2/24/2021
Five Flags Speedway
ARCA Driver has One Win, Looking to Repeat here Saturday
Gutierrez Eyes Back-to-Back Victories as ARCA Returns to Five Flags for Pensacola 200
By Chuck Corder
It has been more than two weeks, and reality is setting in slowly for Max Gutierrez.
It has been more than two weeks since the 18-year-old left the racing world breathless with easily the best finish of the young season at any level.
It has been more than two weeks, and the Mexico City, Mexico, native – who speaks three languages fluently – still struggles to describe his three-wide victory at the Jeep Beach 175 to open the ARCA Menards East Series slate at New Smyrna Speedway.
“It was a very good experience,� said Gutierrez, who speaks his native Spanish, English, and German.
A very good experience? That’s a meal at The District steakhouse in downtown Pensacola or test driving a new Tesla.
Gutierrez’s improbable victory earlier this month at New Smyrna was otherworldly. He went from third in Turn No. 3 – a handful of car lengths behind P1 – to stealing the victory once the two leaders in front of him washed up the racetrack while they battled to reach the flag stand first.
“No one expected that, not my first time,� Gutierrez said. “My team, too. They thought we would just stay in third place. I said to myself that this would be a very good position for me to finish in my first race.
“Then, (the leaders) opened the door a little bit, and it was the perfect opportunity.�
He pounced when opportunity knocked, and the former six-time Super Kart Champion scored his biggest victory for his young career in the No. 30 Ford for Rette Jones Racing.
Gutierrez will bring all that momentum with him to Five Flags Speedway for the Pensacola 200 presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions on Saturday. It will be the fourth time the ARCA Menards Series East has raced at the famed half-mile oval.
For ticket information, visit FiveFlagsSpeedway.com or TrackEnterprises.com. Practice for the Pensacola 200 will be 12:15 p.m. Saturday with General Tire Pole Qualifying to follow at 2:30. Saturday’s race will be streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold, a paywall service, starting at 5 p.m. Saturday. Before the ARCA cars race, the Vores Compact Touring Series and the Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks get things underway beginning at 3 p.m.
Two-time champion Sam Mayer put an exclamation point on his 2020 championship season with his fifth win of the season at last year’s Pensacola 200, which was delayed from March to October right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gutierrez finished 12th that day, his best finish in two ARCA East races with a different team.
“(Five Flags) reminds me of some of the best tracks in Mexico with its length and banking,� he said. “But, last year, I only had about 10 minutes of practice and it was only my second time with the car. Plus, we didn’t know anything about that track or what the setup should look like. In the straightaways, I was sideways.�
After a prolific career in karts, Gutierrez left his mark on Mikel’s NASCAR Truck Series in Mexico. He first took home rookie of the year accolades in 2017 before ascending to the series championship the following year. Since 2019, he has dominated the NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series, a developmental series for the NASCAR Mexico Peak Series – similar to the relationship between the Xfinity and Cup series. Gutierrez has seven Challenge wins and captured the season title in 2020.
He comes from a racing family. Both his grandfather, in the 1950s, and his father, more recently, competed in Rally car races, including one known as Rally Guanajuato that lasts seven days across Mexico.
“I told my father when I was about 3 that I wanted to race professionally,� Gutierrez said. “I got my first car at Christmas, and two days later I was spending all my time at the track. I didn’t know how to speak and I was already driving a kart.
“I think I spent more time in the seat of my car than in any seat in school.�
Which brings us back to Feb. 8, a few miles west of the Atlantic Ocean and few more south of Daytona in Volusia County. It was Gutierrez’s first time at New Smyrna Speedway and his first time driving for co-car owner and crew chief, Mark Rette.
On the last lap as they entered Turn No. 3, Taylor Gray led Sammy Smith by a car length with Gutierrez another two or three car lengths behind Smith. Smith dive-bombed in 3 and got to Gray’s left rear corner. As Smith nudged his No. 18’s bumper under Gray’s No. 17, both cars got loose and washed up the track.
That’s when Gutierrez saw his chance and closed on the leaders. He exploded off the apron as they exited Turn No. 4 and stuck his nose across the line first in a spectacular three-wide finish.
“We’re excited with the result in New Smyrna,� Gutierrez said. “It let us know we have a good car and this is a good team. It’s just one race, not the whole championship.
“We just need to stay focus and stay calm in Pensacola this week. I just always feel I need to learn more.�
That’s the attitude that could carry Gutierrez to more memorable feats at Five Flags and beyond this season.
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