TALLADEGA, Ala.: Anthony Alfredo was on everyone’s radar entering Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
The Motorsports driver has showcased speed over the years on the superspeedway tracks. With the confidence pre-race that he had a fast enough No. 5 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Camaro to contend for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, he came up just 0.181 seconds short.
In a chaotic late-race drama that threw the Xfinity Series into two overtime restarts, Alfredo rebounded from being collected in a late-race accident with race dominator Austin Hill to drive back through the field and find himself inside the top five on the final restart.
With pushing and shoving in full force, Alfredo was able to find open space and shove his Chevrolet Camaro to the outside lane. He exited Turn 4 onto the frontstretch in fifth, but as Joey Gase was spun in the tri-oval, it broke up the group’s momentum slightly, allowing Alfredo to edge Leland Honeyman Jr. and Brennan Poole for the final podium finish.
Alfredo, a native of Ridgefield, Connecticut earned the opportunity to earn a $100,000 bonus next weekend at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway with his fifth-career top-five finish.
After the race, the 25-year-old was slightly disappointed that he did not bring home the trophy but was satisfied with the recovery of his race team.
“It’s tough when you are that close,” said Alfredo after the race. “At the end of the day, were are punching above our weight, way above our weight. We don’t have technical support, an alliance, we don’t have any research data or fancy tools. We are just doing it the old-fashion way, building race cars and bringing them to the track and it’s all thanks to the guys at Our Motorsports working so hard.”
In a race that featured six cautions and went 11 laps over the original distance, Alfredo said he could have used some DUDE Wipes himself.
“We had DUDE Wipes on the car, and I definitely needed a few of them after today,” Alfredo said with a smile. “There were some moments we had skid marks, for sure when the No. 21 landed in our lap going into (Turn) 3. I keyed up and said, “car’s killed, guys, sorry.” They fixed it up and put me in a position to drive back to the front and have a shot at the win. Can’t ask for much more than that; still a great finish!”
Alfredo’s fifth top-10 finish of the year was the first of two races this weekend at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Before the Xfinity Series hit the track for their first of two races at the
famed Alabama race track, he qualified for his second NASCAR Cup Series race of the season for Sunday’s GEICO 500.
Alfredo will make his first Cup start since February’s running of the Daytona 500 for Beard Motorsports. Saturday, he qualified 24th aboard his No. 62 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet.
“I’m just really proud of everyone and really blessed to be here, thankful for the opportunity to do what I do, what I love for a living, and you know what the best part is? I get to do it again tomorrow with DUDE Wipes and the No. 62 with Beard Motorsports!”
Exiting Talladega, Alfredo is 12th in the Xfinity Series championship standings, the final spots in the Playoff standings.
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
