![\"Andr\u00e9s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2261553299-e1774984850869.jpg\")
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Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez de Lara is a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver for Niece Motorsports.<\/p>\n
The name Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez de Lara may not sound familiar to many NASCAR fans, but that will soon change as he takes the Craftsman Truck Series by storm.<\/p>\n
The Mexican-born racer is in his second full-time season in NASCAR\u2019s third-tier division. Last year, he swapped teams after just 17 races, recognizing Spire Motorsports was not his long-term home. Instead, he moved to Niece Motorsports<\/a>, and he has thrived ever since.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was definitely a big jump,\u201d P\u00e9rez de Lara said. \u201cObviously, things didn\u2019t work last year at Spire. We had some success, but there were also struggles. Making the move to Niece midway during the year was an unknown, but it was really a good move for me and we ran well. It was a good change, and to continue it this year has been great. I feel like the team has a lot of motivation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, P\u00e9rez de Lara is determined to not only win his first NASCAR race, but he wants to qualify for the Chase and make a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n Thus far, through the first four races in 2026, P\u00e9rez de Lara sits a respectable ninth in the standings and would be higher if he didn\u2019t crash at Darlington Speedway.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be in the Chase,\u201d P\u00e9rez de Lara said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been consistent enough, so we want to fight for the championship and that comes with consistency. My personal goal is to get a race win. That would be really cool to have. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve been working really hard to have. If we put everything together, there\u2019s no reason we shouldn\u2019t be able to compete in the top in the Truck Series.<\/p>\n \u201cConsistency is going to be really important, so we need to put good results together. We want to win the race, and that will help even more.\u201d<\/p>\n P\u00e9rez de Lara\u2019s Friendship With Daniel Su\u00e1rez<\/p>\n P\u00e9rez de Lara is following in the footsteps of NASCAR Cup Series winner Daniel Su\u00e1rez,<\/a> who currently competes for Spire Motorsports, P\u00e9rez de Lara\u2019s former team.<\/p>\n But that hasn\u2019t impacted their relationship in anyway. The young prot\u00e9g\u00e9 is determined to be the next Mexican Cup Series sensation after graduating from NASCAR\u2019s Drive for Diversity program, just like Su\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n Not only has Su\u00e1rez given P\u00e9rez de Lara on-track advice, but he is also helping him make connections.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s in the Chevy program, as well as me,\u201d P\u00e9rez de Lara said of Su\u00e1rez. \u201cI see him a lot, and he\u2019s been supportive and he\u2019s always there. And we have the connection with Freeway Insurance, and the connection with Daniel has made it stronger. More than advice, the way he looks at his career and all of the stuff we did coming from Mexico to the U.S. requires further learning, and there\u2019s so many things we can get out of it. We support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n He is also being supported by major Mexican brands, such as Telcel, Taj\u00edn and Zambos.<\/p>\n \u201cThe support I bring from Mexico has been awesome,\u201d P\u00e9rez de Lara said. \u201cHaving brands from Mexico support me in the U.S. has been really cool, and it\u2019s also helped me a lot to be in this position. This year, we added Acceptance Insurance and all of the other stuff that we\u2019re working on is really cool. I feel like things are starting to work out better in that area. Me coming from Mexico opens the doors for having those opportunities to bring partners, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n P\u00e9rez de Lara\u2019s NASCAR Future<\/p>\n Of course, nothing is set in stop, but P\u00e9rez de Lara has high expectations for his future. The ARCA Menards Series champion became the series\u2019 first international driver to claim the crown. Now, he wants more of the same in NASCAR\u2019s higher divisions.<\/p>\n \u201cMy short-term goal is to win a race and be in the Chase,\u201d he said of his future. \u201cMy long-term goal is to be in the Cup Series. However that path looks like, I still don\u2019t know. But I want to be in the Cup Series and I want to keep growing my career here in the U.S. That\u2019s what I work for everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, he got a taste of the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series, competing with DGM Racing at his hometrack in Mexico City. While that event was taken off the calendar for 2026, it showed teams what he is capable of.<\/p>\n But for now, his focus is on the Truck Series with the No. 44 team. He believes there are several tracks where he can get his first win.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first one that comes to mind is Watkins Glen,\u201d he explained. \u201cI have a road course background and I\u2019ve performed really well there the last couple of years. There\u2019s a lot of others that I\u2019m excited for that you don\u2019t even know. Last year, New Hampshire wasn\u2019t a track I was looking forward to \u2013 it was just a track that was there \u2013 and I didn\u2019t have any expectations, but it ended up being one of our best ones. We led a couple of laps and ran in the top five. If that\u2019s the case this year, it can be at any race that we\u2019re going to put everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n P\u00e9rez de Lara\u2019s next shot at scoring a win is this weekend\u2019s contest at Rockingham, where he finished 12th in 2025.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJoseph Wolkin<\/a> Joseph Wolkin is a motor sports expert, focusing on telling the untold stories inside of Nascar, Formula 1 and the IndyCar Series. He is currently working on a new book about team leaders turn racers into champions. Follow Joseph on X at @joewolkin. More about Joseph Wolkin<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez de Lara is a full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver for Niece Motorsports. The name…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-575385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}