During DAYTONA 500 Media Day on Wednesday, Anthony Alfredo, driver of the No. 62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports, talked about how missing the season-opener last February has haunted him for the last 12 months… but, this one might hurt even worse.
Alfredo and Beard Motorsports have been disqualified from America 250 Florida Duel 2 at Daytona International Speedway, after it was found that the No. 62 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Camaro failed post-race inspection.
The 18th-place finish in Duel 2, which originally locked the Ridgefield, Connecticut-native into Sunday’s 500-mile contest, has been disallowed, and instead, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular has been credited with 22nd.
RELATED: 2026 America 250 Florida Duels Race Results
Following the checkered flag, Alfredo was emotional about qualifying for what would have been his third DAYTONA 500, talking about the difficulty of last season and how his entire family is with him this weekend (Alfredo will still run the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event on Saturday).
“My career has had a lot of ups and downs. You never know when you’re going to get another shot to race on any Sunday, especially the Daytona 500, The Great American Race,” Alfredo said. “I have all my family here. My baby girl, Everleigh. I think I’ve only been this choked up twice in my life, when she was born, and (indiscernible) for the Daytona 500.”
Now, should the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, driven by BJ McLeod, make it through post-race technical inspection and pass, then McLeod will qualify for the DAYTONA 500.
“First of all, unfortunate to be here,” Brad Moran, Managing Director of the NASCAR Cup Series, said on Thursday when addressing the media. “Any small open team we don’t like to have these problems, but we do have to do our job, make sure there’s parity amongst the field and also parity amongst people trying to make the 500.”
According to Moran, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet was found to have a transmission cooling transaxle hose loose and a driver cooling hose improperly attached during post-race inspection, leading to the disqualification.
Since the America 250 Florida Duels at Daytona International Speedway are qualifying events, and not actual races, the penalty cannot be appealed, and is instead treated like a time being disallowed (much like Noah Gragson’s time was disallowed in Wednesday’s pole qualifying for raising his arm to the opening in the window).
UPDATE: BJ McLeod and the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet have cleared post-race inspection. McLeod will start Sunday’s DAYTONA 500.
