Greg Van Alst‘s breakout start to the 2023 ARCA Menards Series season has earned him a NASCAR Xfinity Series ride as he joins Alpha Prime Racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway on 8 July. The news was announced Saturday between the ARCA and Xfinity races at Talladega.
Van Alst has raced for his family team in ARCA since 2021 before going full-time the following year and finishing fifth in points. His 2023 began with a bang as he won the season opener at Daytona, a victory that he dedicated to “all the short track racers out there that don’t think you can get to this level.”
He followed up the win with a tenth at Phoenix to maintain the points lead entering Talladega. However, he was caught in a crash on lap fifteen and was classified thirty-second, dropping him to third in the standings.
“Today sucked. No way around that. I’m OK. Thanks for the messages,” tweeted Van Alst after the race. “On the flip side, I’m excited word is out about my #NASCAR Xfinity Series debut @ATLMotorSpdwy in July with @TeamAlphaPrime. Atlanta would not be possible without Chris Barkdull & CB Fabricating!”
Atlanta will be a new stop for the 41-year-old as ARCA does not race there, but the track’s superspeedway-like nature means his success at Daytona will come in handy.
APR did not immediately announce which of their two multi-driver cars would be piloted by Van Alst. The #43 is primarily being run by Ryan Ellis but has eight other races not yet filled (Caesar Bacarella raced the car at Talladega), while the #45 has been piloted by six drivers to date meaning a schedule is not set in stone. Bacarella scored his first career top ten at Talladega in the #43 of sixth, and the car sits twenty-sixth in owner points and one spot behind the #45. The team also has the #44 exclusively for Jeffrey Earnhardt, though he has bumped over to the #45 as well with Sage Karam taking the former as they did at COTA.
