Caesar Peter Bacarella (born December 18, 1973) is an American stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. Bacarella has also driven in the ARCA Menards Series and Pirelli World Challenge.[1]

Caesar Bacarella
BornCaesar Peter Bacarella
(1973-12-18) December 18, 1973 (age 50)
Parkland, Florida, U.S.
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
32 races run over 8 years
Car no., teamNo. 45 (Alpha Prime Racing)
2023 position51st
Best finish46th (2020)
First race2017 Ticket Galaxy 200 (Phoenix)
Last race2024 Wawa 250 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 3 0
ARCA Menards Series career
2 races run over 1 year
Best finish92nd (2017)
First race2017 Lucas Oil 200 (Daytona)
Last race2017 General Tire 200 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of August 23, 2024.
Caesar Bacarella driving in the 2022 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America event

Racing career

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Pirelli World Challenge

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For the 2018 season, Bacarella joined Squadra Corse Garage Italia Americas for the series' Sprint-X races.[2]

ARCA Racing Series

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Bacarella drove in two races in the 2017 ARCA Racing Series with Finney Racing, driving the No. 80 car. Bacarella finished 33rd after being involved in a wreck in his first start, at Daytona. His second start, also with Finney Racing and his No. 80 car, came at Talladega. There, he yielded a DNF once again but finished 25th.[3]

NASCAR Xfinity Series

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Teaming up with B. J. McLeod Motorsports, Bacarella made his debut in the 2017 Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix.[4] After qualifying on owner points in 37th,[5] he cut down on Playoff contender Brennan Poole early in the race as a lapped car,[6] eliminating Poole from the race and ending his championship hopes.[7] Poole later sounded off on the dangers of lapped cars, as did Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon, who was running the race. Referring to Bacarella's overall driving, Dillon said over in-car communications "get that guy off the freaking track, man! Where did he get a licence to do this?"[8] Poole, for his part, commented on what he saw as the need for NASCAR to look at how it approves drivers for competition.[9] Bacarella finished 30th in the race,[10] and ran the following week at Homestead, finishing 31st.[11]

During the off-season, Bacarella was tapped to drive the No. 8 car once again at the season opener at Daytona in 2018.[12]

On August 30, 2021, it was announced that Bacarella and Tommy Joe Martins will form Alpha Prime Racing, and will compete full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2022. Bacarella, Martins, and Rajah Caruth are expected to run the full season under part-time schedules.[13] On November 22, NASCAR indefinitely suspended Bacarella for substance abuse after he claimed he unknowingly took a workout supplement that is on the banned substances list. Bacarella has since enrolled in the Road to Recovery program and is expected to return for the Daytona race.[14] On February 14, 2022, Bacarella was reinstated by NASCAR.[15]

For 2023, Bacarella continued to run a partial schedule in the Xfinity Series. On April 22 at Talladega, Bacarella scored his first career Xfinity Series top 10 with a 6th place finish.

On January 3, 2024, Bacarella and Alpha Prime announced that he would run at least four races in the No. 45 on superspeedways in the Xfinity Series during the 2024 season, starting with the February Daytona race.[16] Bacarella scored his second career top 10 at Talladega with a 7th place finish. He would then score his third career top 10 at Michigan, his first top 10 on a non-superspeedway.

Motorsports career results

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NASCAR

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(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

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NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2017 B. J. McLeod Motorsports 8 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL CLT DOV POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO
30
HOM
31
68th 13 [17]
2018 Toyota DAY
13
ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC 52nd 45 [18]
Chevy MCH
34
IOW CHI DAY
38
KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR IND
23
LVS RCH ROV DOV KAN TEX PHO
DGM Racing 90 Chevy HOM
34
2019 DAY
29
ATL LVS PHO CAL
37
TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY
29
KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR IND LVS RCH ROV DOV KAN TEX PHO HOM 67th 17 [19]
2020 DAY
29
LVS CAL PHO DAR CLT BRI ATL HOM
29
HOM
30
TAL
17
POC IRC KEN KEN TEX KAN ROA DRC DOV DOV DAY
36
DAR RCH RCH BRI LVS TAL
13
ROV KAN TEX MAR PHO 46th 68 [20]
2021 DAY
12
DRC HOM LVS PHO ATL MAR TAL
38
DAR DOV COA
DNQ
CLT MOH TEX NSH POC ROA ATL NHA GLN IRC MCH
35
DAY
36
DAR RCH BRI LVS TAL
32
ROV TEX KAN MAR PHO 54th 37 [21]
2022 Alpha Prime Racing 45 Chevy DAY
38
CAL LVS PHO ATL COA RCH MAR TAL
25
DOV DAR TEX CLT PIR NSH ROA ATL
28
NHA POC IRC MCH GLN DAY
28
DAR KAN BRI TEX TAL
31
ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO 54th 37 [22]
2023 DAY
INQ
CAL LVS PHO 51st 38 [23]
66 ATL
38
COA RCH MAR
43 TAL
6
DOV DAR CLT PIR SON NSH CSC ATL NHA POC ROA MCH IRC GLN
44 DAY
31
DAR KAN BRI TEX ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO
2024 45 DAY
DNQ
ATL LVS PHO COA RCH MAR TEX TAL
7
DOV DAR CLT PIR SON IOW NHA NSH CSC POC IND MCH
9
DAY
29
DAR ATL GLN BRI KAN TAL
QL
ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO 52nd 46 [24]
– Qualified but replaced by Stefan Parsons – Qualified but replaced by Tommy Joe Martins

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

ARCA Racing Series

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(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Racing Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ARSC Pts Ref
2017 Finney Racing 80 Chevy DAY
33
NSH SLM TAL
25
TOL ELK POC MCH MAD IOW IRP POC WIN ISF ROA DSF SLM CHI KEN KAN 92nd 170 [25]

References

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  1. ^ "Driver Caesar Bacarella Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  2. ^ Allaway, Phil (February 3, 2018). "Martin Fuentes Returns to PWC, Caesar Bacarella Joins For Spirnt-X". Frontstretch. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  3. ^ "Finney Racing finally returns to Daytona; introducing newcomer Bacarella". ARCA Racing. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  4. ^ "Previewing the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix". Motorsports Tribune. November 10, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  5. ^ "Caesar Bacarella". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  6. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – NASCAR Talk". nascar.nbcsports.com. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  7. ^ "William Byron wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Phoenix as title contenders are set". Autoweek. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  8. ^ "A NASCAR driver making his first start is already making enemies". Engaging Car News, Reviews, and Content You Need to See - alt_driver. November 11, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  9. ^ "Brennan Poole's playoff hopes take hit at Phoenix | NASCAR.com". Official Site Of NASCAR. November 11, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  10. ^ "William Byron wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Phoenix as title contenders are set". Autoweek. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  11. ^ "Driver Caesar Bacarella 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  12. ^ "Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site - 2018 XFINITY Series Team Chart". www.jayski.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2018. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  13. ^ "Caesar Bacarella, Tommy Joe Martins partner to form new Xfinity Series team, Alpha Prime Racing". Official Site of NASCAR. August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  14. ^ "UPDATE: Mike Harmon Racing, Caesar Bacarella Penalized". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  15. ^ "Caesar Bacarella Reinstated by NASCAR". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 14, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  16. ^ Kevin Rutherford (January 3, 2024). "Caesar Bacarella Competing at Superspeedways for APR". www.frontstretch.com. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  17. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  18. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  19. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  20. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  21. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  22. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  23. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  24. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  25. ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2017 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
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