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Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace recently shared a message for Parker Retzlaff after the 2025 Focused Health 250 qualifying event at Circuit of the Americas. The 21-year-old Retzlaff, who drives the No. 4 Chevrolet for Alpha Prime Racing, did not qualify for the third race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
After two full-time Xfinity seasons with Jordan Anderson Racing, Parker Retzlaff secured a ride with the NASCAR team co-owned by Tommy Joe Martins for the 2025 season. So far, the Wisconsin native Retzlaff had a P29 and P27 finish in the first two superspeedway-style races. A failure to qualify under his resume for the 2025 season has certainly added a weight to his shoulders.
In response to this result, Parker Retzlaff shared a heartfelt confession upon his performance in the COTA qualifying on X. He wrote:
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"I don’t even know what to say. Never in my life was this even a thought. I’m sorry to my team, my sponsors and everyone who supports me."
This led to NASCAR veteran Wallace coming in support of the young Xfinity driver. The 61-year-old Wallace, who boasts almost 550 starts in 26 years in NASCAR's second-tier division, commented to Parker's post and wrote,
"All of us racers have missed races @Parker79p .. I know it hurts. No one judges you. STAY DIGGIN 💯🕺🕺"
Apart from Parker Retzlaff, this qualification also came as a shocker for Alpha Prime Racing as the team's part-time entry, Brad Perez, also failed to qualify for the road course race at COTA.
Brad, who drives the No. 45 on a part-time basis, expressed his honest thoughts after the qualifying result on X. He wrote:
"Hard to put into words how disappointing this was. we knew we had to be perfect today and we weren't, myself included. i'm sorry to my partners. racing in this series is a choice and a privilege, and i'll choose it again. thanks everyone for the kind words."
"I'm embarrassed" - Parker Retzlaff's boss takes full responsibility for Alpha Prime Racing's 'worst day'
Tommy Joe Martins co-owns Alpha Prime Racing with Craig Martina and Caesar Bacarella. Moreover, he drives the No. 44 Chevy Camaro for his team part-time.
Following the qualifying result for the Focused Health 250 race at Circuit of the Americas, Martins expressed his disappointment and took responsibility for the two drivers' not qualifying in Austin, Texas.
In a post on X, Martins wrote:
"The worst day in company history & I take full responsibility for it. @Parker79p & @bradxperez are both great racecar drivers. I’m sorry to their sponsors & teams who trusted APR & myself. I haven’t put us in a position to succeed. I’m embarrassed, & will be for a very long time."
Meanwhile, the third race weekend for the 2025 Xfinity season is underway. The JR Motorsports rookie driver, Connor Zilisch, is set to start the race on pole on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.
