Alfredo Leads Laps, Puts Beard No. 62 Up Front At ‘Dega

Anthony Alfredo (62) leads the NASCAR Cup Series field at Talladega Superspeedway. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was a banner outing for Anthony Alfredo and Beard Motorsports, even if the result didn’t accurately reflect the team’s speed.

Though Alfredo struggled during a late cycle of green flag pit stops and lost the draft, crossing the finish line 30th and officially finishing 28th after a pair of post-race disqualifications, he spent plenty of time at the front prior to that in a powerful display for the Beard family-run team.

Using a lap-54 pit stop during a late stage-one caution to flip the stage and gain valuable track position, Alfredo was able to stay out under the race’s first stage break and gain the lead at lap 65.

It was a move that put the 25-year-old from Ridgefield, Conn., in prime position for the entire middle stint at NASCAR’s largest and fastest racetrack.

Once he got himself placed near the front of the field, Alfredo used a fast No. 62 Fortify Building Solutions Chevrolet to stay there and draft his way in front of the pack multiple times during stage two.

In fact, Alfredo led seven times for 19 total laps Sunday, the fourth most laps led of anyone in the field and more than doubling the number of laps led for Beard Motorsports in its entire history.

Prior to Sunday, Beard Motorsports cars had only led 17 laps in NASCAR Cup Series competition combined across their previous 30 starts at the sport’s top level.

It was something that Alfredo and company took pride in after the race, even if the strategy to stay up front for that long ultimately hurt their fuel mileage for later in the event.

“A thousand percent, I feel like we showed that we belonged,” said Alfredo. “What we did out there is what it was all about for us. We didn’t come here to Talladega to ride around in the middle of the pack, even if fuel saving is a big part of [superspeedway] racing nowadays. We wanted to show that we had a fast Chevrolet in the draft, and I wanted to show that I deserve to be in a Cup car full time and that I’m capable of competing at this level.

“I don’t care what anyone says about the fuel burning, the fans want to see a race and I came here to race.”

Alfredo did just that, battling back and forth with the likes of two-time Daytona 500 winner William Byron and the Trackhouse Racing duo of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez all the way until he had to bail out on lap 100 to make an earlier pit stop for fuel than the rest of the lead draft.

The timing of that stop was specifically because Alfredo had spent so much time leading during stage two, but it didn’t discourage him at all from sticking to the plan.

“When we got out front, I was having an absolute blast controlling the lanes. That’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a race car, honestly,” Alfredo noted. “I felt like we were good enough that I actually drug everyone along with me [in the draft] for a bit … where they were pushing harder at that point than they really wanted to.

“I know some people are probably a bit unhappy with me for that, but I wanted to stir the pot a little bit on the fuel saving deal, because I think everyone’s kind of tired of it.”

One person who was happy to see Alfredo pushing hard at the front of the field was team co-owner Amie Beard-Deja, daughter of late team founder Mark Beard Sr., who passed away in January of 2021.

She was one of the first to congratulate Alfredo after the race on a job well done, pleased at seeing her family’s small group showcase their mettle against the giants of the Cup Series garage.

Anthony Alfredo (right) debriefs following Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

“Today was very special and I couldn’t be more proud of Anthony and the whole team,” said Beard-Deja. “I couldn’t sit still when he drove up to the lead in stage two. I was moving all over praying that he would stay safe up there … to see our car racing with everyone who’s up front every week on Sundays, we take so much pride in that for the races that we are here at the racetrack.”

Alfredo was able to stay on the lead lap at the end of the second stage, despite losing the draft because of his solo pit stop. The thread that unraveled his final finishing position came when he made his last stop with 24 laps left – short-pitting with the nine Toyotas and the three Spire Motorsports Chevrolets.

Though Alfredo had saved a lot of fuel to that point, hoping to shorten his final stop to leapfrog back toward the front, his team didn’t get the gas can fully engaged to the car on pit road – meaning he didn’t have all the fuel he needed in the tank for the run to the finish.

Because of that, he ran out of gas on the final lap, losing the draft and having to limp back around to the checkered flag.

“I was trying to set us up to make a run at the very end and get our car back in position to lead, but we just didn’t get plugged in with the fuel on pit road,” Alfredo lamented. “The gas was pouring out of the bottom of the can. I ran out on the last lap … and we lost the draft because we didn’t have enough to make it to the end.

“That part is frustrating, but there’s still so much to be proud of overall and a lot we can hold our heads high about.”

Sunday was Alfredo’s fifth time racing with Beard Motorsports and provided a needed bounce back for both parties after they missed the field for the Daytona 500 back in February due to a late incident in their Duel qualifying race.

It also built respect – for both Alfredo and the team – with the top stars at the Cup Series level.

“I felt like I made some big moves in the draft, but nothing egregious. I’d like to think I was pretty smart with what I was doing,” Alfredo said. “One of my personal goals was to earn the respect of the competition so that next time we’re at the racetrack, they trust us more and are willing to work with us even better, and they did during that second stint. That was certainly a positive, I think.”

While Alfredo doesn’t have any more confirmed Cup Series starts with Beard Motorsports at this point, he’s hopeful that the team’s strong showing at Talladega will open some additional sponsorship doors that will allow him to return to the team later in the season.

“It all comes down to sponsorship,” he said. “We’ve all been working really hard as a team to get to the track more frequently, and days like this certainly help with that. We’ll see what develops in the future, but I definitely want to race with Amie and Linda (Beard), Darren (Shaw, crew chief) and this whole team as much as I can.

“We’ve built such a rapport together and it’s fun to go to the racetrack with a tight-knit group like this. This was a confidence booster all around, for sure.”

Beard Motorsports’ next scheduled Cup Series start is Sunday, May 4 at Texas Motor Speedway with Jesse Love, who will make his first appearance with the organization in the Wurth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY.

Alfredo, meanwhile, returns to his full-time role with Young’s Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series one day earlier at Texas. He has a track-best finish of third at the 1.5-mile oval, tied for his career-best mark in the Xfinity Series overall.

Broadcast coverage of the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 is slated for Saturday, May 3 at 2 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.