The official kickoff to the 2025 ARCA Menards Series season took place this past weekend at the famed Daytona International Speedway as Nitro Motorsports made their series debut. Entering a pair of drivers in Thad Moffitt and Amber Balcaen, the Toyota Racing program turned heads, topping the charts in the only practice session before both cars were involved in multi-car incidents.
With rain moving through the area on Thursday, series officials canceled practice and changed Friday’s qualifying session into a practice run for ARCA Menards Series competitors. With Moffit showing speed and topping the speed charts, Balcaen was P19 as the focus shifted to Saturday’s 200-mile affair.
“It is unfortunate about the weather, but that’s what we get here in Florida in February,” explained Nitro Motorsports owner Nick Tucker. “It is honestly a privilege to be here. We have worked extremely hard behind the scenes, and to have the speed that we have shown in our debut is a testament to the hard work we have put in, and I can’t thank our guys enough for their efforts.”
Saturday saw Moffitt line up on the inside of row four in the seventh position for the start of the Ride the ‘Dente 200 at Daytona, while Balcaen rolled off the grid 30th. Moffitt was looking to maintain his position in the top-ten before a chain reaction incident on lap five left him with nowhere to go as he was collected in a multi-car pileup.
With Amber Balcaen avoiding the incident, she would be the lone Nitro Motorsports car left on track before another crash off turn four saw her collected, and both Nitro Motorsports drivers out of the race before lap 20.
Tucker added, “It was good before it wasn’t. Not ideal to have both cars out of the race before lap 20, but both Thad and Amber were not at fault, and both are ok, which is a priority. We can fix race cars, and we will be back to fight again at the next event.”
Next up for the Nitro Motorsports ARCA program will be a trip to Phoenix Raceway on March 7.
Photo Credit: RTD Media