By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
As Anthony Alfredo and his Our Motorsports team exceed expectations, they went from having a wreck land in their lap to a top-five finish.
In the closing laps of the Ag Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, Alfredo’s No. 5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet Camaro SS was leading the inside lane entering Turn 3. Just after taking the lead, polesitter Austin Hill moved to block Parker Kligerman. An ill-timed push sent the No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevy spinning. Hill ultimately ended up on the nose of Alfredo’s car. Luckily the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver’s car received minimal damage.
Alfredo’s team quickly went to work on his car under the ensuing caution. He easily beat the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock and made it back on track. A chaotic first overtime restart launched Alfredo from outside the top-15 to inside the top-10.
“First of all, talk about a Dude Wipe moment (when I had) that 21 car laying right in my lap,” Alfredo said. “It scared the heck out of me, but I thought for sure we’re done. It cut the tire off, and we got some damage. I thought we were killed, or at least out of it. But we came down pit road and the guys got it fixed up, put fuel in it, which was important for us to have a shot at the end.
“That race is the epitome of our season, right? We just (never gave) up, even when things aren’t looking so good, we just stay in the fight until the end, and we had another shot to win the race. We were in a perfect position before that accident happened in front of us. But we came back and had another one. Just beyond thankful to be here, blessed to have the opportunity to do it.”
In the second overtime he battled with Brennan Poole and Leland Honeyman, Jr. and in the mad scramble squeezed his Chevrolet in a three and four-wide battle to take the checkered flag third.
However, throughout the race Alfredo was contending with drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing, JR Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and more. For the smaller team battling with the mega-teams, it allowed them to punch above their weight. Wanting to be a playoff team, Alfredo wants to continue to have runs like Talladega.
“We’re punching above our weight this year, and we’ll just keep exceeding expectations,” Alfredo stated. “That’s what we’re here to do. We want to be a playoff team. We know we can do it and finishes like these certainly help. It stings being that close in a way, because of how important a win is. The guys we’ve been racing all year, we have to be beyond proud of that, really happy for Dude Wipes. They deserve this finish. All of our amazing partners and sponsors that make this possible.
“For us to do and I get to do it again tomorrow on the 62 car Beard Motorsports, another Dude Wipes Chevy. So, looking forward to trying to do the same thing, be up front, especially at the end. These races are just so hard and they’re so chaotic. You just got to stay in the hunt and now we get to go race for $100,000 next week, which is insane. So, I’m excited for that opportunity.”
The third-place finish was Alfredo’s first top-five of the season and the fourth of his career. It was also his first top-five finish since the 2022 Xfinity race at Auto Club Speedway.
While the top-five finish moved him from 13th to 12th in the points standings, Alfredo is still on the outside, looking in for the playoffs. He is 138-points behind leader Chandler Smith and five points below the playoff cutoff, currently held by Ryan Sieg.
Next for Alfredo is the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega. With the differences between the Xfinity car and NextGen Cup cars, there is not a lot that he can translate from one to the other. Although there are some nuances that Alfredo and Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) both noticed after Cup Series qualifying.
“I’m not too sure I can [translate] a whole lot because of the Xfinity cars,” Alfredo admitted. “I was talking with SVG after we qualified the Cup cars, talking about how different they feel and there’s the bumps in the track and certain seams, stuff you don’t feel on 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 a day to help me other than just staying out of trouble, putting ourselves in position. I think I learned some about the way the lanes were working, but cup here is a lot different now with that NextGen car as far as the racing goes. I think it’s honestly going to be a totally different approach, but I’m looking for the challenge.”
Alfredo starts 24th in the Cup Series race.