#5: Anthony Alfredo, Our Motorsports, Dude Mint Chill Chevrolet Camaro
INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Alfredo seemed like a surefire bet for a top-10 finish Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but a late crash in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Pennzoil 250 at the Brickyard dashed those hopes in an instant.
Alfredo started off his day strong at the 2.5-mile oval by qualifying an impressive fifth, his best starting spot since his lone Xfinity Series pole at Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway in 2022.
With track position from the start, Alfredo was able to race among the frontrunners nearly all afternoon. Though he didn’t earn any stage points, the Ridgefield, Conn., native was as high as fourth during the race and spent 88 percent of his laps completed inside the top 15.
Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, a late-race skirmish in the short chute between turns one and two caused his strong afternoon to unravel.
Alfredo was battling Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Dye when Dye washed up through the exit of turn one, squeezing the No. 5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet Camaro into the outside SAFER Barrier and breaking something in the steering column in the process.
With no control of his stricken machine, Alfredo bounced off the wall again exiting turn two, causing the race car to turn down the track on the backstretch with traffic coming at full speed behind him.
Alfredo was struck hard in the rear bumper by the Chevrolet of Parker Retzlaff, shortening the back of the car and pushing it into a long slide toward the inside runoff area.
With excess momentum, Alfredo’s car pounded the inside wall nose-first, causing even more damage before it finally came to rest in a smoking heap.
Thanks to NASCAR’s safety measures inside and outside the race car, Alfredo was able to climb out and walk away, his day done just 17 laps from the finish.
It was a dejecting way to end what was shaping up to be a memorable performance for Alfredo and Our Motorsports at the Racing Capital of the World.
“First off, thank you to everyone at NASCAR and all the AMR Safety Crew workers for their part in keeping me safe after a couple of really hard hits,” said Alfredo. “I’m all good, but it’s tough to swallow a DNF because we were really fast all weekend long. To qualify fifth and race against the heavy hitters that we know we’re capable of battling, I think, shows what we’re capable of despite being a smaller team with no Cup Series affiliation.
“Once I got shoved into the wall there off turn one, it broke something in the steering, so I had absolutely no control through turn two. That’s why I hit the wall again and bounced off it into traffic,” he continued. “Just a bad deal, but we’ll come back as strong as ever.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Alfredo was still appreciative of finally having the chance to compete on the IMS oval, after three years of racing on the track’s road course configuration from 2021-’23.
“The last few years pulling into the facility at Indianapolis, I’ve felt an overwhelming sense of thankfulness and blessedness, even when we were running the road course … but racing on the oval was very different,” Alfredo noted. “It’s what is respected as the true Brickyard. It’s hard to describe the significance of competing at historic, iconic venues like Indianapolis, Daytona [Int’l Speedway], and others … but the whole weekend was nothing short of an incredible experience.
“I’m glad we were back on the oval at Indy and I hope it’s something we can continue to do in the future.”
Through 20 races this season, Alfredo has a best finish of third at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April and a total of five top-10 finishes, though he’s seeking his first top 10 since Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway 10 races ago.
Alfredo remains 15th in the regular season point standings, though he’s now 114 points behind 12th-seeded Ryan Sieg for the final playoff berth and almost certainly needs to win one of the final six races before the postseason reset.
The good news for Alfredo is that two of those six races are Daytona – a drafting superspeedway – and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, a high-banked short track. Both are places he’s traditionally run well.
It’s not impossible to envision Our Motorsports still contending for that needed win before all is said and done, something Alfredo clearly recognizes.
“We’re not done yet,” he said. “This team fights as hard as any in the garage area, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do each and every week.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series now takes three weeks off, while television partner NBC turns its focus to the Summer Olympics in Paris, before resuming at the two-mile Michigan Int’l Speedway.
Broadcast coverage of the Cabo Wabo 250 is slated for Saturday, Aug. 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
