For Rico Abreu, deciding to make the leap to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with one of its most established teams was the easy part. The more difficult task was keeping that development under wraps for such a long time.
“It’s been a few weeks obviously,” Abreu said by phone from Tulsa, Oklahoma, during a break in his title defense at the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals sprint-car event. “Definitely tough to keep a secret just from how exciting and how quickly everything was moving through.”
The news became clearer for all Friday, when ThorSport Racing officially announced the 23-year-old standout as the full-time driver of its No. 98 Toyota. Abreu replaces veteran driver Johnny Sauter, who joined GMS Racing in the offseason.
Abreu will pair this season with crew chief Doug George, who helped guide Sauter to a fourth-place finish in the Camping World Truck Series standings last year. The California native will also work with veteran sprint-car driver Tracy Hines, who announced that he would become ThorSport’s new competition director last September.
Hines, who competed in the truck series full-time in 2004-05, is expected to help Abreu with the move to heavier stock cars. But part of the transition is already progressing without many seams as the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate gets better acquainted with his new team.
“From our perspective, it was unbelievable how Rico came into the shop,” said ThorSport executive Matthew LaNeve. “It’s like he’s been here for eight years. He just took to the trucks, took to the team, took to the crew and took to the challenge ahead like he’s been doing it his entire life.”
Though Abreu has spent much of his budding career slinging open-wheel cars on dirt, his venture into full-bodied NASCAR is a much more recent development. The 2015 season brought his first involvement with stock-car racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, where he won three pole positions and broke through for his first victory at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway, 120 miles south of ThorSport’s headquarters.
Abreu made his first foray into the Camping World Truck Series for the last two events of 2015 with NTS Motorsports, getting caught up in a crash at Phoenix and securing a lead-lap finish in the season finale at Homestead. Though the sample size was relatively small, he said getting a feel for racing trucks on larger tracks was an important first step into building his confidence.
“Just to know what to expect going into Daytona, just to know what the aero is like on those trucks and what to do in certain situations,” Abreu said. “2016, my goal is just to show these guys at ThorSport that I want this and that I’ve got the drive and the will to do it and just to be a great person — I think that’s what it comes down to — and to win them some races. I think we have a team more than capable of doing it and everyone’s behind me, which is great for me to know that. If you don’t feel that people are behind you, then you’re going to be in some trouble later on and throughout your season. I just feel like this is the best team, they’ve got the best people and their organization and the best car owner.
“It’s something new for me this year and it seems like every year there’s something new for me in my career that I look forward to. That’s what keeps that fire in me burning and that drive, the drive to win races.”
One person helping Abreu channel that drive has a championship-level pedigree. Veteran Matt Crafton, a two-time series champion and a six-time winner last year, already has welcomed Abreu as his newest teammate alongside fellow newcomer Ben Rhodes.
Though Crafton’s rookie season came in 2001 — 361 starts ago — Abreu said the insights about how to make it as a first-year driver have been indispensable.
“He’s been doing this a long time and I’m pretty sure he’s gone through every situation, every scenario of truck racing and what goes on,” Abreu said. “He’s won races and he’s won championships, so he knows what to expect — just things that kind of help me push through on what to know and what you don’t need to do. He’s just there to mentor, and I think he’s all about it.
“We’ve built a great relationship the last six weeks that I’ve kind of been spending around ThorSport and him, and more of a friendship than anything off the race track. Obviously, we haven’t raced with each other yet, and he’s a great guy and just very honored to know that he’s going to be there to help me.”
With his Daytona debut weeks away, Abreu’s focus for now is a repeat Golden Driller trophy after five days of qualifying and racing in Tulsa. Abreu still plans to compete in sprint-car events on off weekends for the truck series.
Though his roots are firmly planted in sprint-car racing, Abreu said joining the ranks of NASCAR is the next step in his progression. It’s a path that panned out well for Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and plenty others.
“I think I’ve always wanted to keep climbing up that ladder,” Abreu said. “That’s been my goal every year, to win in every car I’ve ever drove and now doing NASCAR is the next step to that road to glory and what it’s all about. I’m excited to keep accomplishing my goals.”