NASCAR: Top candidate to become last 2021 full-time driver emerges
By Asher Fair
The lone remaining open seat projected to have a full-time driver for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season could be filled in the near future.
There is just one chartered car projected to have a full-time driver for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season that does not yet have one, and that is the #38 Ford of Front Row Motorsports.
John Hunter Nemechek was expected to be back behind the wheel of the car next year following a successful rookie season, but that won’t happen after he made the decision to drop down to the Truck Series to drive the #4 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Now it has been rumored that Anthony Alfredo will replace Nemechek behind the wheel of the #38 Ford alongside veteran Michael McDowell next year.
According to Sports Business Journal‘s Adam Stern, the 21-year-old Ridgefield, Connecticut native is in talks to join the team for 2021.
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Alfredo, who is represented by Team Dillon Management’s Austin Craven, does not have any Cup Series experience and has only been a part-time driver in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series in recent years.
He made his Truck Series debut in 2019 and competed in 13 of the 23 races on the schedule, and he made his Xfinity Series debut in 2020 and competed in 19 of the 33 races on the schedule. Driving for DGR-Crosley, he secured two top 10 finishes and an average finish of 18.8 in his 13 Truck Series starts, including a top finish of eighth place at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Driving for Richard Childress Racing, he secured two top five finishes, an additional seven top 10 finishes and an average finish of 12.6 in his 19 Xfinity Series starts, including a top finish of third place in his final start of the year at Texas Motor Speedway.
He has also made three starts in the ARCA Menards Series, securing a career-high fifth place at Michigan International Speedway this past season.
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Alfredo last competed full-time in 2017 when he drove in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour. Despite leading only 13 of the 1,231 laps he completed, he finished the season in second place in the championship standings with two wins, eight top five finishes, 11 top 10 finishes and an average finish of 6.8 in 13 starts.