XFINITY: Anthony Alfredo loses engine during an extremely physical Martinsville race
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Anthony Alfredo’s car pushed behind the wall entering Turn 1. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Anthony Alfredo picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s U.S. Marine Corps 250 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #42 Dude Wipes Chevrolet lost the engine after 110 of 256 laps.
The finish, which came in Alfredo’s 125th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since April 1, 2023 at Richmond, 66 races ago. In the XFINITY Series last-place rankings, it was the 8th for the #42, the 286th from engine issues, and the 658th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 43rd for the #42, the 1,152nd from engine trouble, and the 1,981st for Chevrolet.
Alfredo and his loyal band of sponsors – particularly the Dude Wipes brand – have continued to search for the right combination of driver and team. When he was last featured here on the XFINITY side, he was driving for B.J. McLeod Motorsports, where he earned a pair of 8th-place finishes later that season. Last year, he reunited with Our Motorsports in the renumbered #5, and this time earned a career-best 3rd in the spring race at Talladega. Last year also saw Alfredo earn a career-best finish at Talladega on the Cup side, taking 6th during his infrequent starts for Beard Motorsports. Just this week, it was confirmed he’d attempt next month’s race at Talladega after he failed to qualify for this year’s Daytona 500.
Now, Alfredo makes the jump to Randy Young’s XFINITY team, which also earned a few strong runs in their debut season last year with Leland Honeyman, Jr. With Honeyman now sharing the new Cope Family Racing #70 and Kris Wright taking over the #5 at Our, Alfredo took Honeyman’s place in the #42. Through the season’s first six races, Alfredo has not yet earned his first top-ten finish of the season, but did earn his season-best 18th-place run and then matched it during the last two races at Las Vegas and Homestead.
For Martinsville, Alfredo showed solid speed, ranking 16th in practice and then taking 17th in qualifying with a lap of 20.182 seconds (93.826mph). He was tied to the thousandth of a second with Sam Mayer’s #41 Audibel Ford at the Haas Factory Team, but lost the tiebreaker on points.
Jeb Burton’s #27 rolls off in last place. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Jeb Burton, whose #27 Celsius Chevrolet lost power due to a battery issue in practice, sending him coasting onto pit road. Burton was the only driver to not turn a lap in qualifying, but still secured the final spot on Owner Points. With 40 drivers entered for 38 spots, the two teams sent home were Mike Harmon Racing, whose #74 Realty.com Chevrolet for Dawson Cram missed the cut by about a half-second. Cram was still faster than the other DNQ of Tyler Tomassi, who brought Carl Long’s MBM Motorsports #66 FNF Family of Companies Ford back into the XFINITY Series for the first time in 2025.
On race day, Burton incurred a redundant tail-end penalty along with five other drivers, shuffling the order just before the start. Also penalized were 4th-place Jesse Love in the #2 Whelen Chevrolet, 21st-place Myatt Snider in the #91 Tree Top Chevrolet, 25th-place Thomas Annunziata in the #70 Bayshore Mortgage Chevrolet, 36th-place Greg Van Alst in the #35 CB Fabricating Chevrolet, and 37th-place Carson Ware, who spun in practice driving the #07 Costa Oil Chevrolet. During the pace laps, the last row first showed Ware to the inside of Van Alst, but NASCAR had Burton pull behind Van Alst to trail the outside line, Ware still last on the inside.
Jeb Burton (left-center) and Carson Ware (right-center) drop back to the final row before the start. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
On the break, Burton pulled ahead of Ware, the #27 crossing the stripe 5.563 seconds back of the lead to Ware’s 6.061. By Lap 3, Ware was 7.116 seconds back of the lead, then 9.718 on Lap 6, 11.385 on Lap 8, and 12.956 on Lap 10. Though this run, the team told Ware to stay smooth around the track, and he remained within three-tenths of 37th-place running Van Alst. On Lap 14, Kyle Sieg’s #28 Ford dropped to 36th ahead of Van Alst with Ware still 15.866 behind the leader. The gap then grew to 19.029 on Lap 19, 20.253 on Lap 20, and 21.119 on Lap 22 before he was the first to be lapped on the 23rd circuit. Three laps later, Ware reported his car was “super tight in the center of the corner,” but the team had difficulty hearing him over the engine noise. On Lap 34, the team told Ware he’d run a Top 20 lap time and urged him to pace himself, noting that his left-front brakes were starting to glow. By Lap 45, he’d lost a second lap.
The first caution fell on Lap 55, when Corey Day – making his XFINITY Series debut in the #17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet – was battling Harrison Burton’s #25 Dead On Tools Ford for the 8th spot. Entering Turn 1, Sammy Smith’s #8 Pilot Chevrolet gave Day a shove, causing Day to overdrive the corner and skate into Burton, putting both into the outside wall. The pair made multiple pit stops, in between which Day’s crew told him to weave back and forth for the team to properly assess the damage. While Burton remained on the lead lap, Day lost one by Lap 63, then a second by Lap 67, when he took last from Ware.
Back under green on Lap 68, Ryan Ellis incurred a restart violation on his #71 Sweetwater Construction Chevrolet, forcing him to make a pass-through penalty under green. This was done by Lap 72, when he fell two laps down to 37th. By then, both Day and Burton had cleared minimum speed and continued under power. Ellis fell to last on Lap 85, during the caution for Garrett Smithley’s spin off Turn 4 in the #14 Military 250 Chevrolet, but Day was then scored last on Lap 86, just before the restart on Lap 89. Other than a spin by Dean Thompson, who remained on track in the #26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota, the stretch run saw few incidents, and Day remained in last, still two laps down on the same circuit as Ellis.’
Meanwhile, Alfredo was running mid-pack and stayed out for track position, during which he got some screen time banging doors with Josh Williams’ #11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet. Around Lap 110, Alfredo came in for an unscheduled stop which ended up lasting several laps. On Lap 114, when he’d lost his fourth lap, he took last from Day, and the team moved him toward the Turn 1 entrance to the garage area. By Lap 123, he was pushed behind the wall, and NASCAR declared him out with engine trouble on Lap 141.
Greg Van Alst gets a push. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
The remainder of the race proved to be a slugfest as 14 cautions flew for 100 laps, the last of which pushing the race into overtime for a crash-filled conclusion. Much of the Bottom Five wasn’t fully settled until the checkered flag. Taking 37th was Jesse Love, who overcame his pre-race penalty only to be swept up in at least two accidents, leaving his #2 Whelen Chevrolet smoking on pit road. Greg Van Alst climbed past into 36th despite at one point needing a push after he lost power. Kyle Sieg’s #28 suffered nose damage toward the end of the race, keeping him in 35th. Completing the same number of laps was Christian Eckes, who after multiple altercations was spun off Turn 2, resulting in a pileup that destroyed his #16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet.
A few drivers find success in the Martinsville chaos
When the smoke had settled, Brennan Poole was able to parlay fresh tires on his #44 Prime Bites Mini Muffins Chevrolet to a 4th-place finish – his first top-five finish of the season and his first on a non-superspeedway since he finished 5th at Charlotte on October 7, 2017. The finish also vaulted Poole into the next “Dash 4 Cash” round in Bristol next month.
Taking home 6th was Dean Thompson, , who came into this race as the LASTCAR XFINITY Series leader before Alfredo took the spot. Thompson overcame at least two spins to come back and finish 6th – a new career-best following his 8th-place run in this year’s Daytona opener, and coming in only his ninth series start.
Scoring his first career top-ten finish in his 23rd career XFINITY start – and after 47 career Truck Series starts with no finishes better than 12th – Kris Wright brought home a 9th-place finish in Our Motorsports’ #5 First National Bank Corp. Chevrolet. It’s the first time Wright has finished better than 25th all season.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #42 in a XFINITY Series race at Martinsville.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #42-Anthony Alfredo / 110 laps / engine
37) #2-Jesse Love / 216 laps / crash
36) #35-Greg Van Alst / 229 laps / running
35) #28-Kyle Sieg / 231 laps / crash
34) #16-Christian Eckes / 231 laps / crash / led 22 laps
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing (2)
2nd) Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Young’s Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (4)
2nd) Toyota (3)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
