Brad Perez has made five NASCAR National Series starts, all of them on road courses in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Perez will attempt to make his first-career oval start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event with Young’s Motorsports.
Perez will pilot the No. 20 Chevrolet Silverado for Young’s Motorsports in the Long John Silver’s 200.
“I’m in a good truck,” Perez said to TobyChristie.com of the Young’s Motorsports equipment. “Tyler Young and his people put together good stuff. I’m very excited to be a part of that family, finally. I’m not nervous because I think I’m going to fail, I’m nervous because I just want to get it over with.”
Rockledge, Florida-based Bonesteel Aerospace will serve as the primary sponsor for the effort. Perez said that he met the folks at Bonesteel Aerospace through a cold email, and things blossomed from there.
In addition to the primary sponsorship from Bonesteel Aerospace, Perez will carry associate sponsorship from Armite Lubricants and Serpentix Conveyor Corporation.
So, how did the deal with Young’s Motorsports come together for Perez?
“Tyler and I had been talking about doing something together for a while,” Perez explained. “Ever since I worked for Rackley W.A.R. working with Chad Kendrick as crew chief, he used to work for Young’s. Tyler and I got a little closer during that deal because I was selling tires quite a bit, and him and Chad were pretty chummy. Got to know Tyler, and got to know more about the team. Got to work with more of their people. Doesn’t even feel like a foreign team to me, because I’ve worked with them so much.”
While Perez hopes to lock into the field for what will be his first NASCAR National Series oval start, the 26-year-old racer says he isn’t nearly as nervous for Martinsville as he is about road course races.
“Honestly, I’m not as nervous as I was for the road course stuff, mainly because I don’t really have any expectations,” Perez stated. “My expectations for myself on road courses are very high, and I feel like I can do extremely well and I put a lot of pressure on myself. But for this, I don’t know much. I know from what I’ve been told, and I take notes. I’ve done one short track race at Hickory in a late model stock, and other than that it’s just legend cars races.
“My reference for ovals is very small. If anything, I get more laps in practice if you think about it. At COTA, 20 minutes of practice is like four or five laps. 20 minutes of practice at Martinsville is like 20 or 30 laps. I’ll have the chance to get a lot of practice, so I’m pretty stoked about that.”
To learn more about Perez, check out an exclusive interview that the young racer conducted with TobyChristie.com last season:
