Anthony Alfredo ran competitively, substituting for Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevrolet at Phoenix. (Photo: Will Lester | Nigel Kinrade Photography)
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Being in the position of a relief driver on less than a week’s notice is a daunting task for any wheelman in the world of auto racing. That very situation took place this past weekend in the NASCAR Cup Series event at Phoenix Raceway.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series veteran Anthony Alfredo, currently the full-time driver of the No. 96 for Viking Motorsports and a simulation driver for Hendrick Motorsports, was the driver who stood up to the challenge and tested his skills behind the wheel of the No. 48 Ally machine.
The weekend started strong for Alfredo, posting a blistering qualifying lap in the O’Reilly Series that put his No. 96 Dude Wipes Chevrolet at fourth place in the starting order for the GOVX 200. Alfredo ran a clean race Saturday night, outside of making contact and spinning out rookie Lavar Scott on Lap 165. Alfredo battled his way back to a top ten finish at the end of the day, marking his best finish on the young season.
As for his NASCAR Cup Series bid with Hendrick Motorsports in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500, Alfredo struggled to find his footing from the get-go. The No. 48 came off the hauler lacking pace, running 29th in practice and managing a 31st place effort in qualifying on Saturday.
Hendrick’s No. 48 entry has not shown the speed expected from one of the sport’s most prolific organizations. Even with full-time driver Alex Bowman behind the wheel for most of the first three races this season, the Ally Chevrolet has posted finishes of 40th at Daytona, 23rd at EchoPark, and a 36th place finish, with relief help from the likes of Myatt Snider, at COTA.
The hope heading into the weekend was for Alfredo to run a clean race and gain some ground for upcoming races pending Bowman’s return from a case of vertigo. Unfortunately for Alfredo, that was not the case.
For the most part, the driver also known as “Fast Pasta” was not able to move up through the field, keeping the No. 48 in one piece while other drivers such as Kyle Busch and Cole Custer experienced tire and debris issues throughout the course of the race on Sunday.
Alfredo and his team played some strategy to move inside the top ten on a restart on Lap 216. Right when the green flag waved to resume the event, Ross Chastain received a huge shovel in his rear bumper from the No. 22 of Joey Logano, causing multi-car accident that collected the No. 48. That was the end of, yet again, another rough weekend for the Bowman-led camp.
Anthony Alfredo gave it his best in a tough situation at Phoenix. (Photo: Danny Hansen | Nigel Kinrade Photography)
A promising opportunity, like the one presented to Alfredo, unraveled with just one incident on the track, but that did not wavier Alfredo’s confidence.
“I hate it for the No. 48 team. The last thing they needed was another finish like this, but there’s nothing that we did wrong.” said Alfredo out of the care center. “We put ourselves in an excellent position to have a great day and we’re proud of that.”
Alfredo is not new to NASCAR’s Next-Gen vehicle, making six combined starts for Live Fast Motorsports and Beard Motorsports. Even with the prior experience inside this style of car, the 26-year-old still had to adjust to the new scenery of the Hendrick Motorsports equipment on the fly.
“Being in traffic. That’s a totally different ball game. That’s just what I had to learn on the first run,” Alfredo shared.
Once Alfredo found some form of comfort, the Ally Chevrolet started to gain some ground before trouble found him late in the race.
“I was really competitive, passing a lot of cars and racing the people we needed to be racing as team in general… this is one of the toughest tracks on the circuit in my opinion. So, I was really happy with how we were competing today and the run we were having. I just hate that we are not going to have the result for it,” he said.
As of now, Bowman is in the entry list for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The best-case scenario for Hendrick Motorsports down the road is starting to find some consistency and speed under the hood of the No. 48 machine. Alfredo ran 217 laps in Sunday’s event, giving the team some much needed data to work with for the time being.
For Alfredo, he will continue his driving duties in the No. 96 for Viking Motorsports in the O’Reilly Series. And while racing in NASCAR’s premier division is serious business, Alfredo proved his worth that could potentially lead to new opportunities in the future.
Editor’s Notes
Michele Aerin contributed to this article onsite from Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
