When the green flag flies for the Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, Sept. 19, Logan Misuraca will have more pressure to perform than most in the ARCA Menards Series field.
For Misuraca, Bristol is her only scheduled start for the 2024 season.
“I think that’s why Bristol was such a, not even like a stressful thing for me, but it was the only one on the schedule for this year I have,” Misuraca told Frontstretch. “And for the foreseeable future, this is all I have lined up as of now.”
It’s not the Sanford, Fla., native’s first foray into ARCA. She raced in the ARCA Menards Series East race at her home track, New Smyrna Speedway, before competing in three races in the main ARCA series last year. But her last start came at Pocono Raceway in July of 2023.
Since then, she’s worked as a driver for the NASCAR Racing Experience and has raced a legends car, but nothing as big as an ARCA car since. All of her attempts to run a late model at New Smyrna this year have been impacted by weather.
“It was horrible,” Misuraca said. “You can probably ask the people in my life around me, I’ve been taking it out on them. Because I have no avenue to let me go out there and scratch this itch.
“… Even though [Bristol is] only 200 laps, I hope it lasts 12 hours. I need the full year’s worth of adrenaline.”
Fortunately for Misuraca, she’ll have a fast hot rod on Thursday night. She’ll be driving the No. 9 for Rev Racing. Her Rev teammates Andres Perez and Lavar Scott are currently first and second in the ARCA standings.
Clean Harbors, a waste management company that first partnered with Misuraca in 2023, stepped up to be the primary sponsor and help make this opportunity possible.
“I’ve always done a lot of work for them, whether it be appearances, and then I created more of a personal friendship, relationship with them,” Misuraca said.
Clean Harbors is the umbrella company that owns Safety-Kleen and many other companies.
“So they have all these different avenues to which I could help the brand out,” Misuraca said. “After getting to know them for a while, I was like, ‘Hey, wanna put Bristol on the schedule?’
The deal to do the race was signed the next day.
“When I met all the actual workers there, they’re more of like a family vibe when they’re working together,” Misuraca said. “Everyone knows everyone. There’s no animosity. … They’ve been so supportive of me. … We have inside jokes between all of us. Anytime we go to an appearance, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s our new coworker Logan,’ as I’m sitting there in my driving suit. We have fun together.”
Bristol was the race of choice for two main reasons. First off, it’s Bristol, baby.
“Daytona is always my favorite, but my dream track is Bristol,” Misuraca said. “People probably saw on my TikTok page when I saw Bristol for the first time, I started crying. I screamed bloody murder, crying in my car while I was eating a McDonald’s hash brown.”
But additionally, Misuraca cited the track’s similarities to New Smyrna. Why does that matter? Because she was New Smyrna’s Rookie of the Year and track champion in 2020.
Clean Harbors helped get Misuraca this opportunity, but now it’s on her to make the most of it. She’s already done plenty to prepare herself for the Last Great Colosseum.
“We did a bunch of sim training, so I feel prepared in that asset,” Misuraca said. “With NASCAR Racing Experience, we actually did rides about a month ago, so that at least gave me the physical feel of the racetrack. So that kind of calmed some nerves for me. I thought it was extremely intimidating to look at, but once you drive it, it’s like, ‘OK, it’s not that bad.'”
Still, racing, at Bristol especially, is filled with unknowns. And for Misuraca, the future of her racing career may depend greatly on what happens in Thursday’s race. When asked if she was feeling the pressure for Bristol, she said, “Oh yeah, oh yeah.”
“And I know I shouldn’t, but I think if I were racing full-time, you go into one race and say something doesn’t go your way, you go, ‘OK, whatever. On to the next weekend,'” Misuraca said. “But this, I’ve worked months to get to. … In my brain, I want everything to go perfect, because I know my potential of what can be done. I know the team’s potential of what they can do. And I know how this race usually plays out.
“If we’re on the right side of luck, and I’m in the right mental space, we have a really, really good shot here. And then that would, one, make me feel more secure and confident and ‘okay, let’s go out and find these partners. Hey, I did this at Bristol.’ … But if things work against us — it’s racing, anything can happen — it’s just, then what? Then what do you do next?”
The Bush’s Beans 200 is scheduled to start on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 5 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 1 will broadcast the race.
For the full interview with Logan Misuraca, click on the video below.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.