by Reid Scearce
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: From Dirt Tracks to ARCA | Q&A Interview is in conjunction with his interview, available on Fan4Racing Radio on YouTube.
Craig Pellegrini Jr. finds himself in the midst of a spectacular rookie season in the NASCAR ARCA Menards Series East. The Buena, New Jersey, native currently sits fourth in the championship standings heading into next week’s season finale at Bristol.
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: From Dirt to ARCA
Pellegrini, the full-time driver of the No. 10 Toyota for Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track Racing, comes from a background of building and racing go-karts, sprint cars, and dirt modifieds. Having virtually no stock-car racing experience prior to the 2026 season, Pellegrini’s consistency has been nothing short of remarkable.
In seven starts, the 24-year-old wheelman has recorded five top-ten finishes, punching above his weight class and competing against race teams with budgets up to three times larger than Fast Track’s program. Pellegrini has all but secured his fourth-place position in the championship standings and will look to cap off an impressive rookie campaign with another strong performance at Bristol.
As he prepares for the offseason and looks ahead to his future in NASCAR, Pellegrini has already established himself as one of the more consistent and promising underdog drivers in the ARCA Menards Series.
Below are abbreviated statements from Craig’s interview, discussing his racing career, his journey through NASCAR, and his 2026 season.
Interviewer: Reid Scearce
Can you tell us how your racing career got started? You got into go-karts when you were five years old, so what was that experience like?
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: “It started long before that. My family owns a farm up here in New Jersey, so as soon as I was able to walk, my father had me on a go-kart, and I was just ripping around the farm doing my thing. … He thought it was a good idea to take me to a winter league, like an indoor karting place, and, for lack of better terms, we just cleaned up up there at the karting place. So we were like, ‘All right, I’m into racing.’
“Basically from there, I had to be, I don’t know, eight, nine years old. I probably got my first competition kart and started racing outdoors. We raced for years and years with the Gearup F Series. … Eventually, for most kids with my story, the go-karting ends when you just get too big. I’m a big boy. I know it. I know where I stand. … I was racing against kids who were half my weight, so I couldn’t win a race after I cleared 150 pounds. So it was like, ‘All right, let’s start looking.’
“We started looking at sprint cars, and that’s where my grandfather, Albert Pellegrini, came into play. He helped me and my father get my first 305 sprint car. … Most kids go through micro sprints and all the feeder divisions leading up to it, but my family didn’t have the money to do all that. … We bought a 305 sprint car, and the plan was to not race at all in 2013, but to race in 2014. I lied to my mother. I was like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to run. We’re just going to save up our money and go when we can.’ Well, as soon as that car hit the garage, we were like, ‘All right, we got to go race in like two weeks.’ And we did.”
“Four races into USAC racing, I had a crash that set me back pretty bad. … I went end over end nine times and didn’t know where I was, didn’t know who I was, just knew that I was in a race car and just landed on my head really hard. … I didn’t race the same in a USAC car after that. … You drive differently after you’ve been through something like that.”
“I eventually sold out of sprint cars. The doctor was telling me, ‘Look, you keep racing these things, you’re going to kill yourself in one.’ … So I took that pretty seriously. I didn’t want to go completely out of racing like I had done prior, so I built my own Sportsman Modified and just wanted to stay relevant. … I was talking back and forth with Andy Stapp from the Carolina Sprint Tour, and I was like, ‘Andy, I think the only way I can see a career further is if I go stock car racing. I think that’s the only way.’ “
“When I got in touch with Andy Hillenburg, it was probably early January. … I told him, ‘Look, I’d like to test in one. I’d like to just see where I’m at.’ … Got that all done, went to Daytona, and Andy gave me a shot basically and put me through the ropes. He ran me low on the track, ran me high on the track, tried to put me with a couple other cars, and I felt really comfortable. I’ll be honest, for the first time doing 180 miles an hour, I have never felt more comfortable in a race car. I think that’s when we knew that was going to be the start of something big going forward into the ARCA Menards Series.”
In an interview with Frontstretch earlier this year, you mentioned Northeast legends such as Jimmy Horton and Stewart Friesen as drivers who inspired you through their tenacity and success at the local level. Since embarking on your ARCA Series journey, have you received any advice from established dirt-racing figures in the Northeast?
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: “Yeah, I mean, as established as they get, really. I mean, Billy Pauch Jr. being one of them. Him and I had a couple good talks, and he kind of shed light on why racing needs people like me…”
“Jimmy Horton was somebody I grew up going to Bridgeport Speedway and watching him every week and watching him go through all these different cars and race for different people… He’s the most winningest driver at Bridgeport Speedway. Won all over the Northeast… I mean, he’s a local legend.”
“Stewart Friesen, again, he kind of started, he made a name for himself in the dirt cars and, you know, he has a great sponsor, a great partner behind him, and he pioneered his way right into the Truck Series with his own team.”
“But, you know, there’s differences that separate me from those guys. And that’s because I do this from nothing. You know, my parents aren’t rich… I’m just thankful to be in the position I’m in to have people trust me and run their cars and, you know, very fortunate. I’ve had a lot of opportunities in my career.”
We finished ninth place at Hickory in my first race. And hilariously enough, we’re in the shop on Monday eating a cake that says ninth place… That was a celebration for us.”
“I will quote the great Andy Hillenburg on another one. A good race car is like a good woman. If you find your one, you’re going to work out, and you’re going to be with that car forever… They stuck me in this new car, and that was just a hot mess of a first date at IRP.”
“Growing as a driver, you know, this is all new… I’m an adaptable driver, so I like to think I can go anywhere and just perform the same. But to go there and do better is going to take a lot more resources, a lot better partners… People don’t realize how much more it takes to be the Joe Gibbs, to be the Pinnacles and all these people that just go out there and dominate every week. That’s not luck. That’s just a lot of money, you know, getting put in the resources.”
“Me and the crew get along great. Me and Andy get along great. And at the end of the day, when the driver and the team get along and the team’s looking forward to having the driver come back, you perform better… To take the 10 car back into being a competitive car is, you know, something that I find really special, and I’m super thankful for it, and I just want to keep it going.”
The finale next week is at the ½ mile oval of Bristol. Fast Track Racing is known for maximizing resources and keeping cars running at the end of long races. How do you balance being aggressive in track-position battles while making sure you preserve the car for 200 laps?
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: “Well, that’s another thing that, you know, people always bring a lot of speed; they don’t bring consistency… You got to not shoot yourself in the foot early. If there’s anything I’ve learned from Andy, it’s just let them get silly. Let them shoot themselves in the foot because their arrow package ain’t going to make a damn bit of difference if they’re the ones getting up into the wall…”
“We played strategy at Iowa, which is super cool… I told my crew chief, I’m like, I could hang on to this thing. Like, leave the tires on it… Let’s just put the right sides. Save the set of stickers for the end. And it worked out great.”
“I’m learning enough now where me and the crew chief can call strategy over the radio. You know, as longevity goes, you just got to be really smart. If there is something that doesn’t look great, it’s probably not great. Don’t do it.”
“At the end of the day, the race is, you got to run the full distance. I mean, you’re not going to win the race at, you know, lap 75 when you have 150 or 200 laps to go… Just be smart, use your head, and be there at the end. The team does a great job preparing cars that can make it to the end.”
“I’ve had people that were trying to talk me out of it. They’re like, ‘You don’t want to do this. You know, Fast Track’s not running up front. Their cars don’t, you know, they’re not good.’ I’m going to be one to just vouch. I run the oldest car in their 22-plus car fleet, and that thing’s a rocket… Everybody else is getting beat by a car from ’93.”
Does your dirt background and throttle control help you with coming off Turn 2 and Turn 4?
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: “It does. At Flat Rock, Andy Hillenburg wasn’t my spotter, but he came over to the radio, and he said, ‘Pretend that the yellow line at the bottom of the track is the only moisture that’s out there. Pretend the rest of the track is dry slick.’ And when he said that, my mind was like, ‘I know where to put my left-side tires.’”
“Coming from dirt, it definitely does help me understand tire wear and tire falloff and stuff like that. It’s cool to have a sprint car owner coaching a sprint car driver in a stock car. So it definitely translates a lot.”
Can you tell us a little bit about your partnership with Let’s Be Frank? How active are you in searching for sponsors, and how do you pitch your brand in an industry that is notoriously competitive for financial backing?
Craig Pellegrini Jr.: “It’s kind of crazy. So Frank and I have a really cool relationship. I met him, he gave me enough for one set of tires on my dirt car, and now it’s, you know, him funding NASCAR and helping me get to where I got to be going… It’s really kind of a humbling thing because it started from an Instagram DM. Most people don’t get this from an Instagram DM.”
“Frank has proven and shown that he has gotten ROI… because we’re going and racing in places where essentially his product doesn’t exist yet. But it gets people talking. It also helps that I’m a driver that goes out in the campgrounds after my race. I’m going to go interact with all the fans… They’re going to remember who I am and what we did.”
“Every day I’m making calls. Some days, you know, when it was crunch time going to Bristol, I was making 50, 70 calls a day somewhere around there. And it sucks getting told no 70 times, but it happens.”
“I quit my nine-to-five job. So, all I do all day long is dedicate my time to making sure all my sponsors are happy… Sponsors, I’m always looking. I’m always hunting. Every single day I’m sending emails… It’s a full-time job to do sponsorship relations and set up all these trips and do everything.”
“It’s an ongoing thing that just, it’ll never end… Hopefully one day we get a big enough partner behind us where we can just take a breath for a minute and say, ‘Hey, like we can go out there just focus on racing for a week.’ But right now, I wake up every day… ‘Oh, I got to go get sponsors now.’ So, we do it, and we do it good… I’m very proud of myself for just, you know, sticking it out and getting told no a million times because that one yes is always worth it.”
Long-term, what are your goals in stock car racing over the next few years? Are you aiming to build towards national ARCA starts or potentially cross over into the Truck Series down the road?
Craig Pellegrini Jr: “Yeah, I would like to go, you know, run a national season or two. I think with some partners we’re talking to now, it might be a possibility. So, I’m just hoping that somebody believes enough in me to carry their brand a little bit further.”
“We do have a lot to offer at Fast Track. We are trying to just give it a refresh here… We’re going to say, ‘Hey, we’re back. You know, we’re here to stay, and we’re going to be competitive while we’re here.’ So, national seasons are definitely looking more and more doable by the day.”
“I have some relationships in some upper series. I have been talking to some Truck Series drivers and some O’Reilly drivers, and I truly think that there’s a future there. I don’t want to stop until I can’t anymore. And I would love to make it to the Cup Series and run Cup cars one day.”
“The reality for a kid that comes from absolutely nothing is still slim. But, you know, people like Matt Crafton and people like Justin Allgaier have made livings in the lower divisions, and they still get to live that dream of racing in NASCAR, just on a little bit more of an affordable level.”
“I’m funding my career solely off of there’s no plan B. I need to make this happen… I have offers. I have people that are like, ‘Yeah, we would be happy to have you,’ but they’d be happy to have me and the check that comes with me, too.”
“I definitely see a future of being a driver in this sport. And plan B would be to still be involved in the sport, whether it’s crew chiefing or spotting, but I’m not giving up the driver fight just yet. I got a lot more fight in me. You guys haven’t even seen me on a Super Speedway yet, but if iRacing has any tellings, I’m kind of a dog, so we’ll see.”
Finally, what message would you like to share with all your fans, family, and supporters back home in New Jersey who have backed you throughout this season?
Craig Pellegrini Jr: “Well, first off, thank you to everybody because literally without everybody, this wouldn’t be possible. I’ve just had unwavering support from everybody.”
“I like to tell people this: in between Hickory and Rockingham for five days, I slept on the lobby floor at Andy Hillenberg’s shop. Like, wow. This is what grassroots racing is to take it to this next level.”
“Thank you to Frank. Him and Liz are just the greatest people that ever walked into my life. You know, they helped save my career and give me the opportunity I needed to show that I can get out there and wheel and I can do this.”
“Fleet Reps, they are another big company, [I] literally never met the owner in my life. He just took a chance on me and said, ‘Let’s do it, you know, let’s see what we can do this year.’ And he’s looking forward to next year, as well as a lot of other partners that we had that are just super, super happy.”
“My buddy Dean, I grew up racing with him. He was my jackman at Nashville. He’s going to be my jackman at Bristol… He was crying like a baby at Hickory. It was so hilarious. And I’m like, I get out of that car, we were crying on each other. I’m like, this is like that is the emotion, seeing how big of a milestone it is and what we’re doing.”
“For all my fans and followers, thank you guys, and keep following, keep supporting, and we’re going to make it. We’re not stopping. There’s no plan B. And for potential partners and potential sponsors, if you’re looking for a killer underdog story, like, this is it. We’re going to keep pushing until we can’t.”
