Alfredo Quietly Two-Steps To Texas Top 10

Anthony Alfredo in action at Texas Motor Speedway. (Lesley Ann Miller/LAT Images photo)

FORT WORTH, Texas – Behind the chaos of a photo finish Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, Anthony Alfredo quietly gave Our Motorsports a top-10 finish in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300.

Though he lacked stage points in the first two segments of the 200-lap NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Alfredo was able to keep his No. 5 Botticelli Family-Owned Foods Chevrolet Camaro out of the two accidents that occurred inside the final 30 laps at the 1.5-mile quad-oval.

The subsequent restarts allowed Alfredo to work his way up into 10th by the checkered flag, after restarting 12th for the final green-flag run with 11 laps left and challenging as high as eighth place.

It marked Alfredo’s third top-10 finish this season for Our Motorsports and the 18th such result of his career in 93 Xfinity Series starts.

Saturday also tied Alfredo’s best finish since he placed seventh at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway in February.

“Man, another top 10 today for this (No.) 5 team, and I can’t thank Our Motorsports enough for the job they’ve done all year long so far,” said Alfredo. “I’m really thankful for the opportunity they’ve given me here in the Xfinity Series, and it’s awesome to get Botticelli Foods such a great finish as well. Uh, go get your Italian pasta sauce and olive oil from them if you want to taste a home in my heritage.

“This Chevrolet Camaro got better throughout the race,” Alfredo continued. “We obviously qualified really well, put it in the first six rows, but just fought the balance a little bit in the first stage or two. We got it really good at the end, though, avoided all the chaos and as a team were able to execute when it mattered most.

“This is a great day, a needed day, and hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

Botticelli Foods, a family-owned and operated supplier of fine Italian foods and pasta sauces since 2002, was making its fourth career appearance as a full primary sponsor with Alfredo on Saturday.

The 25-year-old native of Ridgefield, Conn., has carried the nickname “Fast Pasta” since his late model days in racing as a nod to his last name – making his partnership with Botticelli Foods a natural fit.

It was the first time Botticelli Foods had served as a primary sponsor with Our Motorsports, and Alfredo’s 10th-place finish marked the brand’s best result in the Xfinity Series to date.

For Alfredo, he leaves Texas ranked 13th in the regular season point standings and 14th on the provisional playoff grid, just 12 points behind Texas runner-up Ryan Sieg for the last of 12 available postseason berths.

Alfredo and the rest of the Xfinity Series field will return to action next at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with the running of the Ag-Pro 300.

Coverage of the event airs Saturday, April 20 at 4 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.