By Cole Cusumano

For developmental drivers within the lower divisions of NASCAR, trying to rise through the ranks and make a name for yourself is difficult enough as it is with limited seat time and scheduling. In the case of the young hopefuls racing in the ARCA Menards Series East, this challenge has been drastically heightened. After 124 days, essentially an entire offseason has gone by between the season opener and the second race at Toledo Speedway. 

Now these budding athletes must pick up where they left off and get right back into turning laps. One of these drivers eager to get going is Giovanni Bromante.

Born and raised in New York, Bromante kept himself busy and in shape by helping out with his family’s landscaping business during the indefinite halt to racing due to COVID-19. This all came following an impressive fifth-place finish in his ARCA East debut at New Smyrna Speedway.

One of the brightest and most intriguing talents to enter NASCAR’s beginner ranks, Bromante revealed the importance of being prepared with limited seat time as he continues his bid for Rookie of the Year.

“It’s just very critical to have that seat time in a full-body car,” Bromante told POPULAR SPEED. “They’re a handful and you need to be prepared to go 200 laps, or however many laps you do, to just have a great finish.”

The driver of the No. 74 went on to assess the ARCA cars have many of the same characteristics of Super Late Model and Pro Late Model machines — two series of racing where he’s also seen results. He feels his experience competing in similar equipment will aid in his performance, even with the five month break.

Things were looking promising for the 16-year-old in the second race of the season at Toledo Speedway. He ran around the top-five all night and worked his way up to as high as third before a wreck with 25 laps to go derailed his performance. He went on to finish 11th in the Herr’s Potato Chips 200.

As he vies for a rookie title, the racing career of Bromante will be one to watch as the years go on. Admittedly, there haven’t been many notable drivers in NASCAR that have called New York their home aside from the Bodine brothers (Brett, Geoff and Todd) and Regan Smith. It’s possible the Long Islander can add his name to this list in the future, should he see continued success.

The Visconti Motorsports driver will seek to rebound at Berlin Raceway on July 25th. He currently sits seventh in the standings and will likely be chasing down guys like Sam Mayer and Ty Gibbs as the season forges forward.