Miguel Paludo

Miguel Paludo (born July 26, 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes full-time in the Porsche GT3 Carrera Cup Series. Paludo formerly competed in NASCAR full-time in the Camping World Truck Series, driving for Red Horse Racing and Turner Scott Motorsports. He has won four championships in the Porsche GT3 Cup Series, with three (2008, 2009, and 2020) in the Carrera Cup and the other in the Endurance Series.

Racing career Early career Paludo began racing go karts at the age of 14, and in 2004, moved up to touring car racing in a regional Brazilian series, competing for his family-owned team with his brother Daniel. He competed for several years in regional and national series in Brazil, most successfully in the Porsche GT3 Cup Brasil, where he won back-to-back series championships in 2008 and 2009.

2010–2013 and 2021–present: NASCAR

Paludo began his NASCAR career in 2010, competing in the K&N Pro Series East in a car fielded by Hattori Racing Enterprises. He finished fifteenth in the series standings that year, with a best finish of fourth. he ended the season finishing seventeenth in the points standings and fourth in the series' Rookie-of-the-Year competition. Paludo started the season with a pole in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, where he was the first Brazilian to win a pole in one of NASCAR's top-three series, and alongside Piquet Jr., comprised the first all-Brazilian front row in the history of NASCAR. However, during the race, Paludo suffered a very violent crash when his truck lost control and crashed hard into the inside frontstretch wall. The impact sent his truck spinning in circles and it flew through the air while also catching on fire. Paludo walked away from the crash unhurt. Paludo's best finish of the season (fifth) came in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and he ultimately finished tenth in the NCWTS driver point standings, his best points position to date. Additionally, Paludo ran two NASCAR Nationwide Series races in 2012, competing at Road America and Watkins Glen International, in the latter of which he earned his best NNS finish of 13th.

In 2013, Paludo returned to the No. 32 Chevrolet Silverado with Turner Scott Motorsports for another complete NCWTS season. At Talladega Superspeedway in October, Paludo was involved in a spectacular last-lap accident, his truck being flipped in the trioval.

Following the 2013 season, Paludo was released by Turner Scott Motorsports due to a lack of sponsorship. He was unable to find another ride in NASCAR for 2014.

In 2021, Paludo would return to NASCAR and the Xfinity Series (previously Nationwide) and would drive the No. 8 JR Motorsports in three road course races (the Daytona Road Course, Circuit of the Americas and Mid-Ohio) during the first half of the season, replacing Josh Berry, the car's driver for the first half of the season. JRM had announced months earlier that Sam Mayer would be driving the No. 8 car during the second half of the season, which was why Paludo was not given the car for all seven road course races on the schedule. The deal came about through BRANDT, Paludo's sponsor in Brazil, which was also the primary sponsor of JRM's No. 7 car of Justin Allgaier. Allgaier and Paludo were teammates at Turner Scott Motorsports from 2011 to 2013, and BRANDT was Allgaier's primary sponsor there as well, and in addition to that, they sponsored Paludo in one Truck race. Paludo would return to JR Motorsports for the same three events in 2022.

2014–present: Sports car racing

After Paludo ended up not running any NASCAR races during the 2014 season, he moved back to Brazil in 2015 and began racing in the Porsche GT3 Cup Series again. He would also compete in and win one championship in both the Porsche Endurance Series as well as the Carrera Cup, giving him a total of four titles in the series across all of its divisions. He is married, and has one son, Oliver, with his wife Patricia.

Paludo and his wife Patricia also learned in 2012 that their son Oliver, at the time only eight months old, was also a type 1 diabetic. In response to the news, Paludo ran a special No. 32 Unite for Diabetes/Duroline paint scheme in the June 2012 NCWTS race at Texas Motor Speedway. The scheme featured the blue circle, which is the international symbol for diabetes, and an image of Paludo and his son on the truck's tonneau cover. In November of that year, Paludo ran a World Diabetes Day paint scheme at both Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway. 30

CGV BRI ATL RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 2021

8

DAY

HOM LVS PHO ATL MAR TAL DAR DOV

CLT

TEX NSH POC ROA ATL NHA GLN IND MCH DAY DAR RCH BRI LVS TAL CLT TEX KAN MAR PHO 52nd 44 2022

DAY CAL LVS PHO ATL

RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR TEX CLT PIR NSH

ATL NHA POC

MCH GLN DAY DAR KAN BRI TEX TAL CLT LVS HOM MAR PHO 49th 52 2023 DAY CAL LVS PHO ATL

RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR CLT PIR SON NSH

ATL NHA POC ROA MCH

GLN DAY DAR KAN BRI TEX ROV LVS HOM MAR PHO 45th 63 Camping World Truck Series NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2010 Germain Racing 77 Toyota DAY ATL MAR NSH KAN DOV CLT TEX MCH IOW GTY IRP POC NSH DAR BRI CHI KEN NHA LVS MAR TAL 53rd 443 Red Horse Racing 11 Toyota TEX PHO HOM 2011 7 DAY PHO DAR MAR NSH DOV CLT KAN TEX KEN IOW NSH IRP POC MCH BRI ATL CHI NHA KEN LVS TAL MAR TEX HOM 17th 651 2012 Turner Motorsports 32 Chevy DAY MAR CAR KAN CLT DOV TEX KEN IOW CHI POC MCH BRI ATL IOW KEN LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 10th 668 2013 Turner Scott Motorsports DAY MAR CAR KAN CLT DOV TEX KEN IOW ELD POC MCH BRI MSP IOW CHI LVS TAL MAR TEX PHO HOM 9th 697

K&N Pro Series East NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts Ref 2010 Hattori Racing Enterprises 77 Toyota GRE SBO IOW MAR NHA LRP LEE JFC NHA DOV 15th 1058

ARCA Racing Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Racing Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Ref 2010 Hattori Racing Enterprises 17 Toyota DAY PBE SLM TEX TAL TOL POC MCH IOW MFD POC BLN NJE ISF CHI DSF TOL SLM KAN CAR 107th 140 2011 Venturini Motorsports 28 Toyota DAY TAL SLM TOL NJE CHI POC MCH WIN BLN IOW IRP POC ISF MAD DSF SLM KAN TOL 109th 165

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points