MARTINSVILLE, Va: Looking to wipe out the competition at Martinsville Speedway, Anthony Alfredo was on his way to a top-10 finish when a last-lap wreck in front of him ruined his chance of making that happen.
Starting the Dude Wipes 250 in the sixth starting position, the driver of the No. 5 Our Motorsports Dude Wipes Chevrolet showed that his car was fast and consistent. With a couple of cautions putting several cycles on his Goodyear tires, Alfredo would tell his team “I have a little drive issue. The car is tight through the center of the corner, and it is worse in turns one
and two than in three and four.”
Asking for a little help at the end of Stage 1, the team tells him that they will give him a new set of Goodyear tires, fuel, and an adjustment when he comes to pit road at the end of the stage but in the meantime, he needed to fight for stage points.
After finishing Stage 1 in the sixth position, the Ridgefield, CT native came to pit road and returned to the track in the 21st position after a slow pit stop, and traffic on pit road held him up.
Stage 2 would begin with a multi-car accident occurring almost immediately, which would bring out the red flag. “Did you see that? “Asked Alfredo. “I needed a whole pack of Dude Wipes after that,” the driver said jokingly as he had a windshield full of the accident in front of him and came out of the wreck unscathed.
“I was unhappy with my choose on that one but glad I did it now,” commented Alfredo.
Thankfully, the second stage would only have one other caution, and Alfredo would run down the field to make up nine places and finish the stage in 12th place.
Another slow stop on pit road would bring Alfredo out in the 17th position when he returned to the track for the start of Stage 3. Crew chief Josh Graham relayed to his driver, “Buddy, we are good enough to get back in the top ten and then some.
Lap by lap, the Chevrolet driver would work his way up to the eighth place, when on Lap 235 another caution would come out and leave the field to come back to the green with eleven laps to go.
Unfortunately, that would not be the last caution of the day. When the caution flag came out on Lap 245, Alfredo was shuffled to 11th place.
NASCAR Overtime would ensue, and on the last lap of the race, another multi-car accident would occur, leaving Alfredo to end the race in 14th place.
Overall, Alfredo showed speed in his No.5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet and would leave Martinsville Speedway 12 th in the points standings.
Next up for Anthony Alfredo is the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday April 13th, 2024, at 1:30pm ET.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @grace3140 or email at [email protected]
