In the CARS LMSC Tour finale at South Boston Speedway last weekend, Ridgefield, Connecticut native Anthony Alfredo came up only four points shy of winning the championship in his rookie year to veteran teammate Josh Berry. With the loss still fresh in mind, Alfredo and his team turned their focus to the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway, a track where Alfredo had won his only two CARS Tour races earlier in the season.
In a race that saw intense racing all over the track, Alfredo had to climb his way from the eighth position in order to secure another victory at the track that he had found success at earlier in the year. Alfredo methodically worked his way up through the field, and was able to hold off the fast cars of Austin McDaniel and Ty Gibbs in order to secure his first Fall Brawl victory at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“I was watching the leaders battle hard up at the front, and I figured that we would just let them race it out,” Alfredo said. “I wasn’t sure how good our tires would be at the end of it, but we definitely had a fast racecar, and we were able to get into second, let McDaniel run his pace a little bit, and then we passed him at the end.”
Alfredo a good view of the action up front early, as the crowd at Hickory was treated to a great side-by-side battle between polesitter Ty Gibbs and outside polesitter Cole Glasson for the first six laps of the race. Gibbs eventually used the low line to clear Glasson, and was able to set the pace early on while Glasson fell back to ninth place. During the early stages of the race, it was clear that Alfredo had one of the fastest cars of the night, and had moved up to 3rd after only 50 laps.
As the halfway break quickly approached, only Austin McDaniel separated Alfredo from chasing down Gibbs for the lead. In the Throwback 276 on August 5, 2017, Alfredo had dueled vigorously with McDaniel and eventual winner Justin Carroll for the victory over the final 20 laps of the race, with Alfredo narrowly edging McDaniel for second. Neither of them would have to worry about Carroll for the evening, as he was forced to retire from the race shortly after Lap 50 due to mechanical issues.
McDaniel raced closely with Gibbs on the first restart after the halfway break, but struggled to look for an opportunity to pass the 15-year-old rookie. After another restart, McDaniel was able to contest with Gibbs on the high lane, and managed to wrestle the lead away from the young driver while he fought off Alfredo for second. It would take two more restarts for Alfredo to pass Gibbs for second, allowing him the opportunity to challenge McDaniel for the win in the Fall Brawl.
Alfredo quickly caught McDaniel for the lead on the final green flag run of the evening, and managed to pull alongside the Harrisburg, North Carolina native with 25 laps to go. In a similar fashion to their battle with Justin Carroll two months prior, neither driver refused to give an inch to the other for over two laps, until Alfredo was finally able to edge McDaniel for the lead with 22 laps to go. A crossover attempt by McDaniel on Alfredo failed, which allowed the JR Motorsports development driver to cruise to a hard-fought victory at one of the most prestigious Late Model races on the East Coast.
“All we did was put right side tires on the car for the final 100 laps,” Alfredo said. “We didn’t really want to risk making any significant changes to the car, but we felt pretty confident in the car’s ability, and we just stuck with it and it paid off. I can’t thank my guys enough. They did a great job as always, and I’ve been blessed with a great opportunity. I’ve had this race circled on my calendar all year, and I’ve always wanted to win it.”
Alfredo’s victory at Hickory adds another chapter to a stellar first season with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Late Model program. Alfredo will look to add another lucrative win to his Late Model resume when he competes in the Myrtle Beach 400 on November, and will look to end his season on a positive note as he prepares to transition into ARCA and Camping World Truck Series competition in 2018.
McDaniel was able to hold onto the second position, while Gibbs, who led the most laps from the pole, was forced to settle with a disappointing third place finish. Rounding out the Top 5 were Dexter Canipe Jr. in fourth, and Landon Huffman in fifth.
Unofficial Race Results:
1. 8a Anthony Alfredo
2. 12 Austin McDaniel
3. 18g Ty Gibbs
4. 23c Dexter Canipe Jr.
5. 75 Landon Huffman
6. 31 Thomas Beane
7. 5g Cole Glasson
8. 4c Annabeth Barnes-Crum
9. 15c Sheflon Clay
10. 76 Ryan Millington OUT
11. 21 JP Dyar OUT
12. 1j Juan Gonzalez OUT
13. 91 Stevie Johns Jr. OUT
14. 21m Mike Darne OUT
15. 9w Charlie Watson OUT
16. 57c Justin Carroll OUT
17. 7s Justin Crider OUT
18. 94 Matt Moremond DNS
