Thomas Annunziata turns 21 on Sunday. He couldn’t think of a better early birthday present than a win Friday at Pocono Raceway in the ARCA Menards Series Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150.
“Dude, I want to win so bad. That would be amazing,” he said. “I wouldn’t need to ask for anything else. If I could get a win, that would make my year.”
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After a two-year absence, ARCA makes its return to Pocono. Qualifying is at 1 p.m. with the race getting the green flag at 3 p.m.
It kicks off the NASCAR race weekend at Pocono that includes the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Millertech Battery 250 Presented by KOA on Saturday and the Cup Series Great American Getaway 400 Presented by Visit PA on Sunday.
Annunziata is from Colts Neck, New Jersey, so Pocono is like a home race for him. He said he is going to have some family he has not seen in a while in attendance, so he is excited for the race and the challenge that the 2.5-mile triangular track in Long Pond presents.
“It’s not a traditional oval and I’m a road course guy that usually likes different corners every few feet,” Annunziata said. “So hopefully it fits my driving style.”
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One of the first NASCAR races he attended was at Pocono in 2014. That’s the year Dale Earnhardt Jr. swept both races.
Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were his favorite drivers at first, but then as he got a little older, he became a fan of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
“I like the polarizing guys,” Annunziata said. “I think they’re entertaining and they can back it up. Unfortunately, things happened over the last couple weeks, but those are the ones I looked up to.”
Of course, Annunziata is referring to Busch’s death May 21 from severe bacterial pneumonia that led to sepsis and hemorrhagic shock.
“I met him once and he was someone I always thought of as a hero,” Annunziata said. “I definitely freaked me out for a bit. You look at things in different ways and when that happened, it was like what really matters. It’s more of a motivation now you possible can done in the small timeframe we have on this planet. It was a weird, eerie realization moment like, Man, you really don’t know.”
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Annunziata’s father used to drag race. Growing up, Annunziata tried playing baseball and basketball, but didn’t enjoy it. Then one day a snowstorm cancelled school and he went karting and fell in love with it. He won three national karting championships before moving to cars in 2021. He drove in the Mazda Series in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Lucas Oil Formula Car Series. He then competed in the Trans Am Series in 2024, driving for Nitro Motorsports, which led to his stock car career on road courses.
He made his then-NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in June 2024 at Sonoma. One month later, he drove the race at Pocono and finished 28th.
“That was my first oval race ever,” Annunziata said. “It was for JD Motorsports and that was their last-ever race. I was their last driver, which I find a cool thing. Johnny Davis gave me a real cool opportunity.
“It took me a little while to learn. I stunk in qualifying, just being able to figure it out. But the race we performed much better. I think at one point we were 16th before I spun out. I passed everyone else I could from the back and finished 28th out of 38, so it wasn’t bad. There was a lot to learn from there, but I enjoyed it.”
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In 13 career ARCA starts, Annunziata has one win — at Lime Rock in June 2025 — seven top-five finishes and 10 Top-10 finishes.
This season in the No. 70 Toyota for Nitro Motorsports. he has three top-five and five top-10 finishes in seven races and is second in the standings with 283 points. That’s 25 behind leader Jake Bollman.
Still, he isn’t satisfied with those statistics.
“We’ve had fast cars all year, but we wrecked at Daytona and Talladega, specifically leading Talladega,” Annunziata said. “We’re not fully optimizing every weekend. We have some, but if I want to be more competitive in terms of the championship, we’ve got to optimize more weekends. That’s the next step.”
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