The 19-year-old Mexican driver starred in a race in the first race of the ARCA Series East season, at the New Smyrna Speedway half-mile oval, scheduled for 200 laps and a total distance of 100 miles, finishing third.
On February 14, at New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Max, after starting in seventh position on the grid, climbed to the podium on the third step, in a hard-fought night race that had two rain breaks.
Starting on lap two, in fourth place, he attacked fiercely to try to snatch third place on this short, high-banked track, but momentarily lost control of the car; then came two suspensions of activities due to rain and, in the end, after a yellow flag, he closed with everything, being about to overtake Taylor Gray, who had the second position, managing to cross the finish line in the aforementioned third place, in a Similar action to last year, when he won in a movie finale.
Sammy Smith, the 2021 class champion who finished second last year after Max Gutierrez stole the win from him in dramatic last-minute fashion, won Tuesday at New Smyrna, after a fierce battle with Taylor Gray during the most of the test, who was second, in the first commitment of seven of the ARCA East Series.
“We had a good race. The team (Rette Jones Racing, run by Mark Rette) did an excellent job and the car performed very well. We control the conditions of the track. After the rain, and at night, the oval lost temperature, however we managed to be competitive and obtain a valuable third place”, said Max Gutiérrez.
“We are very satisfied with the result, more than fighting to you for you with teams like Busch Motorsports, among others. We dedicate the performance to our sponsors TOUGHBUILT, BOLSADX, TEKNEKK and TELCEL. Let’s go for more. This weekend we have the commitment in Daytona in the national ARCA Series”, said José Sabates, director of the ambitious project to promote young drivers to the top of NASCAR EU, among which the Mexicans Max Gutiérrez, Fico Gutiérrez and the American Chase Williams stand out. .
