Alfredo: ‘We’re Punching Above Our Weight’ In Xfinity

Anthony Alfredo (Rusty Jarrett/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

TALLADEGA, Ala. – After leading six laps in the final stage and contending for the victory in Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300, Anthony Alfredo delivered Our Motorsports a strong third-place result, continuing the team’s quest to exceed expectations in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Alfredo, who was out front from laps 91 through 96 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in the No. 5 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Camaro, was among the frontrunners during a double-overtime finish at the 2.66-mile oval.

The 25-year-old from Ridgefield, Conn., had a shot to contend amid a hectic final lap. He was able to hook up with Brennan Poole coming off turn two and shoved Poole all the way down the backstretch into a side-by-side battle for the lead with eventual race winner Jesse Love.

Despite losing momentum coming through turn four, Alfredo was able to rally in the tri-oval thanks to a shove from Riley Herbst and then shot to the outside of a four-wide scrum for second coming to the finish line.

Alfredo just missed out on runner-up honors to Herbst by four one-hundredths (.04) of a second at the checkered flag, but third still tied his career-best Xfinity Series mark set at Texas Motor Speedway in October of 2020.

That finish came while Alfredo was driving for Richard Childress Racing. Saturday’s result, in a car considered by many in the Xfinity Series garage as an “underdog” was even more meaningful, he said.

“That entire race is the epitome of our season, right? We just never gave up, even when things [weren’t] looking so good,” Alfredo explained. “We just stayed in the fight until the end, and we had another shot to win the race.

“I’m just beyond thankful to be here and blessed to have the opportunity to do it,” he added. “This run for this team means a lot.”

Alfredo’s time at the front of the field came courtesy of a push from Chandler Smith, who propelled Alfredo forward on the bottom lane past Parker Kligerman before ‘Fast Pasta’ swooped up the banking.

From there, Alfredo drug the field around on the top groove until Austin Hill and Kligerman hung him out to dry coming off turn four, shuffling him back into the pack on lap 97.

That allowed Alfredo a chance to reset before the frenetic stretch run to the checkered flag, which began following a caution with two laps left in regulation when then-leader Austin Hill spun down the banking across the nose of Alfredo’s Chevrolet.

Remarkably, Alfredo was able to slow up enough to avoid major damage to the nose of his car, allowing him to remain in contention through both overtime attempts.

“We were in a perfect position before that [lap-112] accident happened in front of us. But we came back and had another [shot],” Alfredo noted. “Talk about a Dude Wipe moment, though, when I had that 21 car [of Hill] laying right in my lap. It scared the heck out of me, but I thought for sure we were done. It cut the tire off, and we got some damage. I thought we were killed, or at least out of it.

“But man, we came down pit road and the guys got it fixed up and put fuel in it, which was important for us to have a shot at the end.”

Anthony Alfredo (5) battled among the lead pack all day Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. (Matthew Thacker/NKP photo)

Throughout the final stage, Alfredo found himself battling among cars from the series’ powerhouse teams – Richard Childress Racing, JR Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Kaulig Racing – all of which currently have cars inside the provisional Xfinity Series playoff grid.

That postseason field is where Alfredo and car owner Chris Our want to be, but Alfredo admitted they weren’t necessarily entering the season with that concrete goal in mind. Now, it’s fully in view ahead of them.

“We’re punching above our weight this year, and we’ll just keep exceeding expectations,” Alfredo said. “That’s what we’re here to do. We want to be a playoff team. We know we can do it and finishes like this one certainly help. It stings being that close [to a win] in a way, because of how important a win is to making the playoffs. But the guys we’ve been racing around all year, we have to be beyond proud of this.

“These races are just so hard and they’re so chaotic; you just have to stay in the hunt and now we get to go race for $100,000 next week, which is insane,” he added. “I’m excited for that opportunity.”

Alfredo will race for the Dash 4 Cash bonus payout next Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway, but before he does so, he’ll strap back into a NASCAR Cup Series car Sunday to finish off a double-duty weekend at Talladega.

Driving for family-owned Beard Motorsports in the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Alfredo hopes he can again write “an underdog success story,” this time at the sport’s highest level.

“I’m not too sure I can [translate] a whole lot [from] the Xfinity cars,” Alfredo admitted. “I was talking with SVG [Shane van Gisbergen, who is also doing double duty] after we qualified the Cup cars about how different they feel. There are bumps in the track and certain seams [that] you don’t feel with the Xfinity cars, but you do in those things. If anything, it’s going to be different tomorrow.

“I don’t know if there’s a lot I picked up on today to help me other than just staying out of trouble and putting ourselves in position,” he added. “I think I learned some about the way the lanes were working, but Cup [racing] here is a lot different now with the Next Gen car.

“I think it’s honestly going to take a totally different approach, but I’m looking for the challenge.”

Alfredo starts 24th for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500. He’ll return to the Xfinity Series on Saturday, April 27 in the BetRivers 200 at Dover, where he finished a track-best fifth in 2020 with RCR.

Broadcast coverage of the ninth race of the Cup Series season begins Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.