Growing up in the heart of Bakersfield, California, Blaine Perkins was an avid race fan. He specifically cheered on his hometown hero, Kevin Harvick.
While Harvick was having glorified success at NASCAR’s top level, Perkins was finding his footing. He had no immediate connections to racing, with his family never being involved in the sport. At 9 years old, he began racing go karts indoors. Over the next few years, that turned into bandoleros, legends cars and ultimately, stock cars when he was barely a teenager.
At the ripe age of 15, Perkins made his ARCA Menards Series West debut at All American Speedway for team owner Bill McAnally. The experience led to consecutive full-time seasons with seven-time ARCA West winner Steve Portenga. Across those 28 combined races, Perkins cracked the top 10 on 15 occasions, with a best outing of fifth at Colorado National Speedway, in a race that featured current Cup Series stars Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson.
Perkins only raced four times in 2018 in ARCA, and he didn’t race in any NASCAR-sanctioned events in 2019. He returned to his roots, competing locally in California throughout 2019 and won the Whelen All-American Series state championship. He also added track championships at Irwindale Speedway and Kern County Raceway Park to his resume.
“It was cool because I spent my whole life racing at Irwindale,” Perkins said. “Kern County is my hometown race track, being from there. It was really cool to do that, as well as winning the California state championship. We had a good year that year in late models.”
All the while, Perkins was taking classes at Bakersfield College, graduating with an associate’s degree in business. In 2020, he transferred to Pepperdine University, hoping to earn a bachelor’s degree. Five years later, he’s still waiting to graduate and will have to take a test to get back into the university should he finish schooling, but he is listed as a junior.
“It’s something where if racing doesn’t work out, having that option to go back to school is on the table,” Perkins added.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Perkins balanced classes at Pepperdine and returned to the national scene with Sunrise Ford Racing. He returned to the ARCA West division with a vengeance, winning three of the 11 races and finishing runner-up in the championship standings to Jesse Love.
“They are such a synonymous name with the west coast out there,” Perkins said of returning to the ARCA West Series with Sunrise Ford. “There are a lot of good racecar drivers that have driven for them and to be able to drive one of their cars was really cool. It was a good fit.”
Perkins wanted to challenge himself ahead of the 2021 season. He tested his dedication ahead of the season, bringing his west coast swagger to the east coast. Included was an eight-race Xfinity Series deal with Our Motorsports.
“I felt like if I was ever going to give it a shot, I had to move now,” Perkins recalled. “I packed up the car, headed out east and have been here ever since.”
Brett Moffitt, who was competing full time for Our, became instrumental in Perkins’ immediate growth. During the playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, Perkins ran up front and even won Stage 2. He ended that stint of races with three straight top-20 finishes, with a best of 13th at the aforementioned Talladega.
During the 2022 season, Perkins dipped to the Craftsman Truck Series to compete full time for CR7 Motorsports. While the lack of success led to frustration, series veteran Grant Enfinger helped guide the young driver. The bright spot was a 10th-place finish in a partial Xfinity schedule for Our. It led to an Xfinity Series return in 2023, beginning the season with SS GreenLight Racing before switching teams and returning to Our to finish the season less than two months in.
“I’ve always enjoyed the Xfinity Series,” Perkins stated. “I enjoy the garage, the people, the schedule. It’s a little bit longer schedule, a little longer races and the way the cars drive. I’ve enjoyed it and have had some good homes the last few years.”
It was evident that Perkins excelled on road courses and short tracks. He also enjoys superspeedway racing, as it levels the playing field out in a deep series. His next shot at a superspeedway will be this weekend at Atlanta.
“A lot of it has to do with a mindset,” Perkins said. “A lot of people like it, a lot of people don’t. I’ve always enjoyed them and I’ve been blessed to have some really good cars. I know we’re going to have good pieces at [Atlanta] and Talladega.”
The 24-year-old joined RSS Racing for the 2024 season, driving the No. 29 Ford. His average finishing position is up over two spots compared to 2023, including six top-20 finishes. Despite having 88 national touring series starts, Perkins is still inexperienced compared to the bulk of the field. He’s leaned on his teammate Ryan Sieg to help guide him throughout the season.
“He’s had glimpses of [success],” Sieg said. “He will have a good race and then he will have a couple of bad races. It’s up-and-down, rookie type stuff. It’s just a learning process. It’s not that easy nowadays because there is so much competition. It’s a lot to throw on him to get him to where he needs to be. That comes with experience. He will get there eventually.”
In his short tenure with RSS, Perkins felt solid about the opening portion of the schedule. Half of those top 20s came in the opening seven races of the year.
The emphasis towards the final 10 races for Perkins is to gain experience, finish the full events and find some consistency. He hopes to return to RSS for the 2025 season, but with Silly Season in full swing, he should know more about his whereabouts in the coming months.