Alfredo Finds Gateway Fortune, Nabs Needed Top 15 Finish
Anthony Alfredo in action at World Wide Technology Raceway. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)
MADISON, Ill. – Turning in his strongest NASCAR Xfinity Series result in nearly three months and finally stopping a frustrating skid of bad luck, Anthony Alfredo advanced from 21st to 13th Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Though he wasn’t the best early on – only ranking 22nd and 21st in the first two stages, respectively – Alfredo was steady through the caution-laden second half.
Alfredo avoided the 11-car melee that eliminated several frontrunners, and from there, maintained a presence inside the top 15 in the final laps en route to his solid finish.
Saturday night’s Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog matched Alfredo’s 13th-place finish from mid-June, prior to his tough, nine-race slide of finishes outside the top 20 – which included four DNFs.
But Alfredo believes Gateway’s 1.25-mile oval could be a turning point for the final seven races of the year for he and the No. 42 Young’s Motorsports team.
“I never thought I’d be so happy with a 13th place finish, but after the season we’ve had, it feels great to put a whole race together,” said Alfredo. “It was refreshing to get to the checkered flag without any gremlins or being caught in someone else’s circumstances, and I feel like we got back to showing the speed I know we’ve been capable of and had throughout the summer.
“The Botticelli Foods ‘saucemobile’ looked great on track and I hope this can be the springboard to a better fall for us over these last seven weeks.”
Alfredo sits 24th in the Xfinity Series driver’s standings, but he’s only 24 points behind 21st place and within range of picking up several places before season’s end.
His next stop is Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, a short track that has treated the 26-year-old from Ridgefield, Conn., well in the past.
Alfredo has four top-15 finishes in five career Bristol Xfinity starts, including a track-best sixth from 2020 with Richard Childress Racing. He was 15th there last fall driving for the now-defunct Our Motorsports team.
Broadcast coverage of the Food City 300 is slated for Friday night, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
