This South Jersey Driver Taking on New Opportunity to Climb NASCAR Ladder

Each year, some of the highest attended sporting events each year can be found on the NASCAR circuit. From the Daytona 500 in Florida to the Indianapolis Brickyard 400 and the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, these events are consistently attracting the highest-per-event average attendance of any major sporting event in the United States.

These events also have high volume viewership numbers, making NASCAR competitive with more well-known mainstream North American Professional Sports Leagues like Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL).

But becoming a NASCAR driver is one of the most difficult professional sports jobs to attain in the United States. Unlike Football, Basketball, or Baseball where you can play organized sports through grade school, high school, and college, becoming a professional race car driver is much more nuanced and requires a very different path to success

This South Jersey Racer Is Competing for his shot at the NASCAR Cup Series

For Craig Pellegrini Jr., the dream has always been to be a professional race car driver, but he was a championship Sprint Car driver before the idea of being a full-time NASCAR Driver became a reality.

Pellegrini Jr. explained to me in our conversation on 973 ESPN South Jersey that this opportunity came together very quickly earlier this year:

"Stuff was in talks forever of, you know, me going into stock cars, and this opportunity...came about was so good that I couldn't really say no. To put everything in perspective, it was only about 3 weeks prior to the Daytona (500), it was a very quick turnaround. And ever since we started, I feel like it's been snowballing into something even bigger and crazier.
"My team owner, Andy Hillenburg, he's a multi-time ARCA champion, (and) he's got a stacked resume. And the ARCA Menards Series, it kind of streams drivers into either the (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) or the O'Reilly Auto Parts (NASCAR series). Now, with those two series, almost on the same competition level (with) Cup Series drivers that run both of those series, and you have both of those series feeding into the (highest level) Cup series. So, when you look at it like that, we're two steps away from the top."

Unlike a baseball player playing in the Minor Leagues working their way up to MLB, Pellegrini Jr. is much closer to reaching the top levels of NASCAR competition.  The biggest obstacle is getting the sponsors, and financial support. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be spent over the months to keep the vehicle and team at the level needed to continue chasing the dream.

That's why one of Craig's biggest sponsors, Let's Be Frank espresso martinis, has started a GoFundMe to help support the No. 10 team. Pellegrini Jr. and his team have been outperforming all expectations, and Frank Conrad has been rallying support for the within-reach NASCAR dream for the young man from Buena, New Jersey.

As Pellegrini Jr explained on 973 ESPN South Jersey, his No. 10 Car in ARCA Menards Series is competing against some of the top NASCAR Racing Teams, with four Top Ten finishes in four races this year:

"We're competing with Cup level teams like Joe Gibbs (Racing), Inspire Motorsports, and CR7, who's a truck team out there. - They field top-of-the-line equipment, and we we used to say we were the best of the rest....But now, I'm done saying we're punching above our weight - We beat Joe Gibbs Racing (this year), so, that was a big major milestone for us."

This is very exciting to see a South Jersey guy competing against some of the top NASCAR teams, and his dream is attainable. The next key race for Craig Pellegrini Jr, and his team is July 24th at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.  If the No. 10 Team can perform well there, they can move up the ARCA Menards Series East standings, and get closer to the opportunity to race at the next level of NASCAR.

You can learn more about the GoFundMe started by Let's be Frank for Craig Pellegrini Jr, and support this South Jersey Driver here.  Also, you can learn about Frank Conrad and his sponsorship of Team Pellegrini on YouTube here.