After a strong first ARCA test at Daytona last month, Miguel Gomes is set to compete in ARCA Menards Series’ Lucas Oil 200 this Saturday as the driver of Young’s Motorsports No. 02 Chevrolet.
Miguel Gomes will be entering his first race in the United States as the Portuguese driver has announced his intention to compete in ARCA Menards Series’ season-opening round, the Lucas Oil 200, at Daytona International Superspeedway this Saturday.
Gomes, who participated in ARCA’s pre-season test at the famed 2.5 mile superspeedway last month, will race the No. 02 Chevrolet SS entered by Young’s Motorsports in the 60th edition of ARCA’s biggest event of the year.
“My biggest dream since I started racing in real life has been to race at Daytona, so to be able to do it during the Daytona 500 weekend is just hard to believe! I still have to qualify for the race on Saturday, but just to be able to try is great,” said Gomes to euronascar.com on the ARCA opportunity.
“I felt good driving the car by myself, but didn’t get a chance to do much drafting because of the radio issues. Now I’ll be in a different car and drafting with a lot more cars, so I’ll try to get some extra simulator practice and coaching with driver Kyle Lockrow, who has been helping out since the test.”
A two-year veteran driver in EuroNASCAR 2 with Marko Stipp Motorsport, Gomes is one of the forty-one drivers that ARCA has listed as entrants for the Lucas Oil 200, in which forty is set to compete in the race itself.
He is one of the three international drivers that is due to compete at Daytona this week, as Canada’s Amber Balcaen and Mexico’s Andres Perez de Lara are entered for Venturini Racing and Fast Track Racing respectively.
“It’s not guaranteed that I’ll be able to qualify, because they’re expecting a full field this time. And if I manage to see the green flag on Saturday, then the first goal is to see the checkered flag! Anything can happen at Daytona, so I’ll just do my best and work hard to learn quickly,” further said Gomes to euronascar.com.
“The most exciting element of racing in Daytona is ‘the speed’. You are always going close to 300 kph with cars all around you, you have to be really smooth at all times and be ready to react quickly if something happens in front of you.”
Should Gomes make the 40-car field at Daytona this week, he will become just the second Portuguese driver to compete in any NASCAR or ARCA race. The only other Portuguese driver to have done so is the former two-time IMSA champion João Barbosa, who took part in an ARCA West race at Utah Motorsports Campus in 2010.
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