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Mother, daughter set to compete in ARCA West race in Las Vegas

Sarah Burgess and her daughter, Bridget, are scheduled to make stock car racing history Friday night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring.

The Burgesses will become the first mother-daughter pairing to compete in the same race in NASCAR and ARCA major-series history as they are entered in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series West race at the 3/8-mile asphalt oval.

The track is located on Las Vegas Motor Speedway property near the main speedway.

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The two will drive cars entered by their family-owned team, BMI Racing. Bridget, 20, is a regular competitor in the ARCA West Series. Sarah, 42, has a history of off-road and rallycross racing and has been her daughter’s crew chief (and sometimes her only crew person).

The Burgess family lives in Utah and races from a shop at the Utah Motorsports Campus near Salt Lake City. The family is from Australia but moved to Utah in 2008.

“This idea came to fruition at the end of last year,” Sarah said. “We were going through a full season with Bridget driving, and I thought, ‘This is really cool. I’d love to give it a go, as well.’ And how amazing it would be to race against each other.

“We added a backup car for Bridget, and that gave us the opportunity to make it happen. It should be such a great experience.”

Friday’s race is the next-to-last of the season for the West Series.

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The Burgesses said they expect to race each other but are more concerned with running well against the rest of the competition.

“On the last five laps, we’re two race cars out there,” Bridget said. “Yes, we’re teammates, but when it comes down to the last few laps we can just be really rough with each other.”

Sarah said her plan “is to go out to be competitive. That’s just my nature. Of course, I want to see Bridget do well in the race from the championship points standpoint. At the same time, I want to do a really good job.”

Bridget, who has a top finish of seventh this season, said her mother has set a racing example for her.

“The biggest thing she has taught me is to have patience,” she said. “As a young driver, I’m going to try to win on the first lap in the first corner. She says be patient -- you have ‘x’ amount of laps, so use them. And both parents have taught me a lot about the apex, learning clean lines, saving tires, saving the car or truck.”

Bridget said she hopes to eventually race in NASCAR.

The race will be televised by FloRacing at 11:30 p.m. ET Friday. USA Network will broadcast a replay Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. ET.