(Mooresville, NC, January 11) – Teenagers Ryan Repko and Blaine Perkins will test with Mason Mitchell Motorsports this weekend at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards open test. Both drivers made their ARCA debuts with MMM one season ago where they both earned top-ten finishes.
Repko made his series debut last June at the Madison International Speedway. The 18-year-old started in the sixth position and ended the evening with a notable top-ten.
“It’ll be a dream come true,” an enthusiastic Repko stated. “Every kid dreams of one day having the opportunity to drive a car around Daytona and I’m excited that I’m going to have the chance! It’s been all I could think about for the last few weeks.”
The late model standout hasn’t raced on a track larger than a half-mile in his young career.
“I’ve never raced on anything but short tracks in my career, so I’m looking forward to learning how to work the draft and understanding how these cars work on superspeedways. I’m going to try to learn as much as I can and ask questions and lean on Mason and my teammates as much as I can.”
2015 was Repko’s first season racing in late models at Motor Mile, South Boston, and Hickory. He picked up one win during his rookie season and was awarded Motor Mile Speedway’s rookie of the year in limited late models. 2016 was Repko’s first appearance at the Martinsville ValleyStar 300 where he qualified third overall and finished ninth in the feature race. In addition to making his ARCA debut in 2017, Repko made five starts with the CARS Late Model Stock tour in 2017 earning one top-five and five top-ten finishes. He also picked up a win in late model competition in July at the Anderson Motor Speedway He is currently a high school Senior at North Lincoln High School and enrolled in the academic honors program.
Perkins made his debut with MMM at the Kentucky Speedway last fall and ran as high as second in the late stages before earning a solid top-ten finish. Perkins will make his 2018 debut at the Talladega Superspeedway. He will also race at Pocono Raceway (June), Michigan International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and the Iowa Speedway
“This weekend’s test is going to be an amazing experience I will never forget,” Perkins stated. “Daytona hosts the most famous race in NASCAR, so to be able to practice there is quite an accomplishment in its own right.”
“Kentucky was a huge learning experience all around last year, but the most important thing I took away from there was learning how the cars handle in traffic. Since my first race of the year with MMM is going to be Talladega, I felt that coming to Daytona to practice would be a great opportunity to get more seat time and experience for our first race in April.”
In the last two seasons, Perkins has made 26 starts with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West earning one top-five and 14 top-ten finishes. His best finish came in his rookie season (16) where he finished fifth at Colorado National Speedway.
The Bakersfield, California native began racing with the SRL Legends Tour in 2012. During his first full-time season in 2013 he earned three-top five finishes and finished runner-up in championship points. From there he made several starts with the SRL Southwest Tour as well as the Lucas Oil Modifieds. In 2016, he made the jump up to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West tour earning one top-five and ten top-ten finishes and finishing tenth in points.
Daytona Open Test Information
The two-day test will start Friday, January 13th at 9:00 AM and run through 5:00 PM Teams will have a one-hour lunch break from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM.
Saturday the test will start at 9:00 AM and run through 5:00 PM. Teams will be allowed to draft with up to six cars.
Sunday, January 15th will serve as the rain date.
ARCAracing.com will feature Live Timing, Scoring and an open Chat Board of the open test from Daytona.