After placing fourth in the ARCA Menards Series preseason test at Daytona International Speedway, Thomas Annunziata was optimistic for the series season opener there on Feb. 14.

He was set to make his second start at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, with his first start – also his series debut – runner up in 2024.

However, Annunziata’s season-opening race weekend did not go as well as desired.

He qualified 31st, though he drove up to the top 10. Unfortunately, his race ended on lap 73 after a bump gone wrong from Jason Kitzmiller.

The crash relegated him to a 26th-place DNF.

“The guys at the shop did a great job,” Annunziata told Frontstretch. “The whole team did a good job. Our Nitro No. 70 JBL Toyota was fast, especially in different lanes making runs. We got a bad draw for qualifying. We did not go out with the quickest cars, so we qualified 31st. Had our work cut out for us in the race. Drove up to the front with our teammates and was in a good spot to have a chance there at the end for the win. Unfortunately, it ended early getting wrecked, but still rallied to a 26th-place finish, which was important for points.”

While Annunziata was the only driver who crashed out in that incident, the hit was still vicious.

“Honestly, it was cool spinning out at 180 mph,” he added. “That fast is crazy. It was harder than I thought. It did not look that hard in the video but I ended up with some whiplash as a result. It was a hard hit for sure, but that’s Daytona.”

Annunziata was one of five Nitro Motorsports drivers who endured problems at Daytona. The organization’s drivers laid down the fastest five times in the test. So, the team’s Daytona results were disappointing.

“Yeah, it was unfortunate,” Annunziata noted. “We all had fast cars and got wrecked there at the end. None of that was our doing, that’s for sure.”

Nineteen days after Daytona, ARCA has its next race of the season, at Phoenix Raceway. The downtime between events has been beneficial for Annunziata.

“Spent some time with family,” he described. “Training, obviously, studying, doing some iRacing, working out. We’ve been having some family issues at home at the moment, so being there for them for a little bit, then came back to North Carolina, which was important for me. Family is everything.”

In the days leading up to Phoenix, Annunziata has been fighting a cold, including a hoarse voice during this interview.

Speaking of Phoenix, he’s competed there in both the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and ARCA. Obviously, there are differences in the racecars as he prepares for this 150-lap race.

“Horsepower and aero,” Annunziata said, are the two biggest differences in the racecars. “There’s less aero and downforce in the O’Reilly car and there’s less horsepower, so they are a lot more difficult to drive. It’s hard to compare otherwise. Our ARCA equipment is better than what we had in the O’Reilly Series and that series was more difficult competition-wise. It’s much more difficult to drive in the O’Reilly Series.”

While he has run 18 NOAPS races, many of the ARCA racetracks, especially the standalone ones, will be new to him. So going to Phoenix is a comfort.

“100%, I’d much rather have been to the track before, and there are not many of those this season,” he continued. “I think that’s what makes a driver a good driver is their ability to adapt to the challenge.”

In the 2025 ARCA Menards Series West season finale at Phoenix, he finished third. With a 40-car field for the upcoming ARCA race, a combo one with the West, Annunziata knows the competition will be fierce, but he is confident he can end the day in victory lane.

“We spent a lot of time in the sim trying to get a lot better,” he said. “I thought I did a good job at Phoenix last year in the ARCA car. We didn’t quite have the pace of the Joe Gibbs or PRG car out front. We should still have a shot. With the superspeedway chaos, this will be the first big test to see if our work over the winter has paid off. I’ll be there for the taking if the win is there. I know I can put myself in a position to run up front.

“It’s a reset. To me, I see this as race No. 1 and see what we got. It’s going to come down to where we are. I’m excited for this race to start, as I think the season really starts here. After Phoenix, Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, we will know where we are at for sure.”