The emotion and agony was clear in the voice of NASCAR star Anthony Alfredo as he spoke of his heartbreak and devastation at being ruled out of Sunday’s 2026 Daytona 500.
The 26-year-old from Ridgefield, Connecticut was a late disqualification from the field for The Great American Race after his car failed tech inspection following Thursday night’s second Duel in Florida.
That announcement means that B.J. McLeod will race on Sunday in place of Alfredo, with NASCAR confirming that a transaxle cooling hose was loose on his car, with another hose for driver cooling disconnected in a way which altered the car's aerodynamics.
The Beard Motorsports driver claimed that the hose came loose when he was hit during the race, while his crew chief complained that the issue wasn't serious enough to warrant disqualification. Sadly though, the decision cannot be appealed.
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Alfredo reacts to Daytona 500 DQ
Alfredo was devastated by the news, and he later took to social media to explain just how devastated. It was heartbreaking stuff - what should have been one of the greatest moments of his life, becoming one of the worst.
His short video - entitled “heartbroken is an understatement” - said it all.
Anthony explained: “I just found out that we’re not going to be racing in the Daytona 500 on Sunday, because we got disqualified in postrace technical inspection. Unfortunately it’s not even appealable because it’s not a race - the Duels are considered qualifying.
“For any other race we would appeal in the hopes that the penalty be overturned. But in this case you get put to the rear of the field, and with more cars showing up to this race than actually are allowed to start this race, this takes us out of contention for a spot in Sunday’s race.”
Alfredo was keen to stress that the infringement cited for disqualification was intentional and would not have given him any sort of competitive advantage.
’We ran a phenomenal race’
“Everyone worked so hard, we ran a phenomenal race. It wasn’t anything advantageous or intentional. But NASCAR has rules and they enforce them. So I’m gonna try to understand more and learn more about it.”
With Alfredo now out of the Daytona 500, he will instead concentrate his weekend efforts on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series opener at Daytona International Speedway - the United Rentals 300. Qualifying takes place on Friday with the race proper on Saturday (5pm ET, CW).
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