is starting to become a very competitive series, but we don’t have ovals like [Charlotte] and we don’t have speed like that. But at the end of the day, the oval thing and the race craft that it gives you in terms of NASCAR, it’s very helpful. Like I think any like good driver over there can come here and start working hard.
Because there’s so much different stuff, that once you figure that part out, it works. I’m still doing the Mexico Series, like another thing is right after this ARCA race, tomorrow I’m flying back to Mexico for a race there. So, I’m doing a kind of doubleheader in two days. So, that’s another…
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