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 | |||||||
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Born | Caesar Peter Bacarella December 18, 1973 Parkland, Florida, U.S. | ||||||
NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
32 races run over 8 years | |||||||
Car no., team | No. 45 (Alpha Prime Racing) | ||||||
2023 position | 51st | ||||||
Best finish | 46th (2020) | ||||||
First race | 2017 Ticket Galaxy 200 (Phoenix) | ||||||
Last race | 2024 Wawa 250 (Daytona) | ||||||
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ARCA Menards Series career | |||||||
2 races run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 92nd (2017) | ||||||
First race | 2017 Lucas Oil 200 (Daytona) | ||||||
Last race | 2017 General Tire 200 (Talladega) | ||||||
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Statistics current as of August 23, 2024. |
Racing career
editPirelli World Challenge
editFor the 2018 season, Bacarella joined Squadra Corse Garage Italia Americas for the series' Sprint-X races.[2]
ARCA Racing Series
editBacarella 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
editTeaming 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
editNASCAR
edit(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Xfinity Series
edit* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
ARCA Racing Series
edit(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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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
edit- ^ "Driver Caesar Bacarella Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
- ^ Allaway, Phil (February 3, 2018). "Martin Fuentes Returns to PWC, Caesar Bacarella Joins For Spirnt-X". Frontstretch. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
- ^ "Finney Racing finally returns to Daytona; introducing newcomer Bacarella". ARCA Racing. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
- ^ "Previewing the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix". Motorsports Tribune. November 10, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – NASCAR Talk". nascar.nbcsports.com. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "William Byron wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Phoenix as title contenders are set". Autoweek. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Brennan Poole's playoff hopes take hit at Phoenix | NASCAR.com". Official Site Of NASCAR. November 11, 2017. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "William Byron wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Phoenix as title contenders are set". Autoweek. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
- ^ "Driver Caesar Bacarella 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". racing-reference.info. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "UPDATE: Mike Harmon Racing, Caesar Bacarella Penalized". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella Reinstated by NASCAR". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. February 14, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
- ^ Kevin Rutherford (January 3, 2024). "Caesar Bacarella Competing at Superspeedways for APR". www.frontstretch.com. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
- ^ "Caesar Bacarella – 2017 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
External links
edit- Caesar Bacarella driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Caesar Bacarella driver statistics at The Third Turn