The NASCAR Xfinity Series concluded with Justin Allgaier taking the championship after a long wait. This was the JR Motorsports drivers’ 7th championship-4 appearance in 14 full Xfinity seasons. And the race was nothing short of a thriller, as in the final laps, Allgaier, Cole Custer, and Austin Hill went at it with all their might.

In the high-octane drama, Allgaier emerged victorious followed by Custer in a P2 season finish behind him was Hill, and then lastly AJ Allmendinger after a mediocre run ended his season in 4th place. Speaking of season finishes, the Phoenix weekend presents the last chance for all the drivers to try to end their runs on a high note. Amidst this, there came major tussles, as an incident unfolded between Anthony Alfredo and Stefan Parsons! Despite the two teams sorting their differences off-track, NASCAR did not let Alfredo go off easy!

Anthony Alfredo gets a penalty for deliberate wrecking

What happened was that the two drivers fought for the 20th position in the early part of the race. Heading into turn 4, Alfredo tried to take the outside line, but Parson went a little too wide sandwiching Alfredo on the outside wall. Exiting the turn as Parsons passed the #5, Alfredo came off the wall and made contact with the right rear of the #45.

This led to Parson’s car spinning, his rear hitting the wall and his run coming to an end with only 62 laps. And NASCAR issued a two-lap penalty to Alfredo for rough driving, naturally putting him several laps down. But eventually, a flat tire had him wreck into the wall on lap 156, ending his run in 36th place and his season in 15th. As for Parson, he’s a Truck Series driver, and a DNF for him wasn’t as detrimental. Still, Alfredo after the incident called Alpha Prime Racing president, Tommy Joe Martins, to apologize and bury the hatchet.

Martins also took to X to share that there were no hard feelings between the two teams. He wrote, “I think Anthony Alfredois a really good racecar driver & really good person. He called me to apologize for this, and I 100% believe the contact wasn’t intentional. He’s always raced hard, but fairly with our cars. Hate the whole thing essentially ended both our days.” Yet NASCAR has slammed a heavy penalty on the 25-year-old.

According to the racing organization, Section 4.4 B of the NASCAR Rule Book was violated amounting to a $25,000 fine as well as docking 25 points from their season. Despite losing 25 points, the #5 driver ends his season in the 15th position.

While the penalty is for breaching the code of conduct, Alfredo after the incident spoke about how it was unintentional. But sadly, NASCAR did not pay heed to it!

Anthony Alfredo’s justification for the incident

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Alfredo, after the incident, felt sorry for wrecking Parson. He said, “I obviously didn’t mean for that to happen and I’m really glad he didn’t hit harder cause it could have been a lot worse. Just at that angle in the dog leg but once we got into the wall of two and I bounced off I was just going to side draft him. And I honestly anticipated him cutting more of the dog leg and he didn’t I shouldn’t have assumed that. It put us in a bad position unfortunately I got into his right rear and it wasn’t intentional so it (expletive) that we got a penalty and it had an had an effect on our race.”

But Paron was not having any of it and stood firm on the belief that it was a deliberate contact. After his race prematurely ended, he expressed disappointment in the post-race interview, He said, “I mean we had been racing really hard for a couple Laps on the restart um you know he put it down on my door a few times. And I got free underneath him that time. I didn’t mean to get into him like that. But I mean he hooked me, he right rear hooked me, that’s what’s happened in the past when people have gotten right rear hooked. I mean can’t do that so no excuse.”

This was only Parson’s second Xfinity start of the season for APR, the first one being the regular season finale at Bristol. While the two drivers haven’t had any tussles in the past, Parson feels Alfredo is too aggressive on the track. “I mean he always just races extremely hard no matter if it’s for last or for first that’s fine that’s part of racing in the Xfinity series but hooking someone in the right rear is something totally different um I mean I don’t what else you want me to say than that,” he added.

Well, deliberate or not, the penalty is a big one, especially at the Xfinity level. What do you think? Was the penalty justified? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below