After winning the 2024 ARCA Menards Series championship, Andres Perez moved up the ladder to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he’s competing for 2025 Rookie of the Year honors in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 truck.
The 20-year-old Mexico City native will also make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in DGM Racing’s No. 91 car at his home track of Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this Saturday (June 14). Perez, alongside NASCAR Cup Series driver Daniel Suarez, are the only Mexico natives competing in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup or Xfinity races.
This weekend marks the Xfinity Series’ first race in Mexico since 2008 and the Cup Series’ first race outside the United States since 1958.
Frontstretch interviewed Perez at Michigan International Speedway on Friday (June 6), one day prior to the Truck Series’ 250-miler in the Irish Hills, where he discussed his 2025 season, his progression as a Truck Series rookie, working with Spire Motorsports and his upcoming Xfinity debut in Mexico.
Stephen Stumpf, Frontstretch: You have a best finish of seventh at Martinsville; you are currently 18th in points. How would you grade your performance so far?
Andres Perez: I feel like it’s been an up-and-down season for sure. Like, we’ve had pace, we just haven’t put everything together to run the results that we like. I feel like there’s a lot of potential. We [just] need things to go our way, and I’m sure we will.
I feel like this part of the season we’re starting to pick up. Michigan is a track that I really like, and practice today went really well. So I’m feeling confident about this and just trying to start getting some good momentum in the Truck stuff and also heading into Mexico like you said.
Michigan was arguably Perez’s best track in ARCA, with two poles and a runner-up finish last season. He led nearly half of the 2023 race, only to lose an engine late in the race while leading.
Stumpf: Michigan, you’ve had plenty of experience there in the ARCA series. Is there a learning curve between the tracks you’re visiting for the first time [in a Truck] vs. the tracks you’ve been able to accumulate laps at before?
Perez: Yeah, of course it’s different from ARCA to Trucks, but I feel like the tracks that I’ve been to, I feel way more comfortable. Because truck stuff, you don’t have a lot of practice — 25-minute session. It’s not a lot to learn a new racetrack and stuff, so that’s definitely a big challenge for the rookies to go to a new racetrack.
So when I have experience in ARCA, it definitely helps. Michigan has been really good in that aspect. I think the race tomorrow is going to be very different with as many trucks as there are and just the drafting and stuff. But yeah, I feel really good heading to a racetrack that that I’ve been [to] before.
That prior experience shined through on Saturday, as Perez avoided all the late-race calamity in a triple-overtime finish to bring his truck home ninth. Michigan marked his second-best finish in 2025 and his third top 10 in 15 Truck starts.
Stumpf: Moving up to Trucks, what are the biggest differences between the ARCA cars and the trucks and having to adjust to them this year?
Perez: I’d say the biggest thing is the competition and how hard every position is, how much you got to time your runs and all the aero stuff going around it. More than anything — more than the car itself and the driving — the pit stops. You just got to adapt to so many different things, and like I said, a 25-minute session of practice is not enough or not a lot of time.
Overall, it’s a learning curve. I feel like we’re getting there, we’re putting everything together now, and hopefully the results come in the next couple of races.
Stumpf: What practice length do you feel would be adequate? 50 (minutes)? Hour? More?
Perez: I don’t know, man. I’ll let NASCAR decide that, but I feel like what we had today — the 50 minutes — definitely is better for us. We’re able to do more stuff, more changes and just try different stuff, getting us better prepared to race. But yeah, I don’t think the 25 minutes is an issue. At the end of the day, it’s the same for everybody. It just puts a little bit more of a challenge for us rookie drivers, but it is what it is. I’m fine with it, and yeah, we’ll see how it goes.
Stumpf: What progress do you feel like you’ve made from February to now, whether it’s learning to race against your fellow competitors, the trucks themselves, the tracks, (racing) lines and so on?
Perez: I think more than anything, the competition and just feeling more comfortable running around more trucks. The side draft, and all the stuff that involves just the simple things [like] getting in your pit box faster. That’s what I’ve been learning the most, and also just learning to get to know and learn about my team. Just building a better relationship with them and my guys and just take that to the racetrack.
Stumpf: At the moment you’re currently 138 points below the cut line. Is it fair to say that you guys are in a must-win situation to make the playoffs this year?
Perez: Yeah, you could see it that way. At the end of the day, the playoffs are tough to get in. You have to win, and I feel like you just got to put everything together. And to get a win in the Truck Series is very competitive, so we’ll keep working and see what we can do.
Perez is now 146 points below the cut line with five races left in the regular season following Stewart Friesen’s win at Michigan.
Stumpf: There are plenty of veteran teammates at Spire that come down to run trucks. Kyle Busch, [Carson] Hocevar, the entire Hendrick [Motorsports] team. What advice have they parted on to you, and do you have a close working relationship with them?
Perez: That’s been a very cool thing about this year, having the opportunity to race with such experienced teammates, and just as much as I can learn from them. And they also help us and help the team develop and get better. So yeah, that’s a really cool thing about Spire and what they do and how they really push to just keep on getting better and better, to get where we want to be. I’ve learned a ton from them. Like you said, very experienced guys, and yeah, just as much as I can learn from them and compete against them as well.
Stumpf: You’ve said that you’re prepped for Michigan. What other tracks on the schedule are circled or do you think will be good for you guys?
Perez: I’d say the first road course. I’m excited about that. I grew up road course driving, and obviously Michigan was one of them, so I’d say those two, and also on a personal standpoint, the Xfinity race in Mexico will be also important. Making my debut in Xfinity and also in my hometown racetrack with all the Mexico people there. So yeah, really excited about those couple of racetracks.
The first road course on the Truck Series schedule is Lime Rock Park on June 28. The series will also visit Watkins Glen International on Aug. 8 and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL on Oct. 3.
Stumpf: Just how just how special is this knowing that it’s NASCAR’s [Xfinity Series’] first time back in Mexico in 17 years, and you’re able to make your Xfinity debut not only in your home country, but also at your home track with the home crowd cheering you on?
Perez: it just means so much on every single aspect. It will be a tough race, and nobody knows the track. I know the track, so I got a little bit of an advantage in there, but then I also don’t know the [Xfinity] car, so I’d say it evens out.
But yeah, I’m really excited. Been working really hard for that, and I know that the Mexico fans and crowd are going to be really passionate about that. So hopefully, we can get a good result for them. That’ll be really important for our season and just building better momentum for the end of the year.
Stumpf: This track in NASCAR, it’s used multiple layouts in the past. It will be a different layout this time in its return. Are you familiar with this layout but also previous ones as well?
Perez: I had never run that exact layout, but at the end of the day, most of the corners I’ve been.
I’d say turn 1 is going to be important, so yeah, it just takes away 3 or 4 corners that that we usually run in there, and at the end of the day it’s the same track.
So yeah, I know the track. I’ve run really well there — probably not the best luck, but I say the track owes me one after a couple bad-luck runs in there. So yeah, I feel good heading into there. I know the track, that’s an advantage, and we’ll see how we can use it.
The Xfinity Series used a 2.518-mile layout of AHR from 2005-08. Xfinity, Cup and the supporting NASCAR Mexico Series races will be running a 2.429-mile layout this weekend. The Mexico Series has also used one-mile oval and 1.013-mile road course configurations in the past.
Stumpf: What are your expectations going into that race? Do you have a certain finish or goal in mind, or is just being there an accomplishment?
Perez: I want to run good. I want to put myself in a good spot. We’ll see how it goes when we get there. It’s also a new team, new car for me, so you also got to be realistic. But I’d say me, growing up as a road course driver being to that track, I feel good heading to there.
I definitely want to have a good result in front of my home crowd, and just the whole event being a success, that would be a great day. But for sure, I want to be fighting for a good result there. A finish in the top 10 will be a really good day for us.
Stumpf: Looking ahead to 2026, is the plan for you to be back in this [No. 77] truck next year, or are things still being worked out?
Perez: Things are getting worked out; I want to be here. I’d say this is just a big learning curve, which I’m getting better and better at. We just need more time. And yeah, I want to [be back]. We’re still working on that stuff.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf