Alfredo Survives for Sixth in the Talladega
DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Driver Avoids Wreck on Final Lap to Earn Career-Best Finish
- Date: April 21, 2024
- Event: GEICO 500
- Series: NASCAR Cup Series
- Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
- Format: 188 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/68 laps)
- Start/Finish: 24th / 6th (Running, completed 188 of 188 laps)
- Race Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23Xi Racing (Toyota)
- Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
- Stage 2 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Overview:
Anthony Alfredo, driver of the No. 62 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Camaro for Beard Motorsports, finished an impressive sixth in Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway after avoiding chaos on the final lap of the 188-lap race. As he worked to learn the draft as the field went three-wide during the initial stage of the race, the No. 62 Chevrolet got up to 15th by Lap 36. He pitted on lap 42 for fuel only during the first stage’s green-flag pit stops. After making another stop for fuel before pits opened for the end of the stage, Alfredo finishes the first stage in 30th. During the second stage, Alfredo led on lap 70, his first laps led at Talladega as the field was three-wide again. He stayed up front even as the bottom line became unorganized. In an effort to save fuel as the stage continued though, the DUDE Wipes driver got up into the middle lane behind the leaders. Unfortunately, he ran out of fuel coming to the stage end and finished 36th. During the final stage, Alfredo restarted 10th but was forced to restart at the tail end of the longest line for pitting early during the stage break. He ran in the top-10 before falling back in the final stage. Using the draft, he was able to run in the top-25. Coming to the checkered flag, mayhem let loose, and Alfredo avoided it all to not only rocket himself from 18th to sixth but earned his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series and led three times for four laps.
Anthony Alfredo, driver of the No. 62 DUDE Wipes Coffee Chevrolet Camaro for Beard Motorsports: “Beard Motorsports has worked really hard to come to a couple races a year, but when they do it, they do it right, and they know they have a shot to win. So, I take a lot of pride in being the one behind the wheel for them. I hope I can do a lot more with them. You know, we had an awesome car today drove to the front, let some laps stayed skid-mark free thanks to DUDE Wipes. And at the end there we were just kind of boxed in. I couldn’t really do a whole lot when especially when that third lane formed. I wanted to join that party earlier, but I was just trapped on the bottom so I pushed as hard as I could and in typical Talladega Superspeedway racing fashion got a little crazy coming to line and I just yanked it hard left flew through the grass and somehow Oh, my eyes and I crossed the line in sixth.”
Next Up: The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Würth 400 on Sunday, April 28 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The next race for Beard Motorsports and the No. 62 Chevrolet is Saturday, Aug. 24 in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
